It's puzzling that Nate is so adamant and so stubborn with this. It's not like G.O. is Chris Dudley out there.
Pimping OLive here, but w/e. Quick has a chat coming up in about 10 mins. I'm sure that he'll talk Oden/Nate: http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2009/10/blazers_chat_with_jason_quick.html
Jeez i might be the only guy who says "please god pass the ball" everytime Oden gets it. I cringe every time he gets the ball down low. This team would be screwed if he were the focus on offensive sets.
It is a lot. Which makes it ridiculous that, since he's getting turnovers b/c the guards are improperly executing the P&R (again, something that's been going on without correction since Sergio and Jack and Blakey were doing it in 2007), they continue trying to ride that horse and not do something that will get the OTHER team's "bigs" in foul trouble. If you're saying you won't pass him the ball because he turned it over three times--no matter what benefits may come from it--why are you advocating continuance of the P&R where he supposedly caused the turnover three times? Isn't that hypocritical?
You ever see Tyson Chandler's offensive game? Or Kyrylo Fesenko's (who's?) last night? Seriously, it's not that tough. Assuming your guards care.
To be honest the most infuriating thing about Nate is his aversion to actually passing the ball to the roller on a pick and roll. He made Joel an absolute non-factor on offense since he's been here because he refuses to use the one offensive set that Joel could complete with Damon on any consistent basis. When you have a 7'0 guy like Greg who has okay hands, and can cover a lot of ground it's pretty insane that we don't do a pick and roll and give it to him at least a few times a game.
I suspect that this is McMillan's way of saying, "I don't really trust Oden when it comes to offense." Not saying he's right, but he probably thinks there's a better chance of scoring when Roy or Aldridge are shooting, so why go to Oden and blow an opportunity?
It is interesting that Nate seemingly is feeling the need over and again this season to defend himself.
I'm not quite there with you, but I don't get why everyone thinks Oden is this dominanat post up player. What I don't get is when Oden gets the ball down low, the crowd starts to buzz. You hear it everytime. It almost forces Oden to look to shoot and the results have not been the best when he goes to his post up game. A few times a game, great. But there is plenty of time for Oden to develop an offensive game. I say put the ball in the hands of the scorers and win the game. The alley oops and GO cutting to the hoop for the easy basket will develop in time. Oden has not shown great hands (I heard he had soft hands) in the NBA, especially the being stripped part. Why rush this process?
Oden shouldn't be the focus of the offensive sets, but the offensive sets should include Oden. As more than a rebounder. Completely leaving him out of the offense, by and large, is pretty silly. It's like McMillan thinks he has two choices with Oden...dump it into him and play the offense around that or ignore him. The dump-it-down-to-him didn't work in the several times they tried it last game, so he's elected to ignore him. That seems like really simplistic thinking on the part of McMillan. How about involving him in other ways like, as many have suggested, pick and rolls? Or backdoor cuts for alley-oops? He's seven feet tall, powerful and incredibly athletic...throwing him the ball near the basket where he gets to make a play in rhythm (rather than out of a set position) seems like an obviously necessary thing to do.
This is true. He got called for 3 in the key, and an illegal screen or two. I thought he lost the ball three times and had a traveling violation as well, didn't he? At any rate, when the Blazers did get the ball to him not much good was happening, with the exception of one nice pass he had to Miller under the basket. I would argue that there were more than a couple of times where they were trying to get Greg the ball and he just wasn't in good position. I saw it - they would look at him, and then go elsewhere. His footwork with his back to the basket needs some work. When did you see Greg in scoring position where the Blazers missed him? I was looking for it, trust me. I wanted to see Greg's "new & improved" post game. What I saw was that he's still very stationary. When the ball swung to his side, Houston could easily front the passing lane or cheat another guy that was in double team distance of Greg because there was no threat of him taking advantage of it. He needs to be more active, and when teams front him he needs to go to the basket where they can throw a lob over the top and Greg catches it (doesn't bring it down where it can get slapped away by a weakside defender) and quickly finish. I also noticed that he still holds to ball too long. He's got to be able to catch it, quick drop step or spin, and go up. I know many disagree, but I don't think we should force the ball into Greg on nights like that. I'm not bashing Greg. I was excited about his defense & rebounding.
Interesting quote from Quick on his chat - supposedly from Nate. "These people have no clue". Sorry to disappoint - but until this team fails (which it has yet to do under this coaching staff) - I am with Nate. Addition - apparently, Oden is not upset about his touches - and thinks he made mistakes so he should not have got the ball.
When Greg Oden is within 5 feet of the basket you give him the ball, period. Sadly this doesn't happen enough.
It'd be interesting if Nate could get his perimeter players to be as defensive as he is when he's questioned about these things.
Do people think Greg does a good job of rolling after he sets a screen? Do they think he has good hands? In my opinion he's below average in both areas, yet I'm happy to see improvement. I noticed Andre Miller struggling to get Greg the ball in the P&R. We know it's not because he doesn't know how to run a pick and roll.
