If Greg can stay on the floor, and his coach can figure out a way to better utilize him on offense then he should show a lot of improvement. If he continues to commit stupid fouls, or fouls because our starting PG can't guard anyone then we should see another year of mediocrity from Greg.
Qft and repped. Oden is a god damn beast and anyone to think he won't be soon is a damn fool. When you factor all the things he's had to deal with, mf surgery, young, rookie, no sea legs in the NBA; who didn't think he was going to have some trouble? Ok he's had some injurys ala bone chip and sprained ankle this year but given the circumstances those are year to year injuries that most NBA players get. (not so much the bone chip but that was a metal knee brace to knee so I wasn't really suprised) shit Yao is/was injured a lot of the time to but I don't really hear people call him injury prone. The fact is that because oden came in the league as a rookie and had to get surgery on his knee people freaked out and called him the next Sam Bowie but in reality he just had a bad accident and got a injury that was pretty bad, now that injury wasn't career ending But everyone assumed odens career was in shambles. there are tons of players that return from mf surgery all the time and play well but it takes time. People need to not freak the hell out and give oden time to get his damn sea legs after the injury. And for fucks sake he's 21 he's a kid still. Just because he looks older than my grandpa doesn't mean he is that old. From what it sounds like oden is making wonderful progress with bayno give him time!
Oden's foul trouble could easily be attributed to a lack of lateral quickness that he may get back after this off season. It was pretty eye opening to realized he hadn't done a single squat until this May. He was still rehabing from his surgery all year last year. And he was still damn good. He is the only Blazer teams double when he doesn't have the ball. His ability to hoover up offensive boards is insane. He draws fouls at an absurd rate. Man, I can't wait for Oden to smash the shit out his detractors next year.
I think Wilt once said it best: "Nobody roots for Goliath." A center's difficulties are harder for the average joe to relate to. A guy like Oden who dominated at every other level should dominate immediately at this level too, because he's so freakin' huge and such an athletic specimen. Little details like missing an entire season and microfracture surgery shouldn't matter. Yao lived with a lot of criticism in his first 3-4 seasons too. But look at him now (well, aside from the recent foot injury.) People recognize that when he's healthy he's one of the best players in the game. Oden is going to be a dominant player. It's plain as day to me, just like I could see that in Yao pretty early on. It's just going to take some time. Until then, get used to a lot of people ignoring the flashes and focusing on his statistical averages.
This is about where I expect him to be too. If he stays in the games, I can't see him at less than 10 boards. Blocks will go up and offensive efficiency should get better too as he learns to just react and not think.
For all the talk of obtaining this player or that, it all pales with what Greg could possibly bring to the table. I don't really give a shit about Hedo Turkoglu. If Greg plays well, who is going to deal with him? So what if San Antonio got RJ and LA got Ron Artest. Are those two somehow going to guard Oden? I don't think so. This is about what the Blazers do. If you do what you do well, it doesn't matter what the other teams do. This has been about Greg since he was drafted, and the team will go as Greg goes. Brandon Roy can only take it so far.
The main reason I liked Turkoglu, despite being unenthused by his production over the past few years, was that he did run the pick & roll well with Howard and I thought that would be a nice thing for Oden. So, I agree that Oden is the key. Turk would have been nice, really, mostly insofar as he helped Portland make use of Oden. But I'm not sure his familiarity with running a pick & roll with a big man was worth $10-12 million, so I'm not particularly unhappy to have lost out on Turkoglu.
going on memory, KP stated that he was just under 280 at the start of last season. Weight can be a misleading thing to watch though as alone it doesn't give a clear picture of how in shape a person is. Muscle weighs more then fat etc... It's fully possible for an athlete to be in poor or great shape at the same weight. Heres hoping Greg is integrating diet as an important part of his training. STOMP
People tend to root for the underdog - especially in the USA (it's part of our heritage going back to the Revolutionary War). Someone who has an obvious advantage (huge and athletic in this case) is rarely seen as the underdog. They are seen to have an "unfair" advantage over lesser specimens. After all the shit Oden has been through - the expectations, the MF surgery, the "disappointing" rookie year, the constant cries of BUST!!!! Told you so!!!!! from assclowns in the national media, the injury setbacks, etc. I think he's become a much more sympathetic figure that he would have been if he would have come straight out of college, not gotten injured and dominated from the get go. I've always been a huge Oden fan, was thrilled, and still am, that we won the lottery and chose to draft him. Unlike the average fans who root against Goliath, I am a huge fan of big men who play like big men (rebound, protect the basket and dominate the paint at both ends). This is what I expect from Oden, and I hope he gets there. Whether he makes a huge improvment this season, or just steady progress over the next 2 - 3 years, I believe he will get there. I just hope people start to cut him a little slack. He doesn't deserve It's not like he chose to get injured, or got injured because he is lazy, but people sure piled on him when he didn't average 20/10 immediately. I hope Oden proves those people wrong - and I believe he will. He's working hard to become the player we hoped he would be and deserves our support. BNM
And, go 82-0 during the regular season - and Bill Simmons will stay say Durant would have been the better pick. BNM
Re: Bill Banyo on Oden. How is that possible when he wasnt even really playing basketball at this time last year?
Re: Bill Banyo on Oden. This is a Greg Oden thread, not an Andrew Vagynum career best prediction thread
Re: Bill Banyo on Oden. What did I say about Bynum? Nothing, you are a little too sensitive. And when has a garbageman averaged 20 pts off of putbacks, that is ridiculous. Believe it or not, I am a fan of Oden and have defended him on these boards when you guys were calling a bust. Averaging 8/11/2 is pretty damn good for a 2nd year center. Since you brought it up, Bynum got $14.5M per year for averaging 14/8/1.8 last year. I think Oden is abetter rebounder/defender and Bynum has a better offensive touch.
Re: Bill Banyo on Oden. You're letting your bias overcome you. Oden scored 9 PPG last season, despite recovering from surgery and not playing many minutes. If you really think he's going to score less, well...good luck with that.
Re: Bill Banyo on Oden. you're right. I was just about to come here and revise upward my pts prediction for him next year to 11
