I find it amusing that he is being quoted in the post talking about his game and below it is a picture of him bowling.
What didn't set well with many of us last year was Greg's perceived apathy for the game. You could see he lost his confidence, but it felt like he just didn't want to fight anymore at times - like he wanted to tell all of us to go pound sand. It sounds like he got the dog back in him, and he's ready to battle, and I have to admit that does get me fired up. I hope it's true. I said all year last season I have no problem accepting that he isn't going to be Shaq, or Hakeem, or Ewing . . . I just wanted to see him bust arse and continue to improve (especially on his fouls, which was due in large part to poor conditioning & fundamentals) If Greg can stay healthy and out of foul trouble, he can help this team - nobody disputes that. Most of us would be happy with 15/10/2 and 70 games played from Greg - I know I would. More than that, I want to see determination and fire from him. I want to see him own the paint physically, and play with a chip on his shoulder. I want to see him fit in with his teammates (not hear that he sits in the back of he plane by himself with his headphones on all the time) I'm sure Greg feels, in his heart of hearts, that Portland fans were overly tough on him last year. What he doesn't know is that we all just want to see him play hard and play smart. That's it. We don't expect him to go 20/12. We will back this guy if he plays with fire. Maybe he gets that now.
I don't think he was ever apathetic. He certainly got frustrated, though. Who can blame him? I've seen too many athletes go on about how "this year is their time", yadda yadda yadda. Most of the time nothing happens. One of the few exceptions I can think of is when Sheed said before one season he'd added a little something to his game that would surprise some people, and next thing you know he's taking a bunch of three pointers (probably a few too many). I'd rather see non-superstars just not talk about their game too much before the season. If you improve, you improve. If you don't, you don't. Hyping it up only seems to put added pressure, which isn't a good idea for more emotionally fragile young players like Oden and Webster. Superstars like Roy (or Kobe or LeBron) can talk all they want. Those guys eat pressure like it's a delicious parfait, so there really isn't a downside.
Interesting choice of words, did you just get back from DQ? I don't think it's bad that Oden says something about his game. Maybe he's the kind of person that needs to have something to be held accountable for. I like to see positive statements from him, that's certainly reassuring, but I think all of us are just waiting to see what happens when the season begins. The worst thing would be if he gets off to a rough start and is bombarded with people telling him "There you go again..."
