Greg Oden was taken by the Portland Trail Blazers with the top pick in last night's National Basketball Association draft, one of seven first-round selections added by the franchise in the past two years.

The Trail Blazers chose Ohio State University 's 7-foot center over fellow college freshman Kevin Durant, who went second to the Seattle SuperSonics. The Sonics also secured the fifth overall pick, Georgetown forward Jeff Green, in a trade that sent All-Star guard Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics.

The Blazers added the 19-year-old Oden to a team that features four first-round picks from the 2006 draft, including Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy and last year's No. 2 pick, LaMarcus Aldridge. Portland improved to 32-50 last season after winning 21 games in 2005-06.

``Brandon and LaMarcus kind of turned that around,'' Oden said at a news conference at New York 's Madison Square Garden . ``I hope that I can come and just push that along some more.''

The Blazers also got two international guards in the first round last night -- Spain's Rudy Fernandez at No. 24 and Finland's Petteri Koponen at No. 30 -- and acquired Channing Frye and Steve Francis in a trade with the New York Knicks.

The Knicks, who received Zach Randolph, Dan Dickau and Fred Jones from Portland , selected DePaul forward Wilson Chandler with their first-round pick, the 23rd overall.

Yi Jianlian, a 6-foot-11 forward from China , went sixth to the Milwaukee Bucks and was the first of five international players taken in the opening round. Yi led the Guandong Southern Tigers to Chinese Basketball Association titles from 2004-06 and may help the NBA build its brand in the most populous nation. The league's profile has skyrocketed in China since Houston took All-Star center Yao Ming with the first pick in the 2002 draft.

Florida Gators

The University of Florida , which won the past two college basketball titles, became the first school in the 42-year history of the NBA draft to have three players among the first 10 picks. Al Horford went third to the Atlanta Hawks, Corey Brewer was taken seventh by the Minnesota Timberwolves and Joakim Noah -- the son of 1983 French Open tennis champion Yannick Noah -- went ninth to the Chicago Bulls.

Another Gator, guard Taurean Green, was drafted by Portland in the second round.

With Oden and Durant going 1-2, it marked the first time college freshmen were the top two players selected. Six freshmen were among the first 12 picks, all of whom were ineligible for last year's draft after the NBA instituted a rule excluding high-school players.

All-Stars

Oden averaged 15.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots last season and helped lead the Buckeyes to college basketball's championship game for the first time in 45 years.

Oden has been compared with All-Star centers such as Bill Russell, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson and Tim Duncan because of his size, rebounding, agility and shot-blocking, traits that led the Blazers to choose him over the 18-year-old Durant.

``We started with one thing -- who was going to get to the championship level,'' Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard said. ``Centers with athletic ability, with character, with ability to change a game on both ends of the floor, we felt very good about that and Greg fits the bill.''

Point guard Mike Conley Jr., Oden's Ohio State and high- school teammate, was drafted fourth by the Memphis Grizzlies. Another Buckeyes freshman, Daequan Cook, was taken 21st and ended up with the Miami Heat. The only other time Ohio State had more than one first-round pick was in 1962, when Hall of Fame members John Havlicek and Jerry Lucas were selected.

Other Freshmen

Joining Oden, Durant and Conley among the first 12 picks were fellow freshmen Brandan Wright of North Carolina , Spencer Hawes of Washington and Thaddeus Young of Georgia Tech.

Wright was taken eighth by the Charlotte Bobcats and then was traded to the Golden State Warriors for guard Jason Richardson, who has averaged 18.3 points a game over his six- year NBA career. Hawes went 10th to the Sacramento Kings and Young went to the Philadelphia 76ers at No. 12.

The first college senior taken was Acie Law IV of Texas A&M, who was picked 11th by Atlanta . It was the first time since 2002 a college senior wasn't among the first 10 players drafted.

Rounding out the top 15 picks were Kansas forward Julian Wright ( New Orleans at No. 13), Florida State forward Al Thornton (Los Angeles Clippers at No. 14) and Eastern Washington guard Rodney Stuckey ( Detroit at No. 15).

The Sonics became the first team since the 2001 Chicago Bulls to get two top-five players in the same draft. Seattle got Green, guard Delonte West and forward Wally Szczerbiak from the Celtics for the 31-year-old Allen -- a seven time All-Star -- and a second-round pick used to select Louisiana State forward Glen Davis.

 

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