He is selfish. He had 16 of the last 20 points for the Thunder in the 4th quarter of their game tonight. He doesn't make his teammates better. Oden was the right pick, because if he becomes Bill Russell, the Blazers will be really good.
I still believe in Greggers, but can't we all admit it was a botched pick? I say this as someone who advocated picking Oden, yet defended Durant as well.
As someone who thinks Durant is awesome and thought the same back at the time of the draft, Oden was the correct pick at the time. With full knowledge of what would happen injury-wise, I'd take Durant. However, I still think Oden will have more impact if he starts playing full seasons. But Durant is just far more certain and has already logged much more value to date.
Roy/Aldridge/Oden...all healthy Just think about that for a second. It's hard to because I'm pretty sure they've played less than 82 games together. In the same starting lineup? Number is even lower. Such a fucking shame. The Blazers got their one big break for star players and it couldn't have played out any worse. Some shit just isn't fair.
Well, while we're kicking ourselves, how about fricking ZBo waiting until he gets to Memphis to grow up instead of doing it a few years ago here in Portland? Picture that guy playing alongside Aldridge and you're talking about a title contender even without Oden. Crap.
he was the same guy. i was kicking LOUDLY when he got traded. THAT was a major fuckup. I said fire pritchard and I believe the ZBO trade was the root of him getting shitcanned.
If he loses athletic ability, then yes, he won't come very close to Durant. The injuries he sustained, unlike Roy's, are not supposed to rob him of athletic ability. But I guess we'll see if that's true.
Greggers could have both legs amputated, and a small faction of Blazer fans will still think he's just about to turn into a once-in-a-generation (tm Ed O.) talent.
Correct-O. The main thing he's improved at is that he doesn't have to to put up with the Oregonian hating him for walking into a club, having a group of black friends, etc. In any other NBA city, this is considered normal.
He's certainly improved his passing. Pete Pranica was on the radio two weeks ago talking about how much he's changed from his days in Portland and even New York, so to say he's the same guy now that he was back then doesn't seem accurate. I'd love to have him now.
There is some truth to this. He had talent around him in his first couple seasons, but really played on some crap teams after that. Considering the perimeter shooting on this team, I'm not sure he would be passing it out much if he were a Blazer.
And, non-coincidentally, the years when he had talent around him were the years he was the people's hero to Blazers fans and the years that he was on crap teams were the years where he was considered a useless player. No one ever called him a black hole when he had Rasheed Wallace and Scottie Pippen alongside him. Basically, when the team was winning, he was appreciated for his strengths and when the team lost (due largely to the dismantling of the team around him), he was vilified for his weaknesses. I don't think Randolph was a "loser" who finally discovered how to help teams win. He was a very-good-but-not-great player who, when miscast as a franchise star by inept team managements or unrealistic fans, gets scapegoated.
It does sting that Durant made it, and Zach ALMOST made it, to the second round before we ever did. Hopefully, we win these next two games. Otherwise, I don't know where we're headed. I won't get my hopes up about Greg anymore. What we have is what we have. Gerald Wallace needs to step the fuck up.
