Charles Barkley nailed it on the head, IMO, Greg just isn't a good offensive player and doesn't look like he'll ever be that go-to-scorer. Rebound and defend is what he'll be good at. He could be that anchor on defense much like, though, not nearly as big as Greg, Ben Wallace.
He'll defend and rebound like Ben Wallace. And while he won't be a dominating Shaq-like center, he'll be an above average scoring center that draws double teams. Ben Wallace was never really a threat. Oden is a rookie and averages 8 points. But whenever he's inside, he's instantly double/triple teamed. 17/14/3 are my predictions. Don't think he can average 20 with Roy and Aldridge in the lineup.
Dead wrong. Flat out dead wrong. I had to add this in. Do you remember when Travis Outlaw came into the league? He couldn't score if his life depended on it. Greg Oden has got 7 to 10 point in games without even having any plays ran for him. He isn't a Michael Olowakandi who played for the mighty (sarcasm) University of Pacific or whatever it was, he was Greg Oden. Feared offensive player. A guy who shot all of his free throws left handed for a year and hit a high majority of them. So, looking back at what some assistant coaches have been able to do with some of our younger players, and how bad they truly were, I think we have a few years of Bill Bayno beating on Greg Oden with Pads before that comes about.
I disagree. I think he'll be a good scorer. He has different moves/shots, they just haven't been dropping a lot or have we went to him a lot. He hasn't been ask to pickup part of the scoring load right now because I don't think Nate wants him to worry about that yet, but down the road, just watch, he'll be a scorer too.
I think this summer is going to be really big for Greg's development; being able to focus exclusively on his post moves and jump hook with an NBA position coach instead of doing nothing but rehab of an injured limb could really make a difference in the kind of player he starts to develop into. Whatever the case, in a couple of years if he ends up averaging 12 to 14 points per game, 12-13 boards and 2.5 blocks per game I'd be happy with that. If he does more than that then even better.
If you also consider the fact that if you watch the games, you will see 5 to 10 times a game the guards flat out miss making the pass to Oden when he is wide open, the problem is more theirs then his.
This is a comparison I've been thinking for Oden for awhile. Although Greg should be better offensively. I think Ben Wallace gets a lot of unfair criticism on the offensive end. Yes, he sucks, but it really isn't his fault. He has a great arsenal of post moves, he just can't finish. Early in his career, he had a surgery go wrong in his hand. So when he's out there on the court, his main hand just goes numb. So he can't feel his hand. This is why he seemingly has no touch around the basket, and can't shoot free throws worth a damn.
If he is not a good offensive player, why is he always getting doubled? Barkley was a great player, but there is a reason he is not a coach.
keep underestimating him. make him bitter and angry. please. once the league decides it wants to make him a star, he'll stay on the court and get his 20/15 games. Barkley went to the Finals with a soft, jump shooting team. Does he have any room to talk?
Oden is 7'. Ben Wallace is, what, 6'9? Oden will automatically be a better offensive player because he'll be able to easily dunk while Wallace needed to use glass to score more often. And, Oden can still develop an effective game. Oh, and Wallace never averaged double figure points per game. Oden's current PPG surpasses Wallace's career numbers.
Ben Wallace has never drawn as many fouls/double teams as a rookie Oden, considering how much the refs shaft Greg his ability to draw fouls/FTs is impressive and points to a pretty succesful scoring game. He's never gonna be knocking down pull up J's, and his post game will probably always be more based on strength instead of polished moves, but the best scorers in the league get it done by getting to the FT line consistently. And going into tonight Greg leads the NBA in offensive rebound rate, his prowess on the offensive glass alone will help him score on putbacks. Combine a few putbacks, a bunch of trips to the line, and scoring off of nice dishes from our guards and he won't have to create his own scoring to put up at least decent (IE better than Wallace) scoring numbers at a very high efficiency.
It's an effective strategy actually. Noah has been playing better as of late and his scoring efficiency is actually great on the season. But it's one of the things that pisses me off so much, with both Noah, Thomas, and even Brad Miller. They all get the ball, get double teamed, and still try to score when they have Ben Gordon standing wide open in the corner. They just go and try to score. They're getting better at this scoring part, but the Ben Gordon three is a much higher percentage shot....and counts for three. They get doubled knowing that these guys aren't going to pass the ball to make them pay. It's something I've began noticing, among some of the non-great teams in the league, as quite a bit of a common occurrence.
Didn't Barkley have to kiss Kenny's ass about Yao? He has no clue about centers - and as we have seen with his "no go-to guy" quote - no clue about shooting guards as well.
Watching Oden tonight against Lopez, I have to agree with Barkley. Despite being taller and stronger, Oden seemed frustrated by a quick, agressive defender. The "he had surgery!" excuse is reaching the end of its' shelf life. Oden may still turn into a good defender/rebounder - but the mobile, explosive kid we saw in college is just a memory.
what is great about oden is that he knows how to pass out of double teams rather well! as we have already seen shit he gets a lot of hockey assists already
I think Greg is going to be way better on offense than Ben Wallace. However, I'm surprise at the people who are on this, "we need to run plays for Greg" train. Lets be honest here. Greg only demands double teams when he is significantly bigger than the person defending him. In those cases, lets dump the ball into him. When he's going up against most starting centers, teams are playing him straight up and he hasn't proven he can score on a regular basis. I fully expect him to develop, but he clearly isn't ready to have plays run for him now. Every play you run for Greg is a play you're not running for Roy, LMA, Rudy, Travis, etc. All those guys are going to give us a much better chance to score. Also, it's not like we never run plays for Greg, we just don't run a lot of them. I noticed two screen across plays tonight that sent GO to the ball-side block and both time Roy saw him and decided to not give it to him. I'm guessing I'm seeing the same thing Nate and Roy see; Greg is not a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd option at this point. He is a great rebounder, he demands for centers to keep a body on him at all time (preventing them from helping), and he cleans up the offensive boards very well. There is nothing wrong with that.
