Noah's been playing very well. Just because we all love Oden doesn't mean he has to suck. I am curious though, since I haven't seen him play a ton - Can Noah guard guys like Tim Duncan straight up and shut him down? And does Noah ever get double-teamed in the post?
Duncan scored 28 points with 16 boards on 13-19 shooting against the Bulls this season. Noah had 10/10 and 3 blocks in about 24 minutes. So Duncan didn't do all his scoring on Noah... I'd say he is really tall but more agile than most his size. He has a good nose for the ball, which shows in his rebounding numbers. He's really taken a step up and exceeded my expectations for him. I thought he'd be a contributor right away and a backup PF/C type for his career. It doesn't hurt that the Bulls don't have any PFs to speak of.
I'd love to have him now as a backup power forward. I think he profiles as not-terrible starter and excellent backup.
If you are comparing apples to apples, this is Oden's 3rd season, just like Noah. Missing an entire season to injury is a huge negative...not something to twist in a player's favor.
It was a net loss to us though. We didn't get him for 82 games. Those are lost forever and set him back one year. That's not something to be excited about.
It's also not something to get upset about, because it's done and over with. Although, maybe we can do something about it...because I'm close to inventing this machine that can travel through time....I call it, a time machine.
True, but if we're talking about comparing stats between Oden and Noah, that's irrelevant. Noah has two years of NBA game experience while Oden has only one. Big men take a while to develop their games. For Greg, we're just now beginning to see the impact that he can have on a game when he stays out of foul trouble. Since he seems to be learning how to stay out of foul trouble, I think that's pretty damned exciting.
In the minutes that Oden is on the court, he's better than Noah. I think that's indisputable. Any idiot could watch both players and be able to tell that Oden is the better player. The problem here, is that Oden gets in foul trouble and has had injury problems, really limiting his production the past two years. Based on potential, no one would take Noah over Oden, simply because Noah is no better than a career garbage man. While Oden has a chance to be something special, or at least a pretty above average player. I fully expect Oden's production to start matching some of his potential in the upcoming years.
The point is, missing time (either to injuries or foul trouble) detracts from a player's value. To date, Noah has had the better career. Whether he is better in the future, is a different question.
You cannot, will not, shall not become Doc Brown and disrupt history, julius. I will destroy the DeLorean before I allow this to come to pass.
The way Greg seems to be coming along with his offense and they way he plays defense (which is part of the reason he gets so many fouls) don't really seem to compare to Noah's game at all. Certainly Joachim has been very productive and does a great job "going to the ball" and hustling to make stuff happen, but I'm not sure I'd want to put Noah on the low block and tell him "go to work" nor would I put him in the post to guard another big physical center mano-y-mano. I really don't see anything all that controversial with Sam Smith saying Noah has been more productive than Oden, because he definitely has if you want to measure statistical output -- and minutes and the ability to stay on the court because of fouls and injuries has to factor into that. I say let people form their opinions, downgrade Greg as much as they want, it certainly doesn't seem to be affecting him and nothing they say is going to affect his impact on the game and on this team. Admittedly, it would be pretty sweet if Greg could at least become a 15/14/4 player like his per 36 numbers suggest he would be if he could just cut the stupid fouls. It would go a long way toward shutting up asshats like Bill Simmons, who I find inusfferable.
Depends on how you define "better". Is it quality, or quantity. I think the question is which player is better right now (Oden) and which one will be better in the future (Oden), not which one has played one additional mediocre season (Noah). It seems a little silly to say Noah is "better" because he has an extra season of below average performance under his belt. If the metric is who has more total points, rebounds, etc. in their careers, then both Kwame Brown and Darko Milicic have had "better" careers, to date, than Joakim Noah. Both have considerably more career points and rebounds than Noah and had accumulated significantly more career points and rebounds at a comparable age. Are they better than Noah? No. I know from past threads you insist that this is Greg Oden's third season in the NBA, but you are wrong. The NBA is unambiguous about it - it's his second season. And don't try to play the "Oden was part of the same draft class at Noah, therefore they are both in their 3rd season" card. It's a baseless argument. Rudy Fernandez, Tiago Splitter and Petteri Koponen were all part of that same 2007 draft class. Is Rudy in his 3rd NBA season? Splitter? Koponen? Of course not. So, why do you claim Oden is? BNM
