He did have a 6-10 foot game in college. I don't think he has the confidence to take that shot. If he isn't confident in taking that shot, he probably shouldn't unless Nate is asking him too.
Everybody keeps talking about Greg's shot/hook (which are both pretty awful) but the real issue I see is his footwork -- it's simply not that good, it's gotten better as the season has advanced and he's shown flashes of a decent drop step, and had a pretty sweet up-and-under move against Bynum couple of weeks ago, but when he gets the ball on the block he simply doesn't have the footwork to fool a defender and it's like you can almost see the gears grinding in his head as he tries to think his way through his moves. If he really works his ass off this summer focusing on his technique and hopefully the Blazers go out and get him a 'special assistant' (like Kareem is for Bynum) to personally work with him one-on-one then I have some hope that he'll come back next season with a more polished game on the offensive end of the court and then Nate (and his teammates) will feel more comfortable running set plays for him.
+1 QFT There's no deception to Oden's game right now, which is necessary to move a defender with established position. Right now, the only thing he can do with his back to the basket is use his size...either to try to force the defender back and dunk over him or put a shot up over the defender. Once Oden has the footwork and performs it naturally, in rhythm, his size and athleticism will be really difficult to handle.
When Oden got his 4th foul Nate allowed him to continue to play and that's going to be big. If Nate pulls him and doesn't let him get in a rhythm he's not going to do well, but if he lets him play and take a chance on more fouls I think Oden will do great tonite. His little jump hook is always just a little short. Soon though that will be auto and his O game will take off.
Just learn from history. Players recovering from Microfracture surgery typically do not regain their explosiveness back until 2nd season following surgery. Zbo was a gimp for the first season after his surgery. Amare Stoudemire was not the same until a season had gone by. This will be the first full off season he will get to work with coaches, and it should help a lot.
Bwahahahahaha... yes, I bet he's money from 12 feet.. dude airballs wide ope 3 foot shots all the time. It just makes sense.
Greg is adjusting to NBA basketball. In high school and college he just dominated with his size. Now a lot of players are as big and strong as he is. Coupled with the injury and not getting a lot of in game chances, he doesn't have a very good offensive game yet, but he will. Everything's there and I think in a couple years everything will come together, starting next year. As for defense, I think he tries to hard to stop guard penetration. He seemed to figure it out a little bit at the end and just let them go by and block them from behind (as Joel did). Bottom line, Greg will get to the point where he's playing instinctually again instead of thinking about everything. Then he will be everything I want him to be.
