You don't afterthought once in a decade centers! If Greg was getting 18-20ppgs a game and the offense seemed fluid, no one would care if the Blazers missed the playoffs by three games. Our foundation would be solid for next year. We all know it's the Lakers, Celtics and Cavs this year. So why they are planning for today, I want to have a solid amazing team for two years from now. Greg must be there!
Perhaps he's not yet a once-in-a-decade center at this point of his development, and I think the team is doing more than I would at bringing him along. He's starting, isn't he? I mean, you can say he should get more touches, but he can control his rebounding and (somewhat) blocks, and he isn't even doing those consistently against other legitimate centers. He's getting 25-30 minutes in games he deserves to be getting those minutes, and he is averaging 22.5 for the season despite being in constant foul trouble. I'm not sure what more can be done for him.
Greg is already getting double and sometimes tripple teams when he gets the ball. He knows how to pass out and that leaves two or three of our guards wide open. The problem is he doesn't get the ball fed to him enough to prove that 10 times a game. So let's say they can only put one guy on him cause our guards are murdering them from the outside? Then he has the ball is the low post so deep there's no way that any one player can guard him. To me it's all about the entry pass to him to set this whole sequence in motion. That's the problem,our PG's can't get him the freaking ball!
That's one way to look at it. Another is that on most nights, he isn't deserving of the ball. The games where Oden has succeeded on offense, the guards haven't had a problem getting him the ball. Why force-feed a guy who has proven to be foul-plagued, just for the sake of force-feeding him? If you want to slow down an offense and disrupt rhythm, that's a good way to do it.
Nate is on one heck of a tightrope. Yes, Oden needs to be developed...but as I said at the begining of the season, you can't let one player hold a franchise hostage. If Oden is handed minutes he hasn't earned, and it costs the team a play-off berth, that could really poison the locker-room. I don't envy Nate right now!
I'm not talking about being a superstar his rookie year. I'm talking about a GREAT center. Greg is not one RIGHT NOW. Howard is RIGHT NOW. I'm saying if we had Howard on our team (the Howard of today), i think Nate would go through him. And HOLY COW at the last part. When did i say he should sit? Did you read the 2nd part of my post? And the part I said there is no excuse to cut his minutes? I'm just talking about playing the offense through Greg. I think playing through Roy gives us the best chance to win right now... and it does. Don't be a selective reader man, that is no fun. Your comment had nothing to do with mine. Check out the 2nd post of this thread, and re-read the one you were responding to. I'm one of Greg's biggest fans.
I honestly don't think Nate knows how to use Greg. When has Nate ever played with or coached a decent center? When he was in Seattle he played with guys like Jim McIlvaine and Frank Brikowski. When he was coaching the Sonics he had guys like Jerome James. He's used to these scrub centers who couldn't score to save their lives.
Bingo!!!!! Pop, Phil, Rudy, Pat, Rick are coaches that could be great for Greg. I hate the Lakers but I'd love to see Phil have a year with Greg! For that matter I'd love to see Phil have a few years in Portland with Roy, Rudy, Bayless, LA, Batum and Oden. THis team would be scary!!!!!!
I have been stressing these same points for a while now. Oden must become a large part of our offense, if this doesn't happen then we don't have any real shot at becoming a championship team in the future. I think Pritchard sees what Nate is turning Oden into. The problem is, our roster is bailing Nate out with poor coaching but fantastic talent. If this continues, Nate will be fired. It's absolutely mind boggling that last game he had 3 shots, and this game he had 2. If your theory was that Greg is just as raw offensively as Mutumbo, and he isn't, Dikembe still got a whole lot of touches on the offensive end compared to Greg Oden. It's sickening and I feel really bad for Greg right now, he should be pissed.
That is exactly RIGHT!!!! This guy knows he's a star, do we need to lose him to the Lakers or the Celtics so we can see it too? You know if he doesn't live up to his hype here, there is no chance he stays when his contract is up, could ya blame him? Nate will have to go to keep Greg, it's that simple!
Realistically, I don't think we do something until after the season unfortunately. Who could we acquire? I would love Adelman but I think he's staying put. Larry Brown is an option we should look at, he's someone we COULD get if we wanted to. Just don't let him be GM.
Oden being raw, unpolished, and a walking foul is Nate's fault? I knew early on that this was another "bash Nate" thread. How about this? Nate has the team 5th in the West with the "franchise" center being schooled by the likes of Brook Lopez.
This may sound odd but what about Pat Riley! The knock on him was he overplayed his starting five in Miami. That said, by next year our team starting unit will be in place and Riley knows how to win with a big man. Thoughts?
There is no excuse for Oden to only play 13 minutes last night. I want the Blazers to make the playoffs really bad but if this team is going to be good for the next 10 years Oden will have to live up to the hype. I think we could have won the game even with Oden out there for at least 25 minutes. Nate needs to teach Oden to play the pick and roll if he doesn't like it. I'm so pissed at Nate for last night with Oden's minutes I doubt I can overcome it unless Nate changes his coaching of Oden soon.
Really? He was suddenly going to figure out how to defend the pick and roll? I know the team won a back-to-back game last night with Oden playing 13 ineffective minutes. I think the team would have not won the game had Oden played 25 hypothetical minutes.
Bash Nate? Yes!!!!!! Greg Oden was the #1 draft pick and thought to be the next coming of Bill R. He's sitting the bench while guys like Lopez are putting up huge #'s cause Nate can't figure out how to get him the ball on an intro pass!!! Holy Shit, if he doesn't see the ball and no plays are called for him, who should we be discussing here? The popcorn vendor? The Kwame Brown comparison is dead on if we don't get him involved and in a hurry! I don't give one shit about the first round of the playoffs and out! No real Blazer fan should. This is not a team for today, but two years away. If that means we drop 10 games in a row while Greg gets confident, so be it! It pays off in the long run and far more than any little playoff stand this year could produce. I still think if we pound the ball into Greg till he fouls out every game, his confidence explodes and our whole teams night becomes so much easier!
