Which draft blunder haunts the Blazers more: Greg Oden or Sam Bowie?

Shawn Laib   |  

Aug 15, 2022

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email

The Portland Trail Blazers are now stuck in one of their classic turning points. They are trying to navigate the past and the future simultaneously, making many fans remember other tumultuous periods in the franchise’s history.

Tumultuous periods like when they drafted Sam Bowie and Greg Oden. Anytime the Portland Trail Blazers are in limbo. It feels a little like deja-vu. This organization has had tremendous success throughout its history, but they haven’t won an NBA championship since 1977 with Bill Walton at the helm. So after Walton’s body started to break down, there was a lot of muttering and pondering: “What now?”

Sam Bowie Over Michael Jordan

This was when the Trail Blazers reached one of their classic turning points gone wrong. After drafting Clyde Drexler 14th overall in 1983, they had a chance to add Michael Jordan to their roster the following year. We all know the story. Instead of forming the most formidable backcourt in NBA history, Portland landed another oft-injured center: Sam Bowie. Unlike Bill Walton, Bowie never produced anything worth writing home about for Rip City.

Greg Oden Over Kevin Durant

Fast forward to the mid-2000s, and the team was still reeling from the “Jail Blazers” era. Brandon Roy felt like a revelation when he was drafted in 2006. Yet again, Portland was in a perfect draft position to alter its course for the next decade. Faced with the Greg Oden/Kevin Durant dilemma, they went with a third injured seven-footer.

Oden was out of the league after a mere 105 games. Durant is a multiple-time champion and arguably one of the 15 best players to ever step on the court. He and Roy could have formed one of the deadlier scoring tandems in modern basketball lore. The only saving grace Blazers fans can hold onto is that Durant has proven to be just as volatile a personality off the hardwood as he is skilled on it.

Which Portland Trail Blazers draft bust hurts more?

The twists and turns of Durant’s career and free agency moves make Bowie over Jordan the draft blunder that still stings the most almost four decades later. And while children grow up as Portland Trail Blazers fans start to view this story as more mythical than tangible. Portland’s only pro sports team will once again attempt to rise from the persistent shadow of adversity and past choices that have gone awry as they enter the 2022-2023 season.