I tried to told em. Ya'll just didnt want to accept it over the summer, but all the signs of this were there. But I guess im just a hater tho even tho my assessments were spot on.... who knew? Ive been say he will take time from dia uno!
sorry i know better but it gets the better of me sometimes. seriously this is the reason i don't post a lot on here, instead i read in the insane posts laugh/mock them and move on.
I wish Greg would show more enthusiasm. Maybe it's just the wrinkles in his old face that don't let me see it. He just strikes me as one of those guys who doesn't love the game of basketball, but has played it because of his height and ability for the game. I have no doubt that spending over a year recuperating from a "preventative" surgery couldn't have helped his determination and mental strength. Remember when Pryzbilla dunked after that sweet pass from Rudy (between Howard's legs) tonight? The fist-pump? You see that from most players. Roy, LMA, and Rudy (maybe particularly him) play with a lot more emotion. I don't ever see it from Oden. And it isn't deer in the headlights. Batum shows good spirits. It's a result of having the weight of the world on his shoulders. I'm sure that Oden is putting more pressure on himself than he should, particularly with how good the rest of the team is. This guy was the most heralded HS prospect outside of LBJ in the last twenty years. So the other guys on the team have experienced success and are in good mental states. The other rookies don't feel a ton of pressure and are just happy to be playing on a great team in the best league in the world. Oden is kind of a rare case, we have to admit. Am I frustrated? You bet. I wish that he could get his mental place fixed. But that's easier said than done. The Blazers should make a call into Tony Robbins. He could look Oden in the eye (he's really tall himself - like 6'7") and pump him up. I just hope that Oden can acquire (or re-acquire) a passionate, emotional love of the game. That's what is holding him back from being the next dominant big man.
I don't think it's trolling to be critical of Oden. He's a number 1 pick with the most hype since Lebron. He's played a good handful of games and I think it's fair to assess him as a player regardless of whether he's a rookie coming off injury or not. And right now what concerns me is his uninspired demeanor. It may not mean much in the end, he could still turn out great, but Oden doesn't look like a guy with a whole lot of fire in his belly.
But Greg says his knee is fine. And certainly, Amare and ZBo played much much better than this when they returned from their surgeries.
Oden doesn't look uninterested - he looks like a mixture of anxious and depressed. Every call that goes against him it's like "oh no, not again". I think it's a mixture of psychological and physical. I'm sure he feels like his body has betrayed him and he's not sure if he'll ever feel as good as he did before the surgery, and I think he really does feel like he's let a lot of people down and it's just snowballing. I remember the stories about how the first thing he did coming out of surgery was apologize and you've got to feel for him. I just hope he's not literally clinically depressed. On a related note, does anyone know what's happening with his dog (Charles Barkley McLovin)? I heard that it was blind.
The nets fan went through the microfracture-obsession phase when Kidd went through it. One thing we discovered was that there is a huge difference in rehab times (and success) depending on whether the microfracture surgery was on a weight-bearing on non-weight-bearing part of the knee. In Kidd's case, it was in a non-weight-bearing portion, and he was back on the court at a high level relatively quickly. I THINK that was the case in Amare's as well, but I'm not 100% sure. I'd probably recommend that you do some digging into the details of Oden's surgery.
Incidentally, guess who leads all rookies playing more than 7 minutes per game in EFF/48? Not bad for someone apparently playing like shit. What happens when he gets in shape? Oh, and anyone remember what happened with Aldridge his rookie year? Remember how he didn't even make the squad for the All-Star rookie game, but then was first team all-rookie?
Wow, KingSpeed....you really should go back and look at Amare's "first" return. He couldn't jump, and got hurt again.
Good post . . . maybe he doesn't feel 100% and is wondering if he ever will feel like he did before and wondering if he can perfrom like he could before. Those thoughts, along with all the pressure, would make me depressed . . . especially at age 20.
I'm happy to let him develop. But how long does it take to "develop" some enthusiasm and fire??? Injuries are one thing, but attitude is another. I want to see Oden get in the key and scream for the ball. I want to see him shake his fist after a good play. I want to see him exhibit some passion. If he had a little more of that, I think he'd be playing a lot better--and making more of a contribution. As it is, he seems to be in a coma on the court.
He really needs to learn to keep his arms in the air. Half of his fouls are caused by him dropping his arms slightly, at an angle, making i tmuch easier for defenders to come up into his arms and draw fouls. It'll take time, and I'm fine with that.
Roy didn't do anything except defer to Z-Bo for most of his rookie season. And Zach was a black-hole, blame-shifting non All-Star. We've heard for a year or two how Oden "just wants to fit in and help the team". Yet I haven't seen anyone since the GSW game get the ball to him on the move on a P&R (you know, like Rudy did for Joel twice yesterday). I'm positive he's disappointed. But he's not lighting anyone up...he doesn't think it's his place. Let me look at it from the big guy perspective. No one's getting him the ball where he's good with it. When he does get it, he's getting hammered. Few fouls are called. Yesterday I counted twice where Howard set up in the block and threw and elbow straight into Oden's chest. Yet on the defensive end, he's getting called for fouls on a lot of questionable plays. He's being taken out b/c of fouls, and isn't getting the numbers or the satisfaction of playing well.
This is true, he's always looking to stuff people, probably a tendency he got from playing smaller guys in HighSchool and College. He needs to learn to go straight up with his arms until he gets some more ref-respect. The two fouls I saw on him early in last nights game was because his arms are bent forward, just as you describe, making it easy for Howard to come up into his arms. He'll get it down, he had a double double last game....remember?
We have seen a pattern with Oden - a good game followed by a bad game followed by a good game. He is a rookie. He will be fine. Accept the fact that he was going against the best Center in the league, as a rookie without all of his athletic ability yet. It was to be expected. Remember to bring your towel and, most important - Don't Panic.
Oden disappears during big stage games (NY, LA, Boston) and hyped matchups (Shaq and Howard). I'm not knocking him at all I think he'll be perfectly fine. It's just he's a 20 year old kid who is a little overwhelmed by the big stage. Look at the games he's struggled NY, LA, PHX, Boston and Orlando. As the season progresses I think you'll see him relax and be the player we all hope he can be.
