There's no reason why he shouldn't. I mean, his size/strength advantage over the Rockets' big men, coupled with his determination to make amends for the Nuggets loss... Certainly, I could see a double/double coupled with a handful of blocked shots. Eventually, Oden will be on the same page with Miller. That will result in a beautiful thing, as well. Go Blazers!!
I can tell you one thing right now that would pick Gregs offensive game right up, if somebody would just focus with him on it for a while. Every time Greg gets down low, he cocks back to jam the ball for a monster jam every time. That is fine if he is wide open and has tons of space. But he usually doesn't. He just needs to quick dunk the ball, and quit leaving the ball out to get stripped away. Keep it high, and quick dunk it. He will immediately be like a 14 point per game player. Also we haven't seen any of his jumpers since pre season. Make a couple of those Greg. If you can hit that shot, it makes it all the easier for you to roll to the hoop.
Thats what I was going to say. Look for Greg to get injured tonight or have a horrible game and we lose.
You've joined my personal hall of shame and it only took about 3 weeks! That's probably a new record. I like this new quick trigger finger I have on ignore.
I'd love to see a big game out of Oden, and I fully expect him to assert himself. But I hope he doesn't try too hard... that's what results in "happy feet" traveling calls, offensive fouls, and turnovers. If he just focuses and does what he's capable of - and the Blazers find him - there's no reason he couldn't score 20 points and get 12-15 boards. I hope the Nuggets' game is the wake-up call the team needed, and now we'll see a nice string of victories over the next week. (certainly there's a handful of very winnable games coming up.)
I hope so, but I think you are selling short Chuck Hayes -- he's a stud as a post defender; if he were 6 inches taller he'd be the DPOY.
If this team makes any amount of progress that they made from game one to game two, look out Houston!
I have my doubts just due to where his confidence seems to be. I'm about as guilty of this as anyone is. I lambasted the team in the first game versus the rockets for NOT getting him the ball. There were rumors after the game that he wasn't trying to establish position. I didn't notice it. But what I did notice was in game two versus Denver, he wanted NOTHING to do with the ball. As I said before, it would go into his hands and immediately out to a teammate. It looked more like a game of hot potato than a basketball game with GO. Yeah, I have my doubts.
Maybe he is believing his coach's comments (or wanting to do what his coach wants) that he is expecting him to concentrate on defense and not on offense. I think Nate started the training camp out emphasizing defense and maybe has spent way too much time on it rather than on perfecting the offense. Sure looks like it to me. I expect better tonight. We lost the Denver game because we couldn't shoot. Denver took twenty less shot than the Blazers yet scored the same amount of goals. We make one more basket and that game is likely a win.
So you think he tosses it out as soon he gets it because he is focusing on what coach wants from him. More defense than offense?
You know the game I'm worried about is tomorrow vs OKC. Nothing I'd like more then Oden to get a triple double with blocks and Durant to be awful. Realistically, I think tomorrow is a bit of a trap game. I think OKC is a potential mid-tier team. If Westbrook continues his early tear they could threaten for 8th place and a playoff shot. I pray to god Oden is more aggressive tonight. I absolutely agree with the poster that said he needs to quick dunk (one hand probably) and save the Monster jams for when he is totally alone underneath. If Oden does get going tonight then we can be darn near certain of the W. It would be nice to see our 65 million dollar man show up as well.
Man, what a let down. The thread title led me to believe Nate was no longer coach. Cancel my excitement. More Oden will help us in the long run. Once Nate realizes that we will have a chance to advance in the playoffs. Running the offense from the outside in is not the way to win in the playoffs. Oden should see touches for no other reason than to give shooters some extra space. Nate needs to realize this before we can take the next step.
MM kind of stole my thunder here....but I agree that until Nate runs more plays for him, and guys start looking to pass into the post, I'm not expecting anything too huge from Greg. That said, he had 12 boards and 5 blocks against them the first time around, I don't see any reason he can't put up solid defensive numbers and at least score in double figures. Add my name to the list of people frustrated with the lack of involving Greg in the offense.
