No, it’s not just an NBA general manager, either. All of them. They’re second-guessed constantly. Every decision can turn into one that could cost you your job. It’s a big part of why a lot of them are paid a million bucks a year.

Is Kevin Pritchard in jeopardy of being fired? I’m not sure. I don’t think it’s imminent. But it shouldn’t be surprising that he’s the subject of a ton of second guessing. Heck, you’ve seen it constantly in the comment section of this blog. The toughest part of KP’s job is that nobody is 100 percent perfect when it comes to drafting players. There is always something there for the critics.

You can go back and find all kinds of miserable draft-day mistakes on the resume of Jerry West, Geoff Petrie, Jerry Krause, Donnie Walsh — any of them. It’s the nature of the beast.

And I can also tell you that any general manager who passes over the likes of Michael Jordan, or Larry Bird, or, yes Kevin Durant, is going to have to live with that for a long, long time — no matter the circumstances.

You think Pritchard himself isn’t tormented by that draft? Sure, at the time, most people would have done the same thing he did. Greg Oden was the right pick for this team. I would have done it and just about all of the league’s other GMs would have done it. But Pritchard is probably lying awake nights wondering if he couldn’t have had just a little better medical insight, or have taken a little more time, or talked to a few more people before making that pick. I have always assumed that he got Paul Allen’s buy-in before making that pick, and if he didn’t it was a huge mistake.

That was Bob Whitsitt’s genius, I understand. He always got Allen to buy in before a major move. Then if it backfired, you turn around and say, “Hey, too bad — WE made a mistake.” But never, “I made a mistake.” In the case of Oden vs. Durant, I’d have been tempted to make sure Allen — ever a draft nut — saw every workout in person or on tape and then invite him to make the choice.

As fans, a lot of you are uncomfortable seeing Durant become a great player. But you think it bothers you? I can’t imagine what it’s doing to KP. I mean, that Oklahoma City box score popping up three or four times a week with Durant scoring 35 points must drive Pritchard crazy — just as he knows the guy is going to be one of the best three or four players in the league for the next decade.

He knows, too, he’d have been better served by making some use of Raef LaFrentz’s expiring contract last season, too. And not have gone so all-in publicly on Hedo Turkoglu last summer. And every GM worth his salt cares so much about doing a good job that when things don’t go right, he tortures himself.

And then, of course, he has to watch his right-hand man, Tom Penn, get the pink slip at a very odd time. Was that firing a message to Pritchard? Honestly, I still don’t think so. There are indications that Penn’s dismissal had more to do with HR issues — the kind of things that happen in any office. If that’s the case, I feel bad for Penn. I hope the story never gets out as to what really happened and I wish him all the luck in the world finding his way back in the league.

I think Pritchard’s issues are his own. And I think it’s really not unlike what every GM faces. Man, it’s a tough job. And the alligators in suits are nipping at your toes constantly, ready to second-guess everything you do. Often, they’re guys who have no clue what you do.

At the same time, they’re always falling in love with some wizard on the business side who they’re crediting for all the financial success of the franchise. I’ve seen it for years.

But you know what, you can have all your little two-for-one hot dog nights, all your little bobblehead promotions, all the civic contributions and all those little charity deals you want… until your team is winning basketball games, guys, you got nothing. Zip. And that’s what matters to a franchise.

At this point, Paul Allen ought to have connected those dots. He knows that. But you just never know in that organization. Strange things happen — and sometimes without warning.

Being a general manager anywhere in any sport is difficult. And being a general manager for the Trail Blazers is one of sport’s toughest jobs.

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I don’t think this win is anything to get too fired up about. Sorry, don’t mean to be a downer, but Portland didn’t play very well — it’s just that the Sonics/Thunder played worse.

And Kevin Durant? Look, I give Martell Webster all the credit in the world for hustling around and doing his best. Webster’s effort level this season has been among the best on the team. But Durant was awful. He missed a ton of shots he’s usually going to make. He was just out of kilter.

I loved the way Portland came out of the chute in this game. They ran halfcourt motion and moved the ball. They moved bodies. Heck, the Blazers even once scored when Steve Blake made a backdoor cut and got the ball for a layup — the first such thing I can remember this season. Wow — actually a basket out of an offensive set, rather than from someone going one-on-one!

Greg Oden was getting the ball early, feeling a part of things and it all looked great. But coach Nate McMillan, apparently following a predetermined substitution plan, lifted Oden and Blake at the six-minute mark and it kind of went south from there. Oh well — a lot of coaches do that. When you have a long bench full of guys who need to play, such things happen.

It was a win and in the NBA you shouldn’t complain about wins. But as I said earlier this young season, don’t always confuse poor shooting by an opponent with good defense. Some nights, they just miss shots. I was shocked, actually, at how poorly the Thunder played.

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Kevin Durant said that Oden “looked like his old self” out there, which I presume to mean that he looked like the pre-injury Oden. I don’t think he meant just that he looked old.

This piece by Chris Mannix on SI.com mentions Oden decking Derrick Rose on his way to the basket. That’s nice.

Durant was the obvious hit of the first day at the camp and was the best player on the floor according to all accounts I found. The Blazers had a Twitter entry that included a quote from workout supervisor Jay Triano calling Oden “the surprise” of the first day, but I couldn’t find it in print anywhere.

In the ESPN story, though, there was this:

Others who caught the coaches’ eyes included Rudy Gay, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon and JaVale McGee, and several team insiders said they were surprised how spry Greg Oden looked.

In the case of Oden, I don’t think you could find a more welcome description than “spry.”

UPDATE: Very sorry for missing this earlier. Casey Holdahl has video here of Oden running yesterday and yes, it’s a major change. He’s actually able to run now.

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Ugh. The Thunder brought nothing into town Monday night. Not that Portland didn’t play well — the Blazers were terrific. But you really would like to see the other team at least make it look as if it cared. It didn’t.

Man, that was some rotten effort. Hey, I almost forgot — which one of those guys was the Durant kid, anyway?

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Just in case you missed it, he’s sidelined for seven to 14 days with a sprained ankle. But that’s OK, because HE’S not injury prone.

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This game should be fun. The Thunder Sonics are a fun team to watch in a wacky kind of way and coming off a tough game at Dallas, the Blazers might be a bit vulnerable. However size gives OKC fits and if Portland can pound the ball inside, control the tempo and just keep from coughing the ball up, it should not be a difficult game.

This, in fact, is a game playoff teams win.

The Thunder Sonics come  into this off a very tough one-point loss to Denver and has been much better since Scott Brooks took over the coaching reins from P.J. Carlesimo a dozen games into the season. It’s obvious he’s more relaxed with the team than Peejay was and it shows — the Thunder  Sonics play freely and with a style that would probably be fun for the players.

The obvious Kevin Durant-Greg Oden matchup will play out for the first time, even though, of course, they play different positions. Durant can score on anybody and is one day going to lead the league in scoring — particularly if OKC continues to flounder in the standings. He’s good and going to get better.

Oden, on the other hand, is a post player on a team still incapable or unwilling to feed the post. It hasn’t exactly accelerated his development.

The game’s a good runup for Portland to the Sunday afternoon tilt against the New York Knicks. Two running teams in a row.

And at the very least, Friday’s game should give us a chance to pause and remember a long-time wonderful rivalry with the Seattle Sonics. What a shame that whole thing had to end.

In fact, why not just — in a tribute to the rivalry – continue to call them the Sonics?

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After his 22 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocks Tuesday night, here are some things to consider about the guy right now:

He still has to physically gather himself under the basket for a couple of seconds before being able to lift off well enough to dunk. Doing that puts him in jeopardy of getting stripped by smaller players (he has the ball all the way down to his waist) and leads to travelling and three-second calls. The time it takes him to get his feet under him and jump allows the defense to swarm him — if he could go up quicker he’d do so with a lot less traffic around him.

He’s not running well and still can’t jump much. And people seem to forget that at one time, Oden was known for his ability to move – remember back before his injury when Oden ran the agility drill at the NBA pre-draft camp about a second faster than Kevin Durant?

And with all that said, he’s still looking like a very dominant offensive player. I do believe, over time, he’ll get most of his speed and agility back but recovery from microfracture surgery takes a while. You can say all you want about evaluating basketball players but never forget one thing:

Size matters.

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