There's no question that Oden has become a better offensive player this year, but a surprising stat is that his usage rate has practically stayed the same. He was at 19.3% last year and 19.0% this year. That means he's basically getting the same number of shots this year as last year, which is ridiculous for a guy with a 64TS%.
I don't think he was ever supposed to be MORE a part of the offense... early in the year he was simply (intentionally) LESS a part of the offense. Clearly they figured out that was a silly strategy and he's back to getting shots. As he should. Ed O.
If you watch, you'll see that Miller is really the only guy who gets him the ball in decent post position. Blake and Roy almost never pass to Oden. It's really quite ridiculous.
I think we could all agree that Greg has a pretty decent handle for a guy his size. I've seen it a few times, but most apparent was his pretty decent looking fast break. Also, by reports, he has a decent jumper that we never see. Now, so often when I see him get the ball at the free throw line, the floor is spread, and I think to my self, he needs to just face up and take it to the hole, or maybe start trying a short jumper. His post moves down low are still a work in progress, but if he could add this to his game, or utilize that aspect of his game, it would open up everything for us by drawing the opposing center out of the paint.
Feed the Beast. Let him get their bigs in foul trouble. I'm tired of us trying to protect our lead and get others involved. Utilize the big three (Roy, Aldridge and Oden) more and use the others less. The more they are the biggest focal point on the offensive end, the sooner we can put teams away before they get any life back in them.
Yep, that's my biggest complaint about Blake and Roy. I wonder sometimes if Roy sees Oden's potential success (Superstar potential) as overshadowing his own and resents that. I feel like one of these days Roy and Oden will click on the court and then the league is in deep DEEP trouble. Rudy and Miller both look for Oden and the results are great (see first quarter vs. Golden State).
I don't know if it's not them wanting Oden to be successful as it is something they aren't so used to lately. Also, there is some questions with Nate as well. That first quarter you talked about, had Nate feeding the Beast in the first quarter, then trying to get the other players to do their thing. I think Nate just tries to use Oden to open the game more for the perimeter, which he feels more comfortable running. I don't think Nate fully understands the true value of the inside game yet. He's never really had it for his entire career as coach or a player. Shawn Kemp wasn't much of a post player. That seattle team that played during his run had the same type of motion offense, with Kemp picking and popping and Payton doing basically what Roy is doing on the offensive end.
