He would improve our team THIS year. But that is like saying Chris Paul would have improved our team his rookie year. Both true statements. But eventually you have to put together a championship team. Things change. You need all the pieces. You draft CP you don''t necessarily end up with what we have. Eventually you need a center. Eventually we will need a scoring SF. Eventually OKC will need a inside presence. We will see if KP is the fool you say he is in a few years.
Will some of you people cut the kid a fucking break with this personality BULL SHIT?! He has the weight of Portland on him as the #1 pick and goes out for the year..already feeling down.... Sees the team do fairly well and exceeds expectations without him..a little more down... Goes down on national tv in the opener.....pretty gloom and doom.. He is finally playing and we see him happy when he is in there playing..the foul trouble is a minor bump in the road..but as basketball goes, he hasn't had much to be happy about. Or maybe he is just a quiet guy who is level headed. Not everyone is KG out there. Do people question Duncan because he is so stoic? This is his ROOKIE year, finally healthy after 2 injury plagued years..the fact he took OSU to the finals and KD got bounced in the 2nd round, shows just how big of an impact he can have and he did that with 1 hand. Fuck thsi board pisses me off sometimes..give the kid time, then evaluate..as of right now he is a work in progress.
Time out, TIME OUT. You're joking, correct? First off, I am amazed that we are judging Oden so soon and especially after a meaningless rookie-sophmore game where Durant was clearly the best player on the court. Did you expect him to suck? Sure he has an amazing game and how much he scored was impressive, but if he had more of a team, his numbers would not have been quite that scoring wise (like LeBron sharing the load with Wade, Bosh, Melo, etc). Second of all, how are you blaming KP on this at all? You want to point fingers at someone point it at Nate. He has NO idea how to use this prospect and it does not help that our guards are so incompetent that they cannot give him the ball when he rolls to the hoop or gives it to him down low to do work. Another thing that stops from Greg being so awesome is foul trouble. This is an obvious issue and will remain that way until he cuts the horrendous looking fouls which in turn, should cut some of the phantom ones as well. What happens usually when Greg is on the court not in foul trouble? He usually does well and seems to be a double-double machine when he plays a ogod portion of minutes. This foul issue could haunt him his whole career and that would be bad for us, but if he cuts it down and Nate learns how to use him (or we fire Nate and get someone who knows how to use him), he will look like the beast he was projected, I would bet my life savings on it. Give the man a freaking chance. I would be lying if I said Durant would not look good on our current team and could make the game easier for Roy and vice versa, but Oden is the key to the promise land. Use him right, and I think he along with our star Roy and a versatile Aldridge will help us get there. The second guessing of who to draft right now is complete garbage. Maybe next year or two years if Oden doesn't show much than second guess, but his first season coming back from a major surgery is so unfair and Durant has had the advantage of 1 NBA season under his belt. Give him time, good God.
Nice, enthusiastic, first post! Everyone gets its going to take time to see what will happen, but watching Greg hurt again, watching again, just made me want to say "I sure hope KP was right!" That is what we all hope. All I'm saying is that it is a little less clear right now. And btw, I don't buy the whole "Greg has the weight of the world on his shoulders" thing. he's drafted to fan friendly, quiet Portland, he's not expected to be the savior, the team is winning, he fits in.
Friendly, quiet Portland doesn't block out the rest of the world and the media calling him a bust and injury prone.
Yes Oden is hurt again and it is disheartining, but it was another one of those fluke incidents. If Maggette actually played a mans game and not a soft "wussy" kids game his flop wouldn't have hit Oden (okay he didn't really flop into Oden's knee I don't think, but he may as well have, he flopped everytime we were on offense I am sure). I wish Maggette would be banned from the league, but instead, the league just rewards garbage players like himself for flopping. Pathetic.
Durant has been impressive, but I'm gonna give Oden another year before I jump on the "should have drafted Durant" bandwagon.
You know, Durant may win scoring titles. He may be the greatest scorer ever, but that doesn't mean he'll win championships. How many rings has Kobe amassed since Shaq left? Kobe is one of the greatest scorers ever, but he can't win on his own. The NBA has a plethora of scorers, and only a handful of All-Star quality big men. Could Durant help this team? Absolutely, but if Greg is even half of what people said he could be, we win titles. When Greg Oden is on, who can guard him in the league?
Durant isn't just a scorer. He can rebound, pass, and he's not a bad defender. He may win scoring titles but he's not one dimensional.
Some people just won't let a player go. Qyntel Woods, Martell Webster, Greg Oden...there's always more "upside."
Durant is a great player no doubt. Durant also gets to shoot the ball and isn't a 7'0 280 pound big man coming off surgery who has his coach place him on the perimeter to guard 6'2 (give or take) guards who have much more quickness than him (probably has something to do with that coming off the knee surgery thing maybe). Durant shot a poor percentage last year and pretty much looked the same in November where he still looked like a really good young player. Scotty Brooks came in and replaced PJ and let Durant play to his strengths and BAM kid looks elite. I'd say give Greg a few years (and hopefully a new coach) and if he looks underwhelming and disappointing (I really don't think he looks those things right now when you consider the situation and all the facts) at that point then well.
It's a hell of a lot harder to find a guy with Greg's size and skills than a guy like Durant, who's mainly a scorer. Big G.O. is going to be the real deal. Sometimes, I don't think we appreciate what we've got here..
the thing is at the time of that draft, portland made the absolute correct decision. it was really wasn't a decision that required a lot of thought. oden was the best prospect to enter the league since lebron and he far and away deserved to be the number one pick. the media just hyped durant up as a legitimate contender because that's what they always do. there has to be another guy. for yao it was jay williams. for lebron it was melo(even though darko slipped into the 2 spot). for oden it was durant. that's just the way it goes. and even with as well as durant has played, with hindsight i don't know if portland would draft any differently.
As much as I love to see Durant play - and as great of a scorer he is and will improve - I still think that when you have a chance to grab a franchise center that Oden will be if he remains injury free (mostly) - you go for the franchise big man. Before anyone goes crazy on Durant - let's remember that 'Melo - a prolific scorer SF that caused match-up problems for most other teams - has been able to bring the Denver Nuggets to the playoffs in his rookie year (and ever since) after they have been a floor-mat with no playoffs appearance for 8 years before his arrival. Durant is on pace to bring his team for a consecutive 20+ win season. Love the kid - but the road to a championship never goes through a prolific scorer that can not make his team-mates better - and Durant, so far - has not shown the ability to do that - while Greg, even with his "limited" individual output - already shows that he can clean up the board after his team-mates mistakes and can alter shots when their defense is wanting and can pose a big target for assists in the paint - leaving them open from the 3. Sure - he has a lot to improve - but you are out of your mind if you go for a guy whose impact so far (despite fantastic individual production) is the same as a tall, deluxe version of Michael Redd.
