I agree that Oden is going to get better, but it sure can't happen fast enough. What's discouraging is that he doesn't seem to be growing as a player in any measurable sense. He doesn't seem to learn much from game to game, still doesn't have a shot outside of 2 feet, still looks slow, still seems lethargic, still seems lost, still commits a ton of fouls, etc., etc. I know, I know, the guy is coming off an injury. I keep telling myself that, and keep hoping . . .
i "loved" how we had oden guarding bass at one end (a bad matchup quickness-wise) and guarded by dirk and his four fouls at the other end, yet never posted greg once. how can he help on offense if we never post him? and if dallas is playing dirk at center and bass at the four, why are we not going small? instead, nate went big, but didn't call a single post up to make dallas pay for our size advantage.
So who's Durant taking shots from? Seriously, I know he's on a hot streak now, while Oden's trying to get back, so it's ok to throw stuff like this out there. Blake, who's shooting 43% from 3? Outlaw would be on the bench. LMA? You're saying take away our low post option for another jump shooter? Joel wouldn't be getting shots. Roy? It's nice to be able to dream this way, but I'd rather have the improvement on our interior D and rebounding.
I don't recall the cheap thing. I guess a reason for not getting a tech at home is because it appears that about three 10-15 year old kids sit courtside right where he walks by and maybe he doesn't want to curse enough at a ref to get a tech by them? I know that's a fairly crazy reason but it is the only thing that fits in my mind. Because there is no legit reason why he isn't out there fighting for Greg or any of his players in my mind. I mean even DOC RIVERS (I do not think Doc is a very good coach nothing against him I think he really succeeds by having a lot of veteran players who are smart especially like Ray Allen on his team) will get a t for his players.
The bigger thing we are suffering from is lack of perimeter defense. Durant wouldn't help with that. Sure, he'd improve the offense, but he'd be a bit redundant as the team already has a number of scoring options. And the reason perimeter defense is our biggest problem is because Oden is making a big difference in the team's strong interior defense and rebounding. If we had Durant instead of Oden, both of those would no longer be the strengths that they are. If a year from now Oden looks the same, I'll worry. Right now, for his first 20 games or so after a year out of basketball, he's doing plenty. Lack of offensive dominance this early hardly screams, or even whispers "bust."
KD is just "another jump shooter"? His 23 ppg is now on 46% FG's and he gets to the line 6 times/game (Roy is 7) Plus, when KD goes go deep he's 48% from beyond the arc. Let me tell you something - this "jump shooter" is going to win scoring titles. I'd trade Oden and then some for Durrant today. We should have believed our eyes. Kevin Durrant was probably the most dominating college Freshman I've ever seen. He would go 35/20 and block a shot at the buzzer to preserve a win. I watched both play over and over that year. Greg was okay at OSU, but we gave him a hall pass b/c his hand was hurt. He still didn't have the best foot work and was often in foul trouble then. He had a good championship game with 25/12 against Florida and Horford/Noah. I remember not being nearly as impressed with Oden as I was with KD. But, they say a Good Big man is harder to find than a good SF . . . I think Portland fans will regret this pick. Maybe Greg proves me wrong.
You didn't answer the question, though. And yes, I admitted he's on a hot streak. He shot 28% from three the entire year last year. I'm not saying he'll stay there, but I'm also not saying that I think he'll shoot 48% all year. And I saw about 40 of his games last year. He's primarily a jump shooter, unless in transition. Perhaps that's changed with his move to SF. Maybe he'll start winning scoring titles. Who is he taking the shots from? Roy or LMA? Oden/Przy/Batum don't get any to give up.
I don't care about scoring titles, just Championships. I think KD just puts up gawdy numbers because he is on such a bad team. He is a talent, I don't doubt that, but anytime someone is on a bad team you have to take their numbers with a grain of salt.
oden is playing 22 mpg, if he was putting up 30 he would be 12/11/2, and nobody would be saying shit. so basically, pryz is our problem. edit--i was kidding.
I just look at Amare and the two years it took him to look like he'd be an actual NBA player again and then I keep trying to remind myself that Greg is on month fifteen when it takes about 24 to get back to full explosiveness, put that together with his rookie season and this is what you get: inconsistency. Fuck, this is going to be a long season.
