Nah. It happens all the time. Look at the Adam Morrison thread that's on the first page right now for proof of it. Many, and perhaps most, people are willing to admit when they're wrong. Sometimes it just takes a while. Ed O.
I don't think it is unrealistic for people to have changed their mind on Oden. Early in the year he looked like he had hands of stone, no touch outside of one foot from the basket, and extremely fragile ego (Martell on downers) and the conditioning of the average member of this board. Not to mention the injury angle. All bad. With confidence (and maybe some lost weight) and conditioning, he is much more fluid and comfortable on the court. Additionally, it appears he has learned how to reduce his number of dumb fouls, which has allowed him to play more. Early in the season I was wondering if we made mistake too. I don't see how any fan couldn't have at least briefly entertained those thoughts. Now he has stepped up and the thoughts are gone.
since alonzo retired. what would you guys think of bringing him here to coach greg? HOFer, still in shape, defensive god. why not?
I still say I'm right that Telfair is going to be a great point guard. He's still so young (at least in baseball terms)...point guards don't break out til their 6th year. Or 7th year. Or 8th year. Just you wait.
Because some fans realized he was coming off micro-fracture, hadn't played in a year, then got injured in his first game back, missed another six games, realized that pretty much everyone else who has had micro-fracture struggled when first coming back (even though they had already played in the NBA prior to their surgery, something Greg did not do), was a rookie big man who was adjusting to playing on a regular basis against men his size and skill (while again trying to learn to retrust his knee). A lot of the people that called Oden a bust tried suggesting that those were excuses. They aren't excuses, they're just cold facts. No rookie big man has ever gone through what Oden did in the last eighteen months - to expect him to come in and dominate right away after the surgery, not playing a year (remember Zach's surgery only forced him to miss two months of actual playing time, infact it may have been a month and a half), then after getting injured again was unrealistic in my opinion. Once he got back you could see the flashes. He just needed (still needs) time to get his reflexes back, his footwork back, his athleticism back, and his timing back. Unfortunately I think a few of the people calling him bust made this situation worse by not actually watching him playing but just checking box scores and playing the stats game. This isn't really how one should evaluate progress.
Mourning doesn't have a lot to teach on offense, I don't think. He was more a Shawn Kemp type of offensive player...used his athleticism to to attack the rim off of feeds from other players and rebounds. While that's useful and I think Oden can already do that, it doesn't allow a player to be a focal point on offense. Oden would be better off learning from someone who was great in the post and had great footwork. I really wish McHale were available. Olajuwon might also be great.
No, I didn't mention "expectations," but that is certainly part of the equation when you talk about someone like Greg Oden. When Oden gets 4 points and 2 rebounds in a game, he's "struggling" more than Kwame Brown is when he also gets 4 points and 2 rebounds in a game. That's because we expect so much more of Oden, and his performance is measured against a higher standard. No one is that surprised when Kwame Brown has a bad game, because we never expected that much of him to begin with. As for my "bust" comment, I only made that in retrospect--I certainly never called Oden a bust while he was struggling in the early part of the season. That was my point, but then you probably already realize that.
Who is this we you speak of? Some of you may have had unrealistic expecations, but some of us realized he was coming off microfracture surgery and adjusted our expectations accordingly. If Oden hadn't been injured and hadn't had to take a year and a half off from playing competive basketball, the expectations would have been different. But, the fact is he was injured, required surgery and a long rehabilitation process.. That should have reduced the expectations for his rookie season. It was obvious to anyone who watched him back in November and early December that he wasn't close to 100% physically. If Oden didn't meet your expectations, perhaps your expectations were unrealistic given the circumstances. BNM
Honestly, I think the biggest factors in Oden's resurgence has been his weight loss, and Nate going to him more in the post. We have seen a more active Greg Oden, and we have seen a team that finally understands how to get him the ball.
btw the one thing that jumped out at me the last game was his first dunk with one hand. kind of a reverse. he surprised me how quickly he went up and slammed it down. i thought to myself "hes back in shape"
he gathered himself so quicky. i think he is in shape now. i dont mean he is 100% with his knee. just in basketball shape now. i think it was barrett who said something about how he doesnt get tired anymore running back and forth on the court.
Why the hell do you think Oden was so depressed and moody earlier in the season? He clearly wasn't meeting his OWN expectations, much less those of the organization. His teammates were also disappointed in his play; some were even reluctant to pass him the ball because he was playing so poorly. McMillan told a reporter that " . . . there are certain things you can be patient on, but other things if you continue to see the same mistakes then you have to discipline him in the sense of calling him out and sitting him down.” The point is, Oden started his career off even more slowly than many people expected, including himself, his teammates, and his coach. You can keep pretending that you were wiser than everyone else, and you never had any doubts about him, but you'd only be fooling yourself. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=jy-odenblazers010509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Holy crap. What's your problem? It was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes and a brain that Oden wasn't in basketball shape back in November and early December. Heck, it was obvious in preseason. Anyone with any familiarity at all with how long it takes a player to come back from microfracturer surgery would know Oden wouldn't be putting up 20/10 right out of the shoot. This doesn't make me wise, and I never claimed it did. It makes me realistic. Yes, I do have high expectations for Oden eventually. I've said all along that I expect by the time Portland is contending for a championship, he will be our leading scorer (or at least neck and neck with Roy). But, that's a couple seasons down the road, not in November/December 2008. And no, I NEVER had any doubts about Oden - EVER. Again, not claiming to be wise, just realistic - and patient. BNM
