That makes zero sense, bordering on bizaare?? People critisized him last year for getting injured...and how the hell could they critsize his play before he stepped onto the court? This is Oden's rookie season. He's even eligible for rookie of the year. Did you notice that he was selected to play on the ROOKIE team, not the sophmores? Many people are calling Oden a bust, saying he won't be nearly as good as Durant, we picked the wrong man blah blah blah, yet you're comparing a rookie Oden to a sophmore Durant. And Durant has made major improvements this season. And what off-court issues has Oden had? Playing at the hoop with no permission?
He has always been the focus of a team and now on the Blazers he is a reserve that gets ignored by some of the best players on the team? The team has been playing outside in for so long now that they are not/will not adapt or are not coached to do so? Why come back and work for position and get ignored? The team is not going to him and saying we need you man, or so it seems?
You are way overgeneralizing Nate's "rotation" habits. Durant would have started last year and would have immediately been the 1A or 1B scoring option with B-Roy. KD is one of the best scorers in the league - he was better than Martel, James Jones, last year . . . 10-15 minutes? #3 scoring option BEHIND LA? No way. Don't compare KD with Bayless or other rookies that Nate has had a hard time finding PT for. KD is on another level. If Bayless had a clue on how to get the team into it's offense, and wasn't lost on defensive rotations, he's be playing instead of Sergio right now. It's not his rookie status, it's his weaknesses as a player (at this point)
