Good point from MB's Blog

Hahah, that is so true.

http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/

 

Good point, and another reason why statistics can be misleading. Oden will have a greater effect on the game than his numbers will indicate.

 

Oden will change the way teams attack us. All those easy buckets we were giving up last year won't be happening as much.

There will always be guys like Kevin Martin, Kobe, Wade, & Lebron that will want to challenge Oden, but there's not many that will.

 

Also, he will draw a ton of fouls on the opposing team's big men that will effect the game and will not show up in the box score.

 

One worry is how easily Martin and Salmons got by the Blazer perimeter defense. No matter who is under the basket, consistent penetration by the perimeter players ultimately means foul trouble for the guys inside.

 

That's the idea. Guard the perimeter (ie, 3-point shot) and feed them to our bigs.

 

Shaq as a Laker, while not a great defender, was still a shot-changer even if not a great shot-blocker, just due to his intimidating presence.

Oden, as a great defender with tremendous size, will be both a shot-changer and a shot-blocker.

 

Frankly, that idea didn't work very well last night.

 

It will be interesting to see Greg tomorrow night against a decent center. Kaman is a quality defensive center and I am excited to see how Greg handles it. So far he hasn't had to deal with an offensive minded big man yet in the post.

 

Good to see you came over to the good side MGB. You are the last of the good posters to make the jump;

 

Since when did fouls not show up in the boxscore? lol

 

if this was the euros they would track that stat!