He's where I expected for this part of the season. I expect quite a bit more from him the second half of the season.
He's meeting my expectations perfectly. I just wish we had better perimeter defense so he didn't get in early foul trouble as often.
I expected 14/12/2 (iirc) in 36mpg. Even though he's only getting 23 mpg, he's averaging 15/12.5/1.8 per 36. Exceeds. After the first stretch of games, he's been relatively injury-free. Am I disappointed about the fouls? Not as much as him getting fewer than 6 shots per game. If Nate's position is that having Oden on the PG on the P&R now makes him better later on, I'll trust him. I wish he'd lay a hard foul on someone a little more often.
Maybe you could argue that if we stand pat after the trade deadline, but until then I don't see where you're getting this from. Sure, KP plays the good to Nate's bad cop, but we haven't seen any unwillingness to trade players just yet.
I would say honestly, slightly disappointed. I think Greg would agree. He has looked a little slow and lumbering... and when I say that, I mean even since he has rounded into shape. We'll see, but I have dialed back my expectations a little. I love Greg- the person and the player. He is going to be very solid for us. It is natural to feel uncomfortable about the Oden pick right now... with Durant coming on so strong of late. I think you have to look at the records of OKC and POR before you get too upset. Could we afford to pick the second best player out of that draft? Could OKC? We will be fine. Meanwhile, Greg is becoming a beast and making us one of the best rebounding teams in the league. Durant can score 50 a game, OKC will still be in the lottery... I still have wood over that block GO had on Jeff Green!
Greg's pretty good when he's on the court. He makes some rookie mistakes, a few things that lead to turnovers here and there, but his talent is great. He's had seven games where he's gotten 10 or more FGA up. In six of those seven games he's shot 60% or better. In fact in 31 of his 46 games he's shot 50% or better. He currently has the highest ORB/36 in the team's history (4.58) which is where he gets half of his points. He just needs to get over that foul trouble. He's target #1 when it comes to an opponent's game plan, and he probably always will be. If he figures out how to lower those fouls and gets a few consecutive games where he can be consistent, we don't even ask this question. That, and get a few more plays run for him.
Anyone who thought he would do better then he has after missing an entire year of basketball and returning from microfracture surgery is a fool.
I picked a little disappointed. But when I think about it, if he would not have any trouble with fouls and could play 30-35mpg, he WOULD be meeting my expectations of about 12, 9 an 1.5... maybe even better than that. But as of right now he hasn't met my expectations. I think that is way off. If he simply stayed out of foul trouble he should be doin' better than 8.5ppg and 7.5rpg and 1bpg... At the beginning of the year IDK if I saw one person say that they predicted 8 and 7 and 1 for Greg this year... but once mid-season comes along you see a bunch of them saying if you expected any more you are a fool or don't know bball and I think that is bull shit. That being said, I think i'm going to judge Greg season from what he does here on out. From the all-star break to the end of the year... and i'm hoping for around 11 and 9 and 1.
Is it his fault that the guards simply let their guys go freely to the bucket? It is not like the guy is fouling his man because he cannot defend the post. I would say 80% of his fouls occur because someone else has blown their assignment.
I think it is partly his fault because most of the time Joel deals with the same thing. I think our poor perimeter defense and our constant switching on the perimeter contribute to his foul trouble, but a lot of the time he brings his arms down, he doesn't move his feet, he goes to block/challenge a player when he should just let it go and not pick up the foul... etc. But either way, I said if he didn't get in so much foul trouble he would probably be performing to my expectations. I don't see how that is a bad thing. I think i'm past the point where I like to use excuses for anyone though.
Funny but I see that as his strength. With most our GM's I have always worried "OMG would we be that stupid"?But with KP I never worry. (Well maybe a little) But I have faith in the fact he sees the long term picture and won't be swayed by "the moment". Stability and patience is not a bad thing. Also I think it is a joke that he vastly over rates our players. How could any of us or the other GM's really know that for sure? Maybe the guy just knows how to play poker.
9/7? Are you serious? In that thread the other poster was talking about, most everyone was predicting at least 10/10 for Oden. Now they are excusing him because of "foul troubles". The fact that he still hasn't solved the foul problems should be a sign of disappointment. Like I said, I'm not down on him, but I expected him to have a better season.
This'll sound like a homer post. So be it. As stated above, my predictions/expectations for Greg this year were that Nate wouldn't use him much on offense (b/c we'd have Roy, LMA and Webster as options over him the starting 5), and that he would be a game-changer on defense and rebounding, which were our two weakest parts of the game last year. I didn't think that Nate would be holding his minutes up. He's fouled out of 4 games all year, same as LMA. Yes, he does get a lot of fouls called on him, and yes, they're increasingly dumb ones. But it seems as if Nate looks for an excuse to take him off the floor (6 minute point of the 1st/3rd quarter, 2 fouls in the 1st, 3 fouls before halftime, 4 fouls in the 3rd, 5 fouls anytime). That's the CW, I guess...but most of the CW doesn't have a game-changer like Oden. Since Jan 1, 2009 his FG% is 61%. In his last 12 games, he has 2 games under 50% shooting and 4 games above 75% shooting. He's middle of the pack in turnovers by centers. His per36's are 15/12.5/1.8. If you choose to say he hasn't met your expectations b/c he hasn't been on the floor, fine. But he's exceeded most people's expectations in his production while he's on the floor. If only he didn't ask out of the game so much. Oh, wait...
I was going to add something similar. A lot of posters who voted that Oden had met their expectations posted in the BBF thread numbers that don't jibe with their vote in this poll. I had to post "disappointment", because my expectation I posted was (I think) 13/10 with a few blocks, and most importantly, making the lane obsolete for opposing players. It is seemingly getting to the point where people are compromising their own orginal expectations for the season in order to simply to wish away Oden's slow start to his career. I think a better choice for a poll response would have been "below my expectations" instead of "disappointment", however. Disappointment doesn't really capture my take on Greg, but it was the closest option available.
PapaG, was that 13/10 in 48 minutes? 36? 24? 12? You're more than entitled to your opinion, obviously, but just to toss numbers out there (in this case, 13/10) when he's not being utilized in a way that maximizes his contribution to the team? I mean, if you thought 13/10 in 36 minutes? His play exceeds that. Since the Durant/Oden thing's come up with the two games against OKC and the Rookie game, I'd liken it a bit to PJ misplaying Durant at the 2 last year. Durant struggled not b/c he was young, or he sucked, or whatever...he struggled b/c he wasn't in the position to use the skills he did have. This year, Greg's not getting the ball much on the P&R, he generally has two bodies on him while rebounding b/c our wings don't generally rebound, and he's getting <7 shots per game. Now if he's below your expectations b/c of the easy baskets we're still giving up, I'll agree with you. I didn't think he'd be as much of a game-changer on that end (b/c our guards are still our guards), so I didn't have that high of expectation. If you did, I agree. But the numbers? I don't see how he "is a disappointment" b/c of how much his coach plays him, or the ways that he is used.
His numbers have been improving all year long and that stat line will look better by the end of the season. That's pretty much exactly what my expectations were. Channing Frye had it nailed too. Is it really so shocking that some posters had realistic expectations for Oden? He could still reach those marks. Why don't you provide a link to the thread you're talking about, then we can see who exactly voted for what. Anyway, you're talking apples and oranges. One thread is about full season stats, this thread is about first half of the season stats. This is just really uninformed. All rookie big men have foul troubles like Oden does. There is nothing out of the ordinary at all with Oden's fouls, nor is there any negative conclusion that can logically be drawn by them. Just over emotional and uninformed banter.
Posters didn't have realistic expectations. That's the thing. I'm comparing it as I see it now. Obvious he could still reach that mark if he averages 11pts/13rbds for the rest of the year. Do you see that happening though? I'll try to dig up that Oden thread. It's on BBF. People expected him to have foul troubles, but not to the extent of which he's having to play 18 mins every other night because he can't stay on the court. He's improving slowly, but just very slowly.......
