Greg Oden doesn't compare to Bill Russell. Bill averaged 14 ppg and 19 rpg in his rookie season. In his first playoff game, he grabbed 31 rebounds.
Time to masturbate to your laminated photo of Travis Outlaw. I'm glad you think the stats of a healthy rookie playing in 1956 who played four years in college is the same of a guy recovering from microfracture who played one year of college ball and who has to face 2009 competition.
Greg will probably never average 19 rpg no matter how many years it takes him to recover from the surgery.
Not to mention that most of the competition back then was of 6 foot caucasion guys running around in tight shorts. Some how I think the competition is better now.
I think that was maxiep's way of saying he does not approve of the lack of perception on reality when comparing 6'11 guys in the 50s and 60s to 7' guys in 2009.
He made the comparisons in playing styles. You made the comparison in statistics. This is not surprising but still very irritating.
I just think such a comparison is going too far. I hope Oden will become dominant and lead us to many titles. But that doesn't put him on the level of Bill Russell.
Bingo. Repped. And this has been the Blazers plan from the beginning. People seem to forget how often a specimen like Oden comes around, let alone garnering a less than five percent chance of picking him. The comparison is legit. Why do you think Bill Russel and the other great centers were so quick to give Oden advice and do interviews with him. The potential is there, and if those guys can see it I'll bank on it.
So - you agree with him - Good - Even Rodman, who had the greatest one-season modern-era rebounding year did not get 19RPG.
