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Cooper Flagg
Derrick Rose
Carmelo Anthony
Greg Oden

Greg Oden
Cooper Flagg
Carmelo Anthony
Derrick Rose

03-04 was the year I started watching NBA basketball, so I don't quite have the best knowledge there. But my guess would be:

Oden
Anthony
Rose
Flagg


But I think Rose/Anthony/Flagg are all close.

My personal rankings (prior to NBA):

Cooper Flagg
Carmelo Anthony

Greg Oden
Derrick Rose

at the time of the draft, probably oden, flagg, anthony, rose.

for those with short memories, or if you're too young to remember, Oden was drafted over a 6'11" sharpshooter with a killer instinct who averaged 27 and 11 as a freshman. If we added Durant to that list, he'd probably be the second best prospect (after Oden) on the list.

Oden easily. Looking back at how he dominated Joakim Noah and Al Horford in the championship game (which OSU lost fwiw) show just how good he was at both ends. Its a shame injuries ended his career so quickly.

Oden
Flagg
Melo
Rose

Greg Oden
Derrick Rose
Cooper Flagg
Carmelo Anthony

tester551 wrote:My personal rankings (prior to NBA):

Cooper Flagg
Carmelo Anthony

Greg Oden
Derrick Rose

What made you low on Oden?

He was one of the best 5 or 7 big man prospects ever. He played his entire college season with torn wrist ligaments in his dominant hand and still dominated college.

I think people are misremembering or underselling how big of a deal Rose was as a prospect.

I’m pretty high on Flaggs potential

Flagg
Oden
Rose
Anthony

Cammo101 wrote:I think people are misremembering or underselling how big of a deal Rose was as a prospect.

IDK, there was a significant number of people who (foolishly) thought Beasly was the better prospect in the draft.

SeattleJazzFan wrote:at the time of the draft, probably oden, flagg, anthony, rose.

for those with short memories, or if you're too young to remember, Oden was drafted over a 6'11" sharpshooter with a killer instinct who averaged 27 and 11 as a freshman. If we added Durant to that list, he'd probably be the second best prospect (after Oden) on the list.

At the time of the draft - Durant was a better prospect than Oden (despite being drafted after)

ReggiesKnicks wrote:

tester551 wrote:My personal rankings (prior to NBA):

Cooper Flagg
Carmelo Anthony

Greg Oden
Derrick Rose

What made you low on Oden?

He was one of the best 5 or 7 big man prospects ever. He played his entire college season with torn wrist ligaments in his dominant hand and still dominated college.

Don't remember specifically.
Im a Blazer fan - so I was excited to get the #1.

Thought we should have picked Durant.
I thought Oden was a step slow and wildly overrated as a prospect. I didn't think (still don't) that you can win with your best player as a traditional C... (Jokic is not a traditional C in skill set - with unique passing/shooting abilities).

tester551 wrote:

ReggiesKnicks wrote:

tester551 wrote:My personal rankings (prior to NBA):

Cooper Flagg
Carmelo Anthony

Greg Oden
Derrick Rose

What made you low on Oden?

He was one of the best 5 or 7 big man prospects ever. He played his entire college season with torn wrist ligaments in his dominant hand and still dominated college.

Don't remember specifically.
Im a Blazer fan - so I was excited to get the #1.

Thought we should have picked Durant.
I thought Oden was a step slow and wildly overrated as a prospect. I didn't think (still don't) that you can win with your best player as a traditional C... (Jokic is not a traditional C in skill set - with unique passing/shooting abilities).

I mean you are saying you something that simply wasn't true at the time. Traditional Centers won far before Kevin Durant did.

Oden came into college and the NBA Draft cycle when it was thought you needed a franchise big to win in the NBA. Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O'Neal had won the majority of the championships, FMVPs, and MVPs between 1999 and 2007. He was being compared to Bill Russell and David Robinson. He was never all that healthy, but I'm not sure about those comps. He didn't have that level of athleticism.

I think he would've been something like a bigger and stronger, less athletic Dwight Howard, who's more skilled and has a higher basketball IQ, awareness, and feel for the game.

That being said...

1) Oden
2) Flagg
3) Melo
4) Rose

sisibilio wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:I think people are misremembering or underselling how big of a deal Rose was as a prospect.

IDK, there was a significant number of people who (foolishly) thought Beasly was the better prospect in the draft.

That's not the way I remember it at all. It was Rose #1 by a clear margin. Beasley was a very strong #2 but I don't remember anyone having Beasley over Rose

SeattleJazzFan wrote:at the time of the draft, probably oden, flagg, anthony, rose.

for those with short memories, or if you're too young to remember, Oden was drafted over a 6'11" sharpshooter with a killer instinct who averaged 27 and 11 as a freshman. If we added Durant to that list, he'd probably be the second best prospect (after Oden) on the list.

Oden was thought of super highly at the time but looking back he prob did benefit from the big man bias at that time. That was the later end of the Shaq years and an elite big man was *the* thing to have at that time.

I don’t think he’d be looked at nearly as highly at this point the way the NBA game is though I do remember how he was regarded, best prospect since LeBron was how he was viewed.

FrodoBaggins wrote:Oden came into college and the NBA Draft cycle when it was thought you needed a franchise big to win in the NBA. Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and Shaquille O'Neal had won the majority of the championships, FMVPs, and MVPs between 1999 and 2007. He was being compared to Bill Russell and David Robinson. He was never all that healthy, but I'm not sure about those comps. He didn't have that level of athleticism.

I think he would've been something like a bigger and stronger, less athletic Dwight Howard, who's more skilled and has a higher basketball IQ, awareness, and feel for the game.

I think Tim Duncan was kind of the closest comp? Methodical, fundamental. There would have been differences, but it was hard to imagine him failing. I think without injuries he would have underperformed expectations but still would have been very, very good.

azcatz11 wrote:

sisibilio wrote:

Cammo101 wrote:I think people are misremembering or underselling how big of a deal Rose was as a prospect.

IDK, there was a significant number of people who (foolishly) thought Beasly was the better prospect in the draft.

That's not the way I remember it at all. It was Rose #1 by a clear margin. Beasley was a very strong #2 but I don't remember anyone having Beasley over Rose

I think it was mainly some contrarians, I remember Rose being favored by most people and he was seen as a can't miss guy not just the year of the draft, but the year before.