So - you people who have given up on Oden: don't you think we better trade him now, before everybody else realizes he's a loser? And if so, who do you think would be a fair trade? Because after all, Sam Bowie (Oden's middle two names, apparently) netted us Buck Williams. In a completely unrelated note, it's funny that the "Thunder" seem to be a lot better without Kevin Durant, ain't it?
Those people don't believe Oden has any real trade value left. There are people here who think he'd be drafted 10th in his draft class, if that draft were re-done.
He did the same thing to me. It's what happens when somebody has nothing else to say. It's the lowest common demoninator, and it makes me lose respect for that poster.
Folks need to relax. Right now, I just plan on Oden having no impact. That way if he plays, and especially if he has an impact, it is a bonus. Take your top of the world expectations, and lower them to reality, and then it is much easier to deal with.
Sorry for being a dick earlier. I've just been getting frustrated with the lack of patience regarding GO.
My expectations are still sky high for him. I see the flashes of dominance, but I also understand that he's still getting into game shape. The nagging injuries have been disappointing, but none of them have been particularly serious. The difference between me and other posters is that: a) I'm not going to draw any conclusions about GO until he's gotten into game shape; and b) I have patience.
I don't hear anybody saying we should trade him for scraps - but if the Bulls came to us tomorrow and offered Rose-for-Oden, darn right I would do it! If we could get a PG like Rose or Deron Williams for Oden, that would be plenty "fair" enough for me. BTW, I'm assuming your point is that there is no Bowie-for-Buck type deal out there - which might be true. Certainly, you aren't saying trading Bowie for Williams was a *bad* idea?
Why not? Because he's actually good? Well, duh. But those players are either (Williams) already a star or (Rose) assumed to be a dead cert to be. Again, this seems to assume that Oden is star quality. (In fact, better than star quality, because those guys have no health questions so for teams to be prepared to make that gamble, Oden would have to offer greater reward to counterract the greater risk.) Unless you're assuming that other teams' GMs are suckers and don't know what we know. Go with the courage of your convictions: suggest dumping him for a solid role player. Actually my point was that even the much-maligned Bowie landed us a great player (who, incidentally, went #1 in the draft). Of course, Bowie was bundled with some scrub by the name of Petrovic...
I haven't given up on him and I honestly don't think we could get much for Oden that would make me happy. I'm merely disappointed that he has had all these injuries and hasn't played very well when healthy. Hopefully, he'll develop into a decent center in two years.
He's played extremely well when healthy, which is very promising. Other than fouls. But I think he'll learn to play without fouling.
WRONG! In fact Z missed ALL of his rookie year, and only played 5 games in his THIRD year. He was drafted in 1996, but played for the first time in the '97-'98 season (and just like Oden, was regarded as a rookie a year after he was drafted). We're hoping Oden is as good a #1 pick despite injury as Ilgauskas has been a #20 pick despite injury.
