Seems to me he was pretty fair in the article posted at the beginning of the thread. Oden was just another player at the camp. It's not like he dominated his counterparts in the post.
I think he was never sold on Oden. I remember between the draft lottery and the draft, he began speculating that perhaps Durant should be the Blazers' choice.
Not offensively, but he's received only glowing comments about his defense and his rebounding. It was more I think that Henry has a tendency to exaggerate the awkwardness of Greg to try to suggest impartial observation. For instance he suggests in the video that Greg falls down a lot, whereas he only 'fell' down once. He did throw himself to the floor several times to get a rebound which I would classify from differently than falling down. Then the two years comments which he makes totally out of context. Greg has played about 67 nba games at an average of 22ish minutes a game, that's not anywhere near two years and he's obviously still adjusting. This should be expected, and he doesn't look surprised at a lot of things that happen. He looks surprised at a few things, yes, but not a lot.
This is also true as I do remember that, but I maintain that I believe he uses these types of columns at times in an attempt to prove his objectivity.
I'm pulling for Greg, and the team needs Greg badly to be on the court, but I'm not going to bash Abbott for accurately (albeit subjectively) describing the less-than-stellar aspects of Oden's game. I don't read it as being unfair; I read it as another perspective on how Oden looks outside of the glowing reports. I mean, we had two days of people trying to trade Przy because of Casey Holdahl's Tweets on how superawesome Oden looked. I don't mind reading another angle from another set of eyes.
I don't think you really understand what I am trying to convey, so let me be a bit more clear. I think Henry is pretty objective for being a fan, but because he is a well known Blazer fan his readers often get on his case about being a Blazer homer as an employee of ESPN. I don't think Henry is being unfair in his general assessment of Greg, but I do think he exaggerates some of his points in an attempt to seem more objective to the aforementioned reader base. Edit: Quick edit, I realize my opening statement in this post comes off as being an asshole and that was not intended. It was more of a: I don't think you understand what I am trying to convey because I am doing a muddled job of conveying it, so let me try to clear my presentation up.
Actually I was wondering if it was Kevin Arnovitz who co-writes for Truehoop ... if this was Simmons do you really think he would have had anything to except what a bust he is?
I meant the quote about him being the most awkward ever. I don't think that BS writes for Truehoop. Ed O.
It's kind of funny that non-Blazer fans accuse him of being a homer, while some Portland fans accuse him of being a hater. When you annoy everybody, you must be getting pretty close to the truth!
Did you watch it or are you talking about the brief clips we saw of Oden? In general, I agree that it looked mostly like guard driven rat ball with little posting up of the bigs and very few organized pick and rolls.
He looked slow, lazy, un-athletic, and was owned by a Lopez. Post play is all about position and Lopez kept him out of position every trip down the floor. We need a post coach...a real post coach...not a legend who has never coached before. This guy needs someone to get into his head and teach him to be a man and a competitor.
My hat is off to him them. Could you imagine: Miller, Roy, Durant, Aldridge, Priz . . . got to be one of the best starting line ups in the league and a dynasty for years.
I think Oden was the right pick and I'd still prefer Oden. But Roy/Durant/Aldridge would be a fantastic trio, too.
Yep, Roy wanted Oden and Aldridge initially wanted Durant. Something I read in a Quick article from summer 2007ish about a trip to the airport and some such. No luck chasing this article down last time I tried. Regardless, I have often thought that Roy + Durant is lesser then the sum of it's parts. Both are incredible offensive weapons but Durant makes Roy look like all-defensive team. Roy apparently wanted Oden and I can't help but think it might have had to do with how much Roy knew Durant would want the ball.
I've read the sports page in the Oregonian every day for the past 10 years, at least. I do not recall any article that stated that LMA wanted Durant, and Roy wanted Oden. I would remember that if it were true. It isn't true. You are spreading lies.
That seems rather harsh. I don't recall reading anything about Roy prefering Oden, but I do recall LMA speaking highly of Durant. (hardly surprising, given that they are both former Texas Longhorns)
