There needs to be a goal brother. Give a couple minutes more here, couple more there, then set a personal goal to get him to 100% playing shape to play 30-35 minutes a game by Feb. Nothing wrong with that, and it's not trying to play him until he collapses.
It's not so much that which irritates me, it's the dumb "6 minute mark" rule that Nate has for him. Right now Nate has the following rules: 1) If Oden commits more than one foul per quarter, he sits the rest of the first half. 2) Regardless of foul trouble or play, Oden comes out with six minutes to go in the first and third quarters. One thing that drives me up the wall about Nate is that he refuses to go away from his subbing patterns, regardless of whether a guy is hot or not. It's just bad coaching.
In defense of Nate, he thinks that as Greg gets tired he is more likely to pick up ticky tack fouls. So I don't really have a problem taking him out at the 6 minute mark. It would be nice to get him back at the start of the 2nd or the 10 minute mark if he is not in foul trouble. I am okay with baby steps. As his conditioning improves he will get more minutes.
it'sGOtime said it in the other thread; I'd rather see Oden play the 4th quarter with only 3 fouls; that allows him to play completely uninhibited in the most important quarter.
It's the most important quarter if it's still a close game. What if it's a blowout for either team? I would rather see Greg in the game, influencing the outcome and helping us build a lead.
bad coaching? both centers are playing well and we're 10-2 in the last 12 games; bad coaching? Also- Kenny Smith said something a few weeks ago. He said that there are a lot of players in the league who can only contribute so much a game no matter how many minutes they play. You can't double Oden's minutes and expect him to double his contribution. Look at the one game this season where Oden played 30+ minutes. He had 11 points, 7 rebounds, & 1 block. That sort of throws out the whole validity of the per36 stat, doesn't it?
Who said I was only talking about Greg and Joel? He's done it with Rudy. He's done it with Aldridge. He's done it with Miller. And yes, he's done it with Greg. If a guy hits three or four shots in a row, and he's clearly feeling it, why bench him? Let the guy ride it out. When he cools off, that's when you make a change.
We won. We're winning almost every game. Only 2 losses in the last 12 games. Oden played a season high 34 minutes in one of the losses.
Nate's the master of knowing when a player has hit his stride and given what he can give. I'd rather not wait for a player to start chucking up three bricks to take him out. In those three bricks, you've given the lead back to the opposition.
That's an interesting point. Just because somebody can run 1500 meters in 4 minutes, it doesn't mean he can run 3000 meters in 8 minutes, or 6000 meters in 16 minutes. Oden does not have a "great motor". He is just average in that department. That's a big part of the reason that an otherwise inferior talent (Noah) has grabbed more rebounds this season.
Play the big guy between 32-34 minutes a night unless he's fouled out or we're in a blow out. He's going to need to be conditioned to play 32-34 minutes a night for us to have any success in the playoffs.
I thought Nate did a good job with his substitution pattern tonight. Not a big fan of the whole sale changes to start the 4th. Adelman used to drive me crazy with that. I like how Nate is always thinking about the money quarter. Having Miller and Oden fresh to start the 4th is comforting.
Nate said on Courtside that he felt he made a mistake in the GS game by pulling Oden and allowing GS to come back in the game. He is now more flexible playing Oden with fouls in the first half. If you haven't heard it check it out I'm sure it's online. He also said that sometimes Oden does get tired at about the 6 min point and he will reach in and get fouls he usually won't and that is a sign to him that he needs a break.
I want him to be able to defend whenever he's on the court, first quarter or fourth quarter, without worrying about being disqualified...by the rules or by his coach. Hopefully that is how he plays (unworried), but my desired plan for him wouldn't make him any more worried....as it is, he knows the next foul pretty much means the bench.
Well, you didn't aim this post directly at me, but nevertheless...note that my post about how I'd handle Oden said "play him normally" until [my various foul limits]. That means paying attention to injury and exhaustion, like you would...normally. I just don't like overly strict foul quotas, because it means leaving minutes he could have played on the table.
How do we know this? If he always takes guys out before they cool off, how do we know that he is the "master of knowing when a player has hit his stride?" Maybe they have 2-3 more buckets in them.
