Should the Blazers bring in Artis Gilmore?

Apparently this guy would be happy to work with Greg (and other big men).
http://artisgilmore53.blogspot.com/2010/09/reader-of-this-blog-recently-left.html

Would it hurt to at least have him come out for a month, at least to talk with Greg, especially while Greg is not yet working out with the team.

Or at least to have Greg meet with the guy when we take a trip to Chicago?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artis_Gilmore

 

It's time to stop babying Greg. If he wants to get better then he should seek out Gilmore himself.

 

Greg just needs game time.

 

Maybe he's never even heard of him. I'd let him know but I don't have Greg's email. And Cho doesn't seem to have an email on Blazers.com

 

That's a good point, maybe at this time he needs to just stay focused on the simple stuff.

 

In fact, why even employ coaches or trainers or doctors? If players want coaching, training work or doctors, they can consult a phone book. For that matter, practice facilities seem like a big waste. The players earn enough to get court time in a gym and, if they'd rather save that money, there are always playgrounds.

That's what's wrong with pro sports today...teams try to do their best to put their multi-million investments in a position to succeed. If the players want to succeed, they'll find their own avenues to it. Why, I remember in 1937, in the old Continental Roundball Assemblage, "Speedy" McGee was forced to work in coal mines between games and honed his skills by tossing ore into a cart from greater and greater distances. Then he got black lung and died. Some players succeeded, though...just not old "Too Weak For Coal Mining" McGee.

 

yeah. enough coaching. just let him learn the game on his own.

 

Improvement is up to him at this point: no more kid gloves, no more handling him like a Ming vase, no more trying to prod him onward, if he's going to achieve greatness (goodness?) he's got to have enough internal motivation to go out and seek the help he needs -- aside from what Bayno and Buck can give him as coaches.

 

Snark aside, I still don't understand your position here. Why are Bayno and Buck approved coaches, but someone who might teach him something on the offensive end of the court is "babying?" You need internal motivation to go find guys on your own to teach you offense, but coaching on defense, rebounding and conditioning can be supplied by the team?

 

Players typically make jumps in their sets of skills during the off-season when they have time to focus intently on a particular area and then hone those skills and reduce weaknesses through lots of drills. During the regular season -- beyond training camp -- there's really not that much practice time and having yet another coach (even a hall of famer like Gilmore) to supposedly coach up Oden just doesn't seem like it would make all that much of a difference this year. I'm sure it's possible that Greg could learn a thing or two from Gilmore that Bayno and Buck can't teach him, but how much would be all that different really?

But back to my "babying" comment, I think the team has demonstrated a pattern of handling Greg with kid gloves and setting him apart from and above his teammates (wasn't required to attend games, special room to sleep on the plane, etc.) and a special assistant separate from the existing coaching staff would just be another instance of this kind of enabling (not to mention it could undermine and neuter Buck's authority).

 

Oden has been babied from the start. There should be greater expectations of how he handles himself during the 95% of each year he lies around recovering from surgery. That's why I called for precise reports (maybe every couple of weeks) on his current records (e.g. dead lift 300 pounds). That would make him and management feel accountable to someone--to keep the pressure on them to get to the goal.

They failed miserably yet again to get to the goal--he won't be 100% by the start of preseason camp. They think meeting that deadline is the least important thing, but it's the most important thing. They greatly increased the chance of injury, because he's behind everyone else in the season-long race to be in shape.

As for Gilmore, Oden needs to show he can play a season before he will get anything out of a specialized Center coach. Maybe a year from now.

 

he played 670 consecutive games, even if 10% rubs off on Greg its worth it.

 

Which coach can we hire to teach Greg how to avoid injuries? I want to hire THAT guy...

 

Oh...you want to bring in Gilmore as a *coach*.

Since he is only a couple years older than Greg, I was thinking of him as a replacement!

 

No, Miller is the guy who teaches you how to gut it out. Maybe you forgot, but Miller played on sprained ankles practically all of last season. The guy doesn't avoid injuries, he ignores them.

 

While we are at it - enough with the Blazers one nonsense. Take a bus, bitch!

 

Artis may have been the slowest, most methodical "good" center in NBA history. If the plan is to have Oden not use his athleticism, then yes, good idea.

 

For the Greg Oden who played at Ohio State, it would have been a terrible idea. Now, after multiple knee injuries......