Oden has a sore knee and didn't play as a precaution. He didn't get a chance to stick out, but if he was playing I'm sure he would of done a number on Luis Scola and Al Horford. I guess if you can't bring anything to the table, might as well join that group of posters who go against the grain and say outlandish things with the goal of being bashed for the sake of being talked about.
I think we made the smart choice in choosing Oden. Unfortunately, it looks like we made the wrong choice as well.
Of course YOU would say that. But you beat me to it. If your view of Durant is formed by this game, then you are officially a sorry-ass loser. And here's a thought: all of you who think Durant is now the Second Coming, were you thinking that last year when everyone was giving up on him as a one-dimensional (bad) gunner? Let's give Oden the same grace period. I think if you can read anything out of this game, it's that the Sophomores have a very shallow pool of talent (and are ready to defer to a gunner). Scoring a lot in one of these games is not necessarily a sign of talent (you think Brandon Roy had less talent than Gibson last year)? It's willingness to jack up the ball every time you get it. Roy could've done that last year, but he's not an asshole. The other point worth making is, who was supposed to defend Durant? The Rookies were all guards and centers - too short or too slow. Put Batum in there on Durant and he'll still score a fair bit but I bet you he doesn't break the record.
I know you're trolling, but you're right. If only Oden could be healthy all season, every season - like your boy Bynum. Now there's an iron man!
The year to recover that everyone refers to is after you start playing. They say that it takes one season back before you regain your athleticism. Stoudemire is considered to have had the best recovery- but for McCants, Randolph, Kidd and others it took some time playing to come back to form.
Because the guy we passed on is shooting 48% from the floor, 43% from 3, and draining 26 points a game, as a 20 year old. He also has no injury history. Oden, despite the whining on this board, has done very well for a rookie in limited minutes, and I think he'll turn into a stud, if he can get his explosiveness back. But Kevin Durant he is not.
Durant is a great scorer. This is what we expected he would be when he came out of college. Good for him. When was the last time a player who lead the league in scoring won an NBA title? It was 11 years ago. His name was Michael Jordan. In the meantime Allen Iverson has won 3 scoring titles and ZERO NBA championships. Tracy McGrady: 2 scoring titles, ZERO rings and has never advanced past the 1st round of the play-offs. Defense and rebounding wins championships. When Jodran won his rings, he was a great defender, and also played with two other great defenders (Pippen and Horace Grant, followed by Pippen and Rodman) and a great rebounder (Grant, Rodman). Plus, Jordan and Pippen were also great rebounders for their positions. Greg Oden was drafted to help the Blazers win championships, not to win individual scoring titles. Kevin Pritchard even said so at the time of the draft. Durant may eventually win multiple scoring titles, but unless they surround him with great defenders and at least one top flight rebounder, he will be the next TMac - lots of points, ZERO rings. Young Big men take time to develop - especially young big men coming off microfracture surgery. As inconsistent, foul prone and out of shape as Oden has been this year, he still has excellent stats for the minutes he's played. His per 36 minute numbers compare favorably to Dwight Howard's rookie season - and look at Howard now (and Howard didn't have microfracture surgery). Is Durant's fantastic scoring helping OKC win more games? A few, but they've only won 13 all season. They are in last place in the NW Division and tied for 2nd to last in the Western Conference. Oden is already helping the Blazers win games. His team is currently the 4th seed in the Western Conference. I'll take team success over individual glory any time. Durant can have his scoring titles and Rookie-Sophomore MVP. When all is said and done, I still believe Greg Oden will win multiple NBA titles and Durant will be luky to win one - unless he gets a whole lot of help (or gets traded to Portland). BNM
I don't agree with the original poster at all, but I also don't see how the posters criticizing Durant in this thread are any more correct or above being called out for their views. Durant is a heck of a talent and looks to be a future superstar; that doesn't really mean much compared to Oden since they don't play the same position. Bashing him for losing as a young player isn't fair at all. Durant can't control the players around him. Kobe Bryant missed the playoffs a few years ago because he had garbage around him. The criticism of Durant seems to be very emotional, which is to be expected because Oden simply has not performed as we all thought he would after he was drafted. There are reasons for this, of course, but the easy way to justify the pick is to pick apart Durant's game. Durant is 21 years-old right now. I think that has to be remembered when piling on him. It is possible to say that Durant looks like a Hall of Fame talent and to still think that Oden was the correct pick. I saw that Durant is averaging something like 29/8 over the past month and the team is playing .500 ball. That's impressive for any player on a bad team.
LOL, this is the most volatile online community ever. You can tell all of these people getting mad at me only read a sentence or two and came to their own conclusion about what I said without actually reading my post.
No. I've always thought Beasley was a better player than Rose. I've yet to see anything this year that changes my mind. Pretty silly to assume I don't.
Durant didn't look so hot in the last game we played against them. I also notice that OKC's style seems to be a bit of a seven-seconds-or-less style now that Brooks has taken over. This works nicely to Durant's advantage as he rarely has to face a defense that is set up. Durant is a very nice player. Sort of a SF version of Dirk Nowitzki.
So we should be expecting him to have problems with staying in games because of fouls? Right now, since he's got in better shape which he wouldn't have had to do if not for sitting out a year, he's doing pretty much what you would expect as a rookie, except for not being a 100% from the knee surgery which we should see by next year. He does lead all rookies in double doubles which isn't that bad considering the problems he's had this year and the few mins he plays compare to how many he would play on a bad team. Amare had the benefit of playing in the NBA before his injury so it's hard to compare them.
hey bro i grew up in new jersey but i follow the whole league. im not a big nets fan believe it or not.
I honestly don't have a clue what the intent of this thread is. Durant is a good player! Totally agree! Am I missing something?
Dude named "Nets2" (who is not a big Nets fan) posting on the Blazers forum with a Lakers avatar. Curious.
