NBA Draft: My Awards On The Day After

AP

Greg Oden

If I needed to draft a guy based on personality, I'd clearly take Oden right now. The guy really has a chance to take over for Shaq in terms of marketability if he can lead Portland to success. Oden said last night that before shaking hands with NBA commissioner David Stern, he used hand sanitizer because he "didn't want to get Mr. Stern sick." When a reporter referenced the trouble with the Trail Blazers, he revealed that he had a 1:30 pm curfew. I don't know if he was nervous, but Durant was pretty vanilla to me. Jerseys of both Oden (No. 52) and Durant (No. 35) hit stores today.

Since the NBA has been keeping track of the best selling jersey list in 2000-01, no player on the Trail Blazers or the Sonics has ever been in the top 10. The Blazers and the Sonics also haven't been in the top 10 best selling teams over that time period.

Lost Marketing Opportunity:
Jeff Green was taken by the Celtics at the fifth pick, but was traded to the SuperSonics. I couldn't help but think if the Boston Celtics had two players on their team named Green (Gerald Green being the other).

Former Partners Dominate Top Picks:
Bill Duffy and Aaron Goodwin used to work together. The two agents split years ago, but both have successful separate practices. Duffy's company had Oden (No. 1) and Mike Conley Jr. (No. 4), while Goodwin's clients include Durant (No. 2) and Al Horford (No. 3). For a nice comprehensive list of players and their representation, check out theI Want To Be A Sports Agent Blog.

The Weirdest Stat That No One Has:
Greg Oden is the first No. 1 overall pick not to have an "A" in his name since Joe Smith was drafted No. 1 in 1995.

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