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FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

Hard to believe that several NBA general managers can have regrets after two years, but it's true. The results of the 2007 NBA Draft are slowly reaping, which should teach a lesson to their 2009 brethren on Thursday about taking chances on raw college players, international prospects and even those who are allegedly "proven."

The biggest debate two years ago was whether the Portland Trail Blazers should take Greg Oden or Kevin Durant first overall. Oden was a franchise center out of Ohio State while Durant was the smooth scoring swingman from Texas. Durant had the better workout with the Blazers, apparently blowing the mind of coach Nate McMillan. Yet, the Blazers stuck with conventional thinking and took the big man.

FanHouse fixes a decade of draft-day blunders in Revisiting the NBA Draft.

It's hard to blame the Toronto Raptors for taking a 7-footer with 3-point range and the ability to play three positions. That's what Andrea Bargnani presented as the No. 1 pick. There was no clear-cut top choice. The 2006 NBA Draft was filled with unproven early entries, a couple of seasoned seniors and raw big men looking for a big payday.

So the Raptors took the player they thought had the best upside. Hey, the NBA Draft is about development these days, right? Nobody in this supposed weak draft was supposed to be an All-Star anyway, right? No one told that to Brandon Roy, who was passed up by five teams and traded by another. Finally, the Portland Trail Blazers, still ringing from a reputation of bad guys, car racers and dog fighters, had a franchise player in their hands, and he was from nearby Seattle.

While George Karl is on the verge of leading the Denver Nuggets to their biggest playoff victory since Dikembe Mutombo was seen clutching the ball on his back chanting "Yes! We win!" in leading Denver to a shocking first-round win over the Sonics in 1994, Karl's former NBA city may be without basketball for good.

When Oklahoma City Thunder chairman Clayton Bennett left Seattle without an NBA time after 41 years in July 2008, he promised to reward the city with $30 million if antiquated KeyArena was approved for refurbishing by the conclusion of 2009 and Seattle did not have a new team by 2013.

Even though the Oklahoma City Thunder just wrapped up its inaugural season, some old Sonics fans maintained hope in a return of the NBA to Seattle. If Seattle could find a way to get a new gym or refurbish KeyArena, the league has left open the potential for future expansion or relocation back to the city.

But a bill in the state legislature that would have secured a quarter of the costs for KeyArena renovation died last night. Local businessmen (led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer) had pledged to augment the funds, which would have come from an otherwise expiring hotel/car rental tax, with enough to get Key up to snuff. The other portion of the funds, if the bill had passed, would have come from Seattle's Public Enemy No. 1: Clay Bennett.

FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.

HEADLINER
Oklahoma City at Portland, 10PM ET

Either New York-Golden State made me cocky, or sometimes there's more than basketball that matters. Tonight, the Thunder visit Portland. And so will at least a smattering of Sonics fans. The world might be enjoying Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook all the same, but the ways things went down in Seattle cannot be replicated. I hope the Seattle contingent, paired with classy Blazers fans, can make that clear tonight.

One of the few current players vocal and active during Clay Bennett's franchisal flight to Oklahoma City was Seattle native Spencer Hawes, a youngster who grew up watching Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. Hawes spoke out against the relocation of the Sonics, and even showed up to a major "Save Our Sonics" rally wearing a Payton jersey.

In his first pro game in Oklahoma City Sunday, Hawes let his friends back home in the Emerald City know they wouldn't be forgotten by wearing this Sonics green and gold suit, complete with a Space Needle tie.

As virulent the hate for Clay Bennett and his team of business ninjas has been in NBA fan circles (and in, um, Seattle), the man is a hero somewhere: Oklahoma. A familiar refrain from Sooner State fans and those sympathetic to the region has been "don't blame the fans, we deserve a franchise." The sentiment's honest, and while some of us may snicker when the Thunder fail to sell out in the first two weeks of the team's history the OKC fan base is honorable and deserving.

But because of the deep, deep mistrust of Bennett and the distaste his deceitful flight caused, to see regional magazine Oklahoma Today bestow the owner with an "Oklahoman of the Year" award raises more hackles than champagne glasses. Deadspin posted a press release from Today touting Bennett's work to bring the NBA to the state. Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry has a stabbing quote.

Things aren't terrific in Oklahoma City. The Thunder had trouble selling out the Ford Center early this season, though the sales team managed to fill the building for Wednesday's epic matchup with the similarly terrible Clippers. (Mad daps; that's the upset of the year so far.) But more fans in the house meant there was a bigger opportunity to disappoint. Falling behind an awful team by more than 20 points will do the trick: the Thunder heard their first home boos of the season.

It's hard to blame Seattle fans like SonicsCentral's Brian Robinson for crowing about the predicted reality in OKC.

Even I thought that the honeymoon would last longer than this. ... The biggest problem I see coming forward is that the franchise has no tools in place to get better. ... [B]ased on complaints about the in game product it sounds like they are trying hard to save money. Skimping on everything from mascots giving out T-Shirts to music, etc. Now they are in a situation where ownership had to make a Nov. 1 capital call from partners, [Aubrey] McClendon, [Tom] Ward, and [Clay] Bennett have completely lost their asses in the stock market and McClendon is even reportedly trying hard to sell his share of the team.

How can this team put out the money for major free agents? They know they will have to overpay to get a guy to play for the worst team in the least desirable city for an NBA player to live. ... It is stunning that it has fallen apart so quickly. I would have never, never expected them to have boos and critical articles written just 11 games into the season.

From Seattle, the sour grapes are perfectly understandable. For the rest of us, it's sad to see a newborn franchise wilt so effortlessly. Cap space and draft picks don't give you carte blanche, it appears.

We're less than two weeks into Oklahoma City's first real NBA season, the first two weeks the fans of OKC have had a team that's really their own. OKC hosted the Hornets famously well, selling out the Ford Center and giving Chris Paul's young squad one of the most devoted home crowds in the league.

This OKC team isn't so good. The Thunder, 1-4 and not expected to win more than 20-25 games, are much less compelling than those old Hornets, despite the presence of Kevin Durant. Watching a losing team just isn't that fun. So should it really come as a surprise that OKC has already failed to sell out a home game? Its second home game, held last Sunday night, drew 1,000 less fans than capacity. Its second game ... on a weekend ... in its first season. Sure, the opponent was Minnesota. But there are (unfortunately) a lot of Minnesotas in today's NBA.

Of course, 18,000-and-change fans is more than have attended recent Sonics games in Seattle. And it's been noted that the team could sell more season tickets if it wanted, and clear away all those extra single-game tickets. And the economy is putting a damper on recreational spending across the board. But considering the backbone of Clay Bennett's argument in relocation was that Seattle fans didn't really care about the Sonics, it's pretty damning when Game #2 in OKC doesn't sell out.

By the way, the undefeated Hawks visit tonight. Think we'll get non-sellout No. 2?

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Trail Blazers Center Court. It takes a big man to admit you got dunked on. Greg Oden, today (and, err, every day) you are a big man. Oden tells Casey Holdahl: "I've had this argument a lot. When you're in the vicinity; if you're in the picture, you got dunked on." I rest my case.

2. Free Darko. The thrilling conclusion of the Every Game Preview.

3. New York Times. Harvey Araton looks into the life of Isiah Thomas since his April demotion.

4. Deadspin. A spurned Sonics fan gets off a marvelous rant by letter.

5. 48minutes.net. Anthony Randolph spends practice getting revenge for previous practice dunks.

6. Boston Globe. Jermaine O'Neal on the latest incarnation of the Indiana Pacers: "As an organization, we went from thinking about actually putting together a team that is going to win to actually putting out a team for image purposes. It was hard."