Portland is up 31 points and Coach Nate puts in Greg Oden!?!?!!??!

Why? Oden is an afterthought so far this season. He needs some experience.

 

I agree.........next time someone says Joel sucks, I may have to put them on ignore.

 

This thread cracked me up. I was hoping Oden and Batum would be put in. If anything (and it's nothing because tonights game was perfect), Batum should've been put in when Oden was.

Rookies are rookies. They need to learn, and there's no way to do that than in no-pressure REAL NBA GAMES.

Batum is solid, but he needs to develop an all-around offensive game instead of stand in the corner and hope for a consistent jumper. Oden not only needs to work on his conditioning, but also just simply play more basketball. He's barely played in a year and a half.

 

I can't believe someone is upset that Oden is getting experience. We're not going to hide Greg and keep him under 20 minutes. His offensive game is improving, but still has a lot of room for growth. Going in while the game is in hand is a great time to work on some of his moves.

 

Wow, from some of the responses I can tell there are some real basketball newbs with a serious lack of knowledge on this board. I question if many of you have ever watched a great player develop. This isn't even debatable among serious basketball fans. Do you think Phil Jackson would ever keep the injury prone Shaq in a game when the Lakers were 31 points up? Hell No. No coach with common sense would. If Greg Oden goes down because some scrub tries to prove himself in garbage time of a decided game it would be one of the most pointless and easily avoided franchise injuries ever. It would be indefensible, yet you all want to defend it.

Greg Oden is a starter. If you want to give him minutes, you give him minutes when starters get minutes. The players that need playing time in those situations are Bayless, Diagou, and Frye, players that can't otherwise get minutes. You do not, under any circumstances play your starters in a blowout. NBA Coaching 101.

What Nate did was amateur, hopefully he learns from his mistake.

For the newbs, not every NBA minute is the same. Oden and Batum need quality minutes, not garbage minutes. It's called garbage time for a reason, because the play resembles garbage, with the worst players playing and not showing a glimpse of team ball. There's nothing for players like Oden or Batum to learn from that, it's all sloppy. The chances of Oden getting injured in garbage time of a blowout are far greater than the chances of him learning anything that would help him develop into a champion.

 

I don't even need to read your garbage.

Maybe Oden doesn't want to be labeled "injury prone" his entire career, and wants to play late in the game like every other rookie should?

And Oden needs more than just learning. He needs playing. He needs stamina, and not just stamina developed with jogging or swimming. He needs to play basketball, and the best way to do that in the middle of the season is to play in the games... as much as he can.

"Newb."

 

Can you give negative rep to people who demonstrate a severe gap in what they know, and what they think they know?

 

Putting rookies in during garbage time is the right thing to do. It's a valuable learning experience.

 

Using Shaq and Phil Jackson is a horrible example. Shaq was already developed and very dominant when he was in LA. So you are correct Phil would not have him in during a blowout. It is not the same situation.

 

Come on, stop trying so hard to find what Nate did wrong in a 40 point blowout. You are starting to sound like some other people around here...

Greg needed the experience... he is rusty and not in shape. He has a long way to go. It was the right move... he isn't our best Center right now and you can't treat him like a fragile doll.

 

Oden needs to get in game shape. What better time than when it doesn't matter so any growing pain doesn't hurt the team trying to win a game? Normal circumstance you won't play your starters in a blow out, that's why Roy and LMA wasn't playing, but there's a exception to every rule and this was one of those times. To go blindly by NBA Coaching 101 is the same as having book knowledge, but not real time practical knowledge. Nate is wise enough to understand the reason you normally wouldn't play a starter and understands that reason doesn't apply here.

 

Have you noticed how not one poster has agreed with you in even the slightest way? So despite being a complete newbie here & catching a clue that you're ridiculously off base with this panicky nonsense, you decide to throw out blanket insults?

oh well, have a happy thanksgiving

STOMP

 

Greg Oden at this point is a second stringer that is starting. To the people and the OP that think you know more that the Blazers coach, why are you not NBA coaches? Oh yeah, I know the answer!

YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT!!!

 

At some point you gotta stop babying the guy, and just treat him like a rookie and let Greg find himself and build some confidence. This isn't some 24-hour fitness ball where some uncoordinated idiot could've injured Greg.
And nothing happened to him anyway, so why make a big deal out of it.

 

Whatever gives him more play time is cool with me. If he gets injured, he gets injured... shit happens.

 

What the hell makes you the fountain of all knowledge when it comes to basketball?

 

The world is not black and white.

All rookies are not the same.

All minutes are not the same.

 

That's exactly what it was. Garbage time is 2nd and 3rd stringers out trying to make themselves look good and punish the other team for blowing them out. The percentage of injuries goes up big time in those situations and there isn't any valuable experience to be gained for a super elite prospect.

Yet.

 

Maybe we should just sit Oden until the playoffs so he doesn't get hurt until then.

 

+1

Wasn't it a lot better last season when Greg just sat on the bench the whole year.