Serioulsy, hes been important to us as brandon. Guy would start on so many teams. I never see much love anywhere for joel. If oden could ever wake up, we might hav ethe best center duo in the NBA. keeping joel was one of the best move sthis franchise ever made. hes nasty.
Joel has been awesome. Hats off to him. I just wish he would have started working on his basketball game about 5 years ago, instead of just this summer. It makes you wonder if he couldn't have ended up like a good defending Brad Miller or something.
He's having his best year as a Blazer IMHO. Dude needs to start games since the Oden experiment is backfiring on Nate.
I've loved Joel's game ever since he started playing for the Blazers. But, I've always placed a huge premium on rebounding and defense. It wins games and wins championships. His first year with the team, once he became a starter, Joel was a double-double machine. He had a couple years wear injuries limited his PT and hurt his performance. The last two seasons, and equally important, the last two summers, he's been healthy. This past summer wasn't the first where he worked on his game. The previous summer he worked on his FT shooting. He went from 0.370 to 0.680 FT%. That's a huge delta and makes him no longer a liability to have on the court during the 4th quarter of a close game. His improved shooting this season is an extension of the improved shooting form and touch he developed working on his FT shooting. Watch Joel during pre-game warm-ups some time. The guy is lights out. I focused on him during the warm-ups before the Miami game, He only missed one shot - a FT. He even knocked down a couple 3-pointers. Now, I don't want Joel shooting 3-pointers in a game, but it was encouraging to see how smooth his shot was and the way he was knocking them down. It is such a huge improvement over his previous shooting form and success rate. It is obvious he's worked on this a lot the past two summers. I don't think we need to worry about Joel become Sheed and falling in love with the three. That's another thing I've always like about Joel 0 he knows his limitations and understands his role. He does what he does extremely well and doesn't try to do more than he should. And, after last night's 19 rebound performance, Joel is leading the league in DRB% and TRB%. Like I said, he does what he does extremely well. BNM
Man, you were so close, you almost got through a whole post without saying something negative. But yes, Joel has been tremendous this season if anything Greg has a helluva guy to study and learn from.
Joel has been on my untouchable list since the beginning of the season. Greg's difficult adjustment to the NBA game and Joel stepping up his own game, even when playing hurt, should convince people from leaving him out of their fantasy trades, IMO. The Oden/Joel center tandem is going to be the toughest in the NBA.
The ONE thing that I keep telling myself about Oden is that Joel had serious foul troubles when he first came in the league too. I remember Joel's first year here, he would get so many bullshit calls on him. I just keep hoping that Oden will eventually improve in the foul department as well. Joel is exactly the kind of guy you want on a championship team.
How is it that Joel is having a great season, and Oden is terrible? Their stats and minutes are nearly equal? It's all about expectations or perception of play relative to ability. Yes Oden has had a few more fouls, and seems a bit more lost out there, but from pts, rbs, blks, and minutes played, they're nearly equal.
because... Joel helps us make actual stops. Joel's big weakness was his offense and FT shooting. Because of that Nate didn't play at the end of the games last season (especially early in the season). Now, he makes himself available, is aggressive, and makes enough of his FTs. See George Karl's face as Joel canned 4 FTs to put the game away?
Joel has been more effective than Oden, and it goes beyond the stats. I hope watching/playing against Joel's fundamentally sound game (in practice) rubs off on Greg. Watch Joel box out on every shot attempt. Even if he doesn't get the rebound, he's clearing somebody out so they can't get to the ball. Greg just stands underneath the basket sometimes. Joel is really good at knowing where he needs to be on the floor now too - he's rarely out of position on either side. He's a good post defender. He holds his ground and he's gotten so much better at playing in foul trouble. I just feel so much more confident with JP in the game than Oden right now. I love how he keeps the ball high close the basket and goes up strong. He doesn't bring the ball down or put it on the floor. He goes up strong and most of the time he draws a foul. Oden is so used to being bigger/stronger than everyone else that he holds the ball, brings it down, pump fakes a couple of times and expects he'll be able to eventually go back up and dunk it. The refs are more likely to call a foul when you go up strong and fast. Sometimes Greg gets hammered and . . . no call. It's not just b/c he's a rookie IMO. He's just do deliberate right now. Even when Greg blocks a shot right now, he normally blocks it right back to his man (and then foul him on the next attempt) Or, he'll block it out of bounds. It's rare that he gets a block and it leads to a possesion change. I think Greg is too block shot happy as well, ESPECIALLY when he's in foul trouble. I wish he would move his feet more - you can tell he's just so used to relying on his ability. He never tries to take a charge or step in front of his man. It probably sounds like I"m bashing him - he deserves some slack of course I have to admit that I'm a little dissapointed in his progress though. It's the little things that bother me - the things that don't always show up in the stats. I guess I need to remember that rookies make mental errors - especially ones who played only one year of college and sat out a year. Joel has been unreal - no way were are tied for 1st w/o him. How many games can you really say "we couldn't have done it w/o Oden tonight"? I can think of several for Joel.
Stats don't tell the whole story. Greg hasn't been "terrible" but Joel is having a much larger impact on the outcomes of games; it's not about raw numbers it's how and when Joel gets key defensive stops, cleans up the offensive glass, and plays a veteran's game. This isn't a knock on Greg, this thread is about lauding just what a fantastic job Joel has done -- a career year by far.
