Oden: US Mini Camp Updates

I'm not trying to say conspiracy but what the fuck is it with the media that they can't give Greg any credit even when he met the explicit goals of the coaches. That is he rebounded well (10 boards) and played by all accounts really good defense. How does Derrick Rose with 6points and 2 assists with 4 turnovers warrant being called the 3rd best player there? And is Rudy Gay going to actually beat out the scorers the redeem team already has? I think not so his selfish scoring and black hole on offense is unlikely to mesh well with LBJ, Wade and Kobe who are all far, far better.

Durant clearly deserves the #1 spot and tip of the hat to him. I'm finally to the point where I can acknowledge Durant's skills and not feel a twinge. The stupid Oden vs. Durant thing makes it a bi-polar subject when really you can like both. Westbrook also looked to be great. How the hell does Jeff Green beat out Oden though? Oden also doubled up on Love's stat line.

Am I crazy or is this kind of insulting to GO and seeming to border on a total unwillingness to give GO some props. Ridiculous!

 

Oden came into the league riding a wave of over-heated hype. After 2 years of injuries, foul troubles, and occasional bouts of just poor play, nobody in the national media is going to risk pumping him up.
It is going to take time for people to adjust to the fact that he is neither savior nor bum, and find some realistic middle ground.

 

Putting up an 18 PER while recovering from a major surgery in his rookie season doesn't eliminate the possibility that he's as good as he was advertised (by the scouting community, not casual fanboys/girls).

He may never fulfill those expectations, but it's hardly like he's proven that he never will.

 

Video of the scrimmage (specifically Oden)

I have to say I think he looks pretty much like last season. Intimidating on defense, clumsy and awkward on O. I hope he keeps working, particularly on balance and leg strength.

 

Well I didn't see Dre on the court throwing very many lobs or passes to him either.

 

He looked a little better but in general I'd have to agree with you. He's got a ways to go. He's still got half the summer to go though and I think he's on the right track, it just takes time. I think he needs to slim down a bit, that might help his lift and quickness.

 

I was actually disappointed to hear how slow Oden looked according to Holdahl. Oden had freakish numbers in the pre-draft camp in terms of speed for a man his size. Has he already lost that part of his game due to the injuries?

 

Oden was rimchecking himself at the end of last season. An alley-oop was out of the question. Let's hope he's got some of his bounce back this year.

 

Oden may be the best offensive rebounder in the league, and that leads to a higher PER. Why some people want to diminish that obvious strength by running the offense through him baffles me. At least KP, Nate, and even Coach K seem to realize that he needs to focus on defense and rebounding consistently, and without fouling, is a positive.

 

Still needs to get leaner imo. I would say he is moving better though.

 

You do realize that the aspect ratio on that video is horizontally stretched right?

 

I'd say that is bad news for Durant, since he's still a string bean in the video, but he's dominating everyone at the camp, so I doubt OKC cares.

 

I can't speak for Roytoy, but my similar comments were due to the fact he still doesn't get off the ground very far, still appears to lumber up the court, still looked a little tired, and still looked a little unbalanced/ackward... Slimming down would help with all that. It had nothing to do with how big his upper body looked due to the video.

 

Takes two years to fully recover. It's not until a ways into the second season that you see most of the athleticism return. My vote is he will look pretty close to pre-injury speed by January. I think really a full year from now is when we will see him at maximum speed etc. November 2010 is when I hope to see him being absolutely dominant.

 

I fully agree with this.

I don't see any reason while we'll ever run our offense through him. It's not a knock on him, but it would be going against the strengths of the team. It would be like running Batum off pick and rolls, while Roy stands in the corner waiting to shoot the 3.

 

It would be wise to run SOME of the offense through Greg. Because despite his raw offensive game, he still commands a double just about every time and he's a very good passer from the post. Plus he draws a lot of fouls down low.

 

Throw me in that category too. If you want to run your offense through a big man you run it through LMA. Not saying never dump it down to him, but when you have Roy, Miller, and LaMarcus on the court why go through Greg. He will get his points just fine.

 

As the Shonz would say...

 

Actually, you'd be hard pressed to come up with a game where Greg was consistently double teamed during the last month of the season. Also, he would draw most his fouls off of offensive rebounds on drive & dish situations.

I'm not saying to not look at him at the offensive end, go to him against an obvious mismatch, or run a low screen across for him (as we didn't last season), but that going to him on offense should never be a part of our gameplan. His ability to weakside rebound and occupy a defender makes him plenty valuable on the offensive end as is.

 

However you wanna slice it, Greg needs to get at least 12 shots a game. I hope to God I don't see several consecutive games where he gets less than 5 shots, much like last year.