Bill Simons says it again "Oden a Bust"

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090522/part1&sportCat=nba


I hate Bill Simmons. We make a lot of excuses but Oden is not as bad as Darko.

 

link?

 

What is so funny is that except for fouls, his per 32 minute averages are better than Dwight Howard's were in his rookie season.

 

This is almost becoming a religious rite with Simmons ... I mean he really wants Greg to fail. As for the "no flashes" thing I guess you'd actually have to watch the games to see anything and I'm guessing the Blazers are on TV after Bill's bedtime.

Does anybody else get the feeling that this schtick is mostly just to needle Portland fans? I've noticed for a few years that Simmons seems to have an especially low regard for Blazers fans for some reason (various podcasts, columns always seem to make us sound like a bunch of think skinned, crazy, no-nothings).

 

What an absolute tool.

Hmmm ... who should I believe ... the people who decide whom to invite to the USA Basketball team, or some syndicated online columnist?

The guy should have quit at his NBA Draft Day diary. That's the only good thing he does all year. Since when did Mr. Comedic Writer Guy become an expert on personnel in the NBA?

-Pop

 

Oden has shown lots of flashes - but what is sad is that Simmons that used to be consistently funny is now at the the wrong side of his career and is unfortunately trying to have the same old jokes again again and again. It's a little bit like watching Jason Kidd - sure he gets one of these games where he looks like the old once in a generation PG he once was - but he is consistently broken on the defense by kids that write blogs from their dorm room.

 

In his playoff preview podcast he said Portland was his 2nd favorite team to watch.

 

Let's cutoff Simmons hands and cut out his tongue and see how well he writes for a year. He is an idiot, basically because Oden has been hurt, he is a bust according to Simmons. Aside from Kevin Love at 18.3 PER, Oden had a better PER (18.1) than all of them as a rookie.

Yes he played less time, but that stat does a decent job of showing how productive you are when on the floor. I bet it only goes up from there over the next ten years.

 

I call bullshit (not on you, on Bill) ... unless it's his second favorite team to watch because he's eagerly anticipating Oden picking up ticky tack fouls that he can write about in his next column.

I read Simmons pretty regularly, because I think he's kind of funny, and even the Oden stuff doesn't usually bother me, but it's becoming so fucking overdone and tired ... he's like Micheal Winslow: "Yes the crazy noises were funny in the first 2 Police Academy movies. 25 years doing your stand up comedy routine based on that? Not so much."

 

Simmons and Canzano should marry and have kids!

 

I can see the kids saying they hope the president fails ... ooops.

Really, this is fine with me. Let everyone think Oden is a bust and underestimate him. Then watch the jaws drop next season. "What? You mean he can play? Oh shit!"

 

Dude, I've been meaning to ask this. What's with the avatar? It's an eyesore.

PS- Simmons is a clown.

 

It matters little. Either Oden will step up, or he will go down as a bust. It doesn't matter what Bill says. What matters is what Oden does.

 

Simmons is about 3/4 right.

At the offensive end, Oden has shown nothing special. People need to accept that and get over it.

What's holding him back on the defensive end is injuries and foul trouble. He has shown more than "hints of flashes" that he can be a game changer as a defender/rebounder. If Simmons was claiming that he was going to be the next Mutombo, instead of the next Hakeem or Jabbar, I wouldn't even blink......but Darko?.....that's pointless overkill.

 

Dear Bill Simmons,

You're an idiot. When you can't even get simple facts straight, it makes it impossible to take anything you say seriously (perhaps that's the point - you're supposed to be a funny guy, right?):

"And through two seasons, Oden has shown nothing..."

Oden has played one season, not two. Check back after next year and see how he's doing relative to Darko.

And, since you insist on comparing Oden to Darko, how about backing up your argument with some facts (I know, I know, facts aren't your thing. They aren't funny and always have a nasty way of making your opinions look stupid and ill informed).

Darko did not record his first double-double until his 165th NBA game in mid-January of his FOURTH SEASON.

Oden recorded his first double in his third NBA game.

Through four complete seasons, Darko had a total of 6 double-doubles.

Oden had 6 double-doubles in his first 14 games.

Oden, right now, injuries, fouls and all, is so much better than Darko, it's not even close - no excuses necessary. Oden accomplished more in his 3rd NBA game than Darko did in his first 3 NBA seasons. Comparing the two is ridiculous. I could go on and shown that in raw numbers Oden averaged more PPG and more RPG as a rookie coming off microfracture surgery than Darko has at any time in his 6 year NBA career. I could also compare Oden's superior rebouning rate, much higher FG%, superior Win Shares, and much higher offensive rating, but what's the point? You're so intent on blindly bashing Greg Oden that you clearly aren't interested in facts. If you were, you'd already know Oden was vastly superior as an injured rookie to Darko at any point in his 6 year NBA career.

I hope you like crow. You'll be eating plenty of it in the future.

BNM