You're absolutely right. As I said, I was a bit surprised to see Oden walk out to the pregame introductions instead of running like everyone else. He doesn't seem to have any enthusiasm at all right now. It's very odd.
Oden didn't have one of his better games but it wasn't as bad as Shooter is making it out to be from what I saw watching the game. Oden is slow and I think he still needs to lose 10 pounds and get in better shape. I'm not worried at all about Oden and think he is going to be dominating by next year. I do think we need to try and get Oden the ball more and see if we can get his confidence back. I thought last game he looked like he was actually having fun and did contribute to the win in the 4th qtr.
We also don't have anyone that can execute the pick and roll. But on a side note "THE RUBES ARE AT IT AGAIN!!"
Yep. 5 out of the first 12 games in his career are double-doubles, and he is averaging just over 20 minutes a game.
Really. We would have lost the Detroit game without his interior defense and blocks at the end. He is a huge part of this years 13-6 start. Ignoring that and pointing out his bad game against the crappy Knicks defense is ignorant. Yes, all of us hoped for a bit smoother transition to Oden, but who cares. Call me in 2 years and tell me he is a bust. Here is Walton's #'s 35 games, 448 point on 51% shooting,12.8 points per game. He also had 94 blocks in 32 minuets of playing time. Wasn't earth shattering.
Oden played hard defense from what I saw. Just because his "body language" told you he was "uninterested", doesn't mean he wasn't trying. The pick and rolls with Oden were hard to watch, Oden would come out, Blake/Roy/Sergio would use the screen, and Oden would roll to the basket and call for the ball. They maybe gave it to him once. After awhile he just stopped rolling and it was a sad sight to see. IMO, the team never allowed Oden to get his rhythm offensively. On a side note, I saw this at a Knicks (Posting and Toasting) blog and found it quite funny:
Many Blazers fans were saying the same thing about Walton his first year. I remember a couple fans(season ticket holders) that sat just behind me at the Blazers games Walton rookie season. They would keep complaining about Walton and saying he was a bust. I finally got feed up and turned around and told them to shut up and they better get behind Walton if we ever wanted to be any good. I told them he is going to be special. The year we won the championship and the following year they were huge Walton fans. Just wait Oden is going to be special and he isn't a bust from what I have already seen.
Wish I remembered what writer it was that said, basically, that "when they're drafted, everyone preaches patience with young big men before they learn the game. Yet when they struggle for a while, people forget exactly what they were preaching before." Or something like that. These Oden struggles are absolutely what we were all expecting. And if you weren't expecting them, then you haven't followed basketball all that much. He'll continue to struggle for the rest of the year... slowly getting better. Hell, he'll still have a lot to learn next year, too.
I agree. I like Nate and want him in PDX, but he needs to come up with a better way getting Oden the ball. Get him side pick/roll or isolate him, get him moving. Oden is a sitting duck with double teams coming at him all the time. Help the kid. Paul needs to spend the cash and get Hakeem to Portland for a few years. I would love to see Oden model his game after the Dream.
Love your avatar, RW. People wonder where the hippies went, now we know..... they're toothless and hiding in the cornfields of Iowa.
The way this team played tonight, I think they we're all out sightseeing in NYC all day, they looked worn out before that game started.... cept the spaniards.. probably carbo loading up with all that spanish food they have there.
This is not a criticism of Oden, but he did miss two dunks while being "defended" by much smaller players. Again, this is not a slight, but I have zero problem with Oden getting second chance points at this stage of his career. There is no need to make him the primary option on offense considering how well the team is playing. This is a huge positive, yet the coach gets criticized for not having Oden as the central point in the offense.
Agreed. He's still a rookie and he's not going to dominate every game. This was not a good matchup for him since his post game is still in development, and he couldn't take advantage of having Lee and even Richardson on him on a switch down low. I'm not worried... just the growing pains he needs to go through. And Joel was playing like superman on defense tonight.
It always amuses me when people slam on Oden. It's like they forget how bad Amar'e looked after his microfracture surgery, they forget how just about every player who has had MF will tell you it takes at least a year after you start playing basketball again to start to fully trust your knee. Oden is running the court much better than he was even a week and a half ago. He's moving his feet on defense and affecting all types of shots, he's setting picks and rolling (despite hardly ever getting the ball in this scenario), he's quick to pass out and recognize an open shooter (wish we'd run more cuts when he's being double teamed in the post - that'd be an easy two for us considering Oden's reaction time with passing the ball), and as a rookie big man with limited offensive moves he's commanding double teams which is invaluable with our shooters on the floor. I'd certainly understand the cause for concern about Oden's statistics and movement - if this was last year, and he hadn't gone through micro-fracture. Micro-fracture is not an excuse people - it takes you out of basketball for a long time and it makes you question your knee - this set back Greg quite a bit but he still is having very, very good games. Another thing to consider with other people like Amar'e, Zach, Brian Grant, Kidd, Webber, etc who all came back from MF surgery - they at least had it at least a few years into their careers where they had already played against NBA players and learned some tricks and trades. Greg has had no such 'luck' if you will. He had it before he even stepped on an NBA court - so in addition to learning how to play against NBA players who are the same size as him, are as quick as him (or as quick as he was and will be again), and the general things a rookie big man has to go through he also has to go through it while learning to trust his knee again and get all his timing and quickness back. This is no easy task and is not an excuse in any way - it is simply reality and I wish some people would take it into perspective when evaluating Greg.
Regardless of the stats, I've been frustrated a bit with Oden. Several people are joining me in this frustration. Are we wackos who don't see the big picture? No, not at all. Multiple Blazers announced to the media that "Oden was a beast" before the preseason. The media passed on the hype. The offseason was a bit boring. Many of us watched videos of Oden swimming and doing pilates. He was going to be in great shape! We were told that he had a year of watching opponents tendencies. He's a very smart player, we were told. It was all a bunch of baloney. With all this hype, he's been, at times, underwelming. That doesn't mean I'm not excited about Oden - I absolutely am. But... not the current Oden. I'm excited about the February Oden. I really think he'll be much better then, and so will the Blazers.
Lets remember, not only did he only have 1 year of college, not only did he miss his entire rookie year, not only has he not played in a year, but he is coming back from the worst surgery possible. Its hard to come back in a year from that for a seasoned vet like Zack or Amare, let alone a raw rookie. He needs a year. He'll be fine.
I thought the exact same thing as I was watching the game on yet another pirated feed, this time of the Knick telecast. Oden looked pretty good running the court, didn't he? Sure, he missed two gimme dunks, but he's still learning to trust his game. I don't get the Oden bashing by the OP in this thread.
Oh he definitely is. He's moving much faster up and down the court both ways - just last week or a little longer he was kinda jogging up the court in short steps but he is taking much longer strides now. Another thing that would help Greg is if the guards fought through more screens instead of letting the opposing team get the switch leaving Greg on a point guard on the perimeter. He did a fairly good job against Duhon on the perimeter tonight which is really quite an improvement. Each game he is getting better at something, even if it is a little thing. He's coming over from the weak side better, not bringing down his arms nearly as much as he was before (but still doing it), holding the ball better. A lot of people seem to be concerned about him getting blocked because he gathers himself after getting an offensive rebound before he goes back up for a dunk - this is simply an explosiveness and knee-trust issue. Once he trusts his knee and fully regains the hops he had before it will be a non-issue in my opinion.
i didnt get to watch or hear much of oden playing due to i was at work for the first half but people mess up seriously im thinking exactly what other people have been saying give him a year hell at least a couple months before he gets consistantly better.... i believe hes running a lot better especially at that piston game.... give him a couple of months to get his legs he will be swatting shit outta the air like its nothin.... im going to be patient with the big guy
