Breaking News: Oden to Start

Miksaid said:

The day when Greg dunks like he does at 0:31, if it ever happens (let's hope so), is the day it's lights out for the league.

Click to expand...

That's not Oden dunking at 0:31 unless he shrunk 6" and lost 50 lbs.

Joel has been playing well but I wouldn't say better than Oden, merely because Oden hasn't always had a chance to show what he can do with superstar minutes. I bet he has a great game tonight and that ends the debate right there. Oden is the future. He must start. No matter how well Joel plays.

It sucked thet Oden didn't get a chance to start against Shaq and truly show how he matched up. Like I said- big game out of Greg tonight.

Oden looked awful tonight. He has no offensive moves, no handle, no confidence, and not much of anything to contribute right now. The only time he gets a rebound is when it comes right to him. The guy should get 10 rebounds a game in his sleep, but he can't seem to find the ball when it comes off the rim.

I know he's recovering from a major injury, but so far I'm pretty disappointed with Oden.

Oden is playing with absolutely no confidence whatsoever.

...terrible move to the starting rotation [why bench one of the best players, statistically, in the league over the last week or so???]!!!

Shooter said:

Oden looked awful tonight. He has no offensive moves, no handle, no confidence, and not much of anything to contribute right now. The only time he gets a rebound is when it comes right to him. The guy should get 10 rebounds a game in his sleep, but he can't seem to find the ball when it comes off the rim.

I know he's recovering from a major injury, but so far I'm pretty disappointed with Oden.

Click to expand...

It's going to take time. I know we don't want to wait, but the truth is you don't come back from micro-fracture surgery and consistently look incredible. He does have offensive moves. We've already seen them this season and in college. Grabbing rebounds can be tough when you're not quick enough to get position or strong enough to get your feet off the floor.

His confidence is a huge factor. He'll only get that back by playing through these struggling moments.

As disappointed as you are in Oden, I feel the same way about many of the Blazer fans that drop their support for Greg at every whim. I'm baffled that you can in one breath point out that he's "recovering from a major injury" but still be disappointed. It's not his fault. Maybe your expectations were unrealistic.

HAAK72 said:

...terrible move to the starting rotation [why bench one of the best players, statistically, in the league over the last week or so???]!!!

Click to expand...

Brandon Roy needs help. He can't do this by himself. This team believes they can do something special this season. I think they realize that they can't do it unless Greg, LaMarcus, and Brandon can all play together at a high level. It's going to be painful to watch, but having Greg learn to play with the starters is going to pay off huge relatively soon.

HAAK72 said:

...terrible move to the starting rotation [why bench one of the best players, statistically, in the league over the last week or so???]!!!

Click to expand...

I still am in the "who cares who starts for now" camp. We started off well (with Greg) and Joel had a great game off the bench.

Our issues last night had very little to do with who started.