Once and for all, hopefully this whole draft debacle with Greg Oden ends the NBA's recent obsession with big men. There will always be tall men playing in the league, but looking for the next Dirk Nowitzki is a lost cause.

Despite all of the warning signs against drafting Greg Oden, the Portland Trail Blazers went ahead on June 28, 2007 and picked him anyway. Why? Apparently, his being a center proved too valuable too pass up.

I don't know a single person who doesn't salivate whenever the seven-foot "Blonde Bomber" (Dirk Nowitzki) swishes a three-pointer, but you've got realize that he's as rare as they come. Taking away basketball god Tim Duncan out of the equation since he's a mixture of center and power forward goodness, the last dominant center of the last fifteen years is Shaquille O'Neal.

NBA executives have gotten spoiled after Shaq was drafted in 2002 and subsequently dominated the paint. Shaq is that rare breed that has reinvented what a center should be: an overpowering dunk machine. Looking at the last few drafts, the only player that has found success as a true center is Yao Ming with his career points and rebounds per game averages of 18.5 and 8.9. I'm not even looking at Phoenix Suns star Amare Stoudemire since he mixes positions à la Duncan, and we'll sweep the Detroit Darko experiment under the rug.

The reality is the game has sped up, and point guards and playmakers like Steve Nash and Jason Kidd have much more impacts on their teams than a tall guy constantly shifting in and out of the paint. Look at what LeBron James has done for the Cleveland Cavaliers or Dwyane Wade for the Miami Heat (especially when Shaq retires) or Carmelo Anthony for the Denver Nuggets. What has 2005 first overall pick Andrew Bogut done for the Milwaukee Bucks? How long has it taken the Los Angeles Clippers to recover from drafting Michael Olowokandi?

In winning six titles for the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan should have proved that a dominant center wasn't needed so much as an adequate one. Could any other team win a title with the likes of Will Perdue, Luc Longley, or Bill Wennington as their starting centers? Having Scottie Pippen by your side doesn't hurt either, and I bet Shaq liked having Kobe Bryant by side all those years with the Lakers. But the fact remains Jordan was the Bulls and made everyone around him so much better.

Everything would be a moot point, however, if Kevin Durant disappoints for the Seattle Supersonics with either poor play or — god-forbid — an injury. The only person who would find solace in the combination of Oden's injury and Durant's uncertain rookie season is Danny Ainge. Whoever saw the telecast of the recent draft could see the moment that Ainge's heart stopped when NBA commissioner David Stern read the Boston Celtics for the fifth overall pick. If the Celtics do find success sans Oden or Durant it would in spite of losing its statistically dominant top two picks to long odds and very bad luck.