It's 1 and 2 for Oden and Durant

NEW YORK -- June 29, 2007— -- When we look back on this 2007 draft years from now, we'll remember it as the night the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle SuperSonics drafted their best players rather than the night they traded their best players.

Right now, you could look at it either way.

The Blazers, on the same night they took Greg Oden with the No. 1 pick, also dealt away the closest thing they've had to an all-star in the past half-decade, agreeing to terms with the Knicks on a deal sending Zach Randolph to New York (along with Fred Jones and Dan Dickau) for Channing Frye and Steve Francis.

And the Sonics, on the night they chose Kevin Durant of Texas with the No. 2 pick, also agreed to send their best player, Ray Allen, to the Boston Celtics for Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and the rights to the No. 5 pick, Jeff Green.

"I know we're going to be connected for a long time, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden," said Oden. "He's a really, really good player. I'm a pretty decent player. So I hope things work out."

Yes, things almost certainly will work out for the both of them, and in a decade's time or less we'll most likely have an answer to the question of which of them should have gone first -- a debate that right now has the potential to live up to the arguments surrounding some of them other epic NBA drafts in recent memory.

Drafts such as 2004, when Dwight Howard got the nod over Emeka Okafor -- a move that now seems like it was the correct one for the Orlando Magic.

Or a draft like 2003, when the debate wasn't over who should have gone first, but ultimately over who went second -- Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Josh Howard and others.

Or the 2001 draft, when Kwame Brown went first, Pau Gasol third, Joe Johnson 10th, Randolph 19th and Tony Parker 28th.

But mostly in the months leading up to this draft, people have been comparing it to the infamous 1984 draft when Sam Bowie went first, Hakeem Olajuwon second and Michael Jordan third. The prospect of being the next Portland GM to miss the next Jordan no doubt weighed heavily on the mind of Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard.