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Al Horford could see it. Playing against Ohio State in the 2007 NCAA championship game, the Florida Gators big man could tell Greg Oden was going to be something special in the NBA. "I just knew I was looking at a guy that was going to be like a 10-time All-Star -- was going to be in the discussion as one of the best centers, for sure," Horford said. "I have no question in my mind, looking back, that he was going to be a great player." Almost three months later, Oden was selected No. 1 overall in the NBA draft while Horford went third. Seven years later, Horford is the one playing in All-Star games while injuries and other issues have derailed Oden’s career, to the point where he has openly described himself as “one of the biggest busts in NBA history.” The 2007 draft’s legacy is one of rare extremes. And not only the ever-diverging gap between Kevin Durant's path to prominence and Oden's tumultuous tumble toward obscurity. For every major hit that turned out to be an elite-level talent, such as Durant, Horford, Mike Conley Jr. (picked fourth), Joakim Noah (ninth) and Marc Gasol (48th), there were massive lottery misses on the likes of Oden, Yi Jianlian (sixth), Acie Law (11th), Julian Wright (13th) and Al Thornton (14th). The 2007 class boasts both the league's reigning MVP (Durant) and defensive player of the year (Noah), marking the first time that has happened since the 1999-00 season. But it also produced a class in which seven of the first 21 players selected are no longer in the NBA. Oden would become the eighth if he's out of the league again this season. Oden's arrest also places him among a far more disturbing distinction associated with that draft's first round. Sean Williams, selected at No. 17 by the Nets, saw his career mired by a string of arrests on drug, trespassing and felony misconduct charges. He has been out of the league since being cut by the Rockets in 2012.  Javaris Crittenton, picked two spots later, was arrested in December 2009 along with Gilbert Arenas for their roles in a locker room gun incident while teammates with the Washington Wizards. Both players were subsequently suspended for the remainder of the 2009-10 season. Crittenton never played another NBA game after the gun incident in Washington. His life allegedly took an even more heinous turn in recent years as he awaits trial on multiple murder, drug and weapon charges.
Ryan Blake, senior director of NBA scouting operations, is among those still trying to make sense of the 2007 draft’s many postscripts. "It's such an interesting one, with sort of all of the weird things that have happened," Blake said. "There were a lot of differences in terms of guys with upside, guys we thought were better and guys that just didn't pan out ... just a lot of risks in that draft." Horford, though, cringes when he sees Oden ridicule himself or measure his plight of misfortune against Durant's meteoric ascension. Though Horford’s Atlanta Hawks have made the postseason in each of his seven NBA seasons, he has endured his own injury problems, causing him to miss 116 games over the past three seasons. "I think it's unfair for Greg," Horford said. "There were a lot of expectations on Greg, but we all knew it was just a matter of time before Kevin was going to blossom and become the player he is today. With Greg and everything he had to go through, he shouldn't compare himself to Kevin. When he's been able to play, he's been able to do OK. “I can tell he's a good guy, a good person. It's just been a tough road as far as injuries and even this off-the-court situation. At the end of the day, we're all humans that make mistakes."
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