SUNDAY, MAY 28, 2017 SPORTS Warriors All-Star, Durant was once their second choice OAKLAND: Truth be told, Golden State’s former coach Famer Bill Russell, Nelson’s teammate in Boston. “I tory when they ousted the 67-win Dallas Mavericks in school and college teammate who went to the Grizzlies wasn’t sure the Warriors needed Kevin Durant. The think it’d be pretty simple for us,” Nelson said. “We the first round. with their No. 4 pick, believes his friend could have han- Warriors were already small-ball sensations, capable of would probably have to go with the bigger guy at this Later that postseason, the Portland Trail Blazers won dled the transition. piling up the points with their daring drives and sizzling point.” Nelson said he might reconsider if he thought the draft lottery and the Seattle SuperSonics were sec- “I think he’s that kind of a talent. He would have shooting. So rather than add another scorer, Don Durant was going to be a superstar, and the forward ond. The Grizzlies had the league’s worst record and the reminded me of like a Joel Embiid, how he’s able to Nelson figured Golden State might be better off getting looked like one as he tore through the Big 12 as a best odds at the No. 1 pick but fell to fourth as West, stretch it out there and shoot the ball like he is,” Conley a dominant man in the middle to shore up the defense freshman at Texas. But with the Warriors already hav- then the Grizzlies’ president of basketball operations, said, referring to Philadelphia’s rookie center. “So I think in the 2007 NBA draft. ing Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson, was left livid with the process. they have similar bodies and similar way they move, so I Nelson thought the Warriors needed Greg Oden. Nelson saw other needs. Had he been given the chance, West said he would think he could have done it.” That was 10 years ago, leading up to the heavily hyped “With this team, the center position is one that we’re have taken the best player available, which is always his Instead, Oden himself acknowledged he goes down draft in which the Oden-Durant debate raged through- looking for,” he said. “But I’d say anybody up front. Our strategy. He said he considered Durant that player. as a bust, which nobody could have predicted when out basketball. And now, as Durant leads the league’s backcourt’s pretty solid.” Many mock drafts had it the other way, given Oden’s coaches were tantalized by him. “Same thing was true most potent team into the NBA Finals while Oden is The Warriors were fined by the NBA for Nelson’s com- potential - he likely would’ve been the top pick a year with the Bowie-Olajuwon-Jordan draft, and that was long gone from the NBA spotlight, it’s easy to forget ments about players who weren’t yet draft eligible. earlier out of high school, but the 2006 draft was the years before that,” said former NBA Commissioner David that a lot of people agreed with Nelson. Boston, San Antonio and New Orleans also would be first with the NBA’s age requirement. Stern, recalling more of Portland’s painful past, when “I think everyone felt that there were two players penalized that spring when normally button-lipped “Everyone is always looking for someone big in the the Blazers took oft-injured center Sam Bowie at No. 2 in there that were going to be prominent players, but coaches couldn’t help themselves when thinking about draft because everyone thinks it’s a game-changer. Well, between Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Michael one thing you can’t count on is injuries,” Warriors exec- the promise of the two freshmen. the game has changed,” West said. “Now, they’re not Jordan in 1984. utive Jerry West said. “So Greg really never had a “I don’t think there could have been any more hype naming big guys unless you’re really versatile. There are “You never know. That’s the beauty of it. That’s why chance to have a career, where Kevin’s obviously been than there was,” Memphis guard Mike Conley said. “It very few back-to-the basket centers in the league that people watch,” he said. more than advertised.” was an amazing time to see two great players who have are not versatile enough to go out and play on the Next week they’ll be watching Durant, who will play The Warriors were looking like a lottery team in Hall of Fame potential from the beginning. You just court. And so when you look at it, I think A, it would for his first title in his first season with the Warriors, a March 2007 when Nelson was asked what he thought know that they could come in and win multiple champi- have been really interesting to see if another team, chance to finally be No. 1 on a team that once viewed they should do if they got the No. 1 pick. He’s one of the onships and be All-Stars every year and you don’t have except Portland, who they would have taken if they him as their No. 2. innovators of small ball, a coach who seemed more that in every draft.” needed a center.” “I’m really proud where I am right now as a player and comfortable with a point forward than a power forward, The No. 1 pick became a moot point when the Oden’s knee injuries ended his NBA career after 105 being as consistent every year as I’ve been,” Durant said. so it wouldn’t have been surprising if he leaned Durant. Warriors finished the regular season with a 16-5 kick to games, long before he would’ve had to worry about “Since my first year I’ve grown so much and I’m proud of But he favored Oden, a 7-footer who in his lone sea- secure the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, then playing away from the basket, the way traditional cen- myself in that area as well, but I’ve got a long ways to go. son at Ohio State was drawing comparisons to Hall of pulled off perhaps the biggest upset in NBA playoff his- ters such as Marc Gasol now do. But Conley, Oden’s high Hopefully there’s another 10 more years.” — AP MOTOR RACING Raikkonen on pole for Ferrari, Vettel second MONACO: Kimi Raikkonen secured Bottas said: “It was a really good ‘moment’ at the top of the hill en “Something wrong with the car,” he his first pole position for nine years lap for me. This is one of the most route to Casino Square. reported. With just seconds remain- yesterday when he outpaced his mentally-demanding circuits and I It proved costly for Hamilton ing, Hamilton’s hopes were ruined Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel have felt support from the fans and whose first flying lap was more than when Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne went in a dramatic qualifying session for appreciate it.” a second adrift of Raikkonen’s early into the barriers at the Swimming today’s Monaco Grand Prix. On a perfect azure afternoon, fastest. “No grip, Bono,” said Pool exit, yellow flags flying. The 37-year-old Finn, who had with an air temperature of 27 Hamilton, talking to his engineer “That’s me out, right?” said not taken pole position for 128 degrees and a track reading of 53, before he was stopped at the Hamilton, deprived of a clean lap races stretching back to the French Q1 delivered few surprises other weighbridge on his way to and condemned to qualify 14th, MONACO: Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel acknowledges the audi- Grand Prix of 2008, dominated the than the early exit of Frenchman Mercedes’ pits. one of five men eliminated along ence after winning the third practice session at the Monaco street circuit, yes- afternoon’s action to clock a Esteban Ocon of Force India, who By then, Raikkonen had clocked with Russian Daniil Kvyat of Toro terday in Monaco, a day ahead of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix. —AFP fastest lap of one minute and 12.178 seconds. That left him 0.043 seconds Vettel, Ferrari on top ahead of the world championship leader and three-time champion as Mercedes trail again Vettel who in turn was just two- thousandths of a second faster MONACO: Champions Mercedes’ worst ers at the Swimming Pool exit in the clos- than third placed Valtteri Bottas of fears were confirmed yesterday morning ing minutes, without interrupting the flow Mercedes. when championship leader Sebastian of traffic such was the efficiency of the The Finn’s Mercedes team-mate Vettel topped the times for Ferrari in final marshals, and Australian Daniel Ricciardo Briton Lewis Hamilton failed to practice for this weekend’s Monaco parked his Red Bull at Sainte-Devote cor- make progress from Q2 and missed Grand Prix. The four-time champion ner after a brake-by-wire problem. the cut for the top ten shootout, German clocked a best lap in one minute These minor incidents brought out brief qualifying 14th after a miserable and 12.395 seconds, 0.345 seconds ahead use of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC), which afternoon. of his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, the interfered with the movement of a busy “Obviously, it’s great,” said a 2007 champion, as the ‘scuderia’ estab- circuit of cars in the closing seconds.