ESPN NBA

It's no secret that your client, Kevin Pritchard of the Portland Trail Blazers, is a huge fan of your statistical analysis. Can you give me any insight into what kind of numbers you were able to give the Blazers to inform the Oden/Durant decision?
Well our numbers clearly had Durant over Oden -- it wasn't even close -- but anyone who judged the statistical college careers of these two would come up with the same conclusion. In general, big men like Oden have a lower rate of success than guys like Durant. I think that the Blazers used our analysis similarly to how they would use any piece of data. It was something they considered but at the end of the day it was just a piece of the puzzle.

Were you surprised?
I wasn't surprised so much as disappointed. I had hoped that they would pick Durant because I think it is the more interesting pick. I'm tired of hearing every talking head say that Oden was a no-brainer and when the Blazers pick Oden it just makes them think they were right. I really do think that Durant could have been the pick here and I'll be very interested to see their careers play out.

How is your "wisdom of the crowds" mock draft holding up?
Our community has been very good in picking this draft. Of course they did not call the Celtics' trade and that made them incorrect with number five but in general they have been dead-on getting the first four picks right (yawn, I know that was easy) but also calling things like Acie Law to Atlanta and Spencer Hawes to Sacramento.