Minstrel, really? Oden is having a better season than Rudy?? Really? I feel like Rudy has been involved in every game. I can't say that about Greg. Greg has a lot of potential but Rudy is currently an All Rookie First Team candidate and Oden is not. Not yet.
The biggest problem for Greg, right now, is that he is really, really bad at defending the pick-and-roll. Teams know that, and they directly attack him with it over and over. Nate doesn't play much zone with the starters in, but I would be interested to see Greg getting some time playing zone with the starters. That would take him out of being attacked by the pick-and-roll, and he would be able to get some more minutes. I don't necessarily think Nate should change his game plan to accomodate a rookie that has not proven anything yet, but I think it would help Greg get into the flow by allowing him to play for longer periods of time. At some point, obviously, Greg is going to need to learn how to defend the pick-and-roll. But at this point, I would like to see him be able to just stay on the court, and get comfortable at the offensive end.
Rudy's been more valuable because he's played much more. Oden's been better when he's been on the court, IMO.
Oden does have the better EFF but I feel like Rudy has given us something consistently. If Greg gave us 8 pts and 7 rebounds every single game, I'd say it's him. But we get 17/13 one night and 2/1 the next.
what i don't understand with this is why nate is so quick to sit him from fouls. portland has a great backup center in joel and aldridge/frye/ike can see minutes down low if needed. it would make more sense to me if nate tells oden to play aggressively(but obviously try to avoid dumb fouls) and at this point just not worry about the foul trouble. if he picks up a few early fouls, who cares? let him play through it. if he picks up a couple more and then does have to sit for an extended period, the blazers have guys good enough to take his place where it isn't a huge deal.
But not being on the court has been his fault either by picking up fouls or not playing well enough for Nate to keep him in there.
Oden was never in foul trouble tonight, was he? I'll say this. Even in the Chicago game, Greg was left wide open at the FT line extended to lane off of a high post. He's a decent FT shooter, so why is he not shooting from there when given a 5' cushion. That stagnates the offense more than anybody dribbling IMO and could be seen as a reason for the slow starts.
Yes, I'm not saying it wasn't his fault. I'm just saying when he is actually on the court, he has the most impact. Until he learns to stay on the court more, his value will be lower.
No, his problem tonight was not handling the pick and roll well. Oden left Lopez wide open constantly. Part of that was his own confusion, part of that was that Sergio wasn't doing anything to keep Harris from getting right to the hoop and Oden would move to stop Harris. Oden needs a lot of work on defending pick and rolls. In the post, he overwhelmed Lopez on offense and defense.
he picked up 2 fouls in the first 7:30 of the game. joel immediately came in for him and oden didn't see the court again until the 2nd half.
Ah. I didn't see much of the game. Anytime Oden plays another somewhat legit center, he seems to get into early foul trouble, and the team struggles in the first quarter. Why not bring Joel back as the starter?
well one of his fouls was just reaching out and grabbing or pushing harris who had blown by his defender(of course harris had already gotten his shot up so the foul was worthless). but lopez didn't really do anything when oden actually was guarding him. problem was oden lost him a few times on the pick and roll for easy points.
that's the first thing I looked at after reading the OP, you just beat me to it. Hard to imagine Bowie having more TOs than Oden though, he must've been fairly raw as well. Odd, considering he was 23 and Oden is 21.
of course the blazers took oden cuase blazer fans love the word potential. oden has potential....but durant is good now. Like cowherd said...you cant see who has IT and who doesnt. Durnat does...oden doesnt it. Listen oden has been very very average and thats being nice. The same fans hoped outalw and sergio would develop but look how thas turned out. Problem with this board is...unless you praise every blazer player (esp oden) the you are a troll. Truth hurts....and the truth about oden is he stinks...right now. Will he get better. Yes but he wont be a bigger impact player then durant.
Because he's a rookie. Therefore, he's inconsistent. And especially, he's a rookie big man who generally take a lot longer to develop. No, no he didn't. The pick'n'roll beat Oden a few times, but Harris is probably a top 5 finisher at the rim from the PG position and Oden simply couldn't contest the shot well enough without risking a foul. I think you're full of shit. Just like you were full of shit when you came doom-and-glooming on the board when Oden got hurt against LA...trying to say he was out for the season or some bullshit. Be something more than just a shock poster.
