No problem, buddy - it's my pleasure. You not being negative? Have you taken the time to read your post? If that's not negative, I'd love to see when you DO get negative. So are you revising your thread to a thinly veiled "fire Nate" or "Nate sucks" thread? If so, just say so instead of bitching about Oden and his (expected and not uncommon) steep learning curve of a rookie NBA center?
I don't thing you were watching the game! Greg had two quick fouls on Lopez and could have had him with four by the half if they had continued pounding the ball into him. As for Okafor! I don't think anyone would think that he'd be much of a challenge for Greg in the low post with Greg's type of size and strength, but I guess we'll not know until we can find a way to get Greg the ball on a regular basis!
I've watched every minute of every single game this year. You may not be negative on Greg but you're negative on several other things. Could Oden be doing better this year? Yes. Do I (or we all) wish that he was - of course. But your and a lot of others' expectations on the 20yr old center who played ONE season of college ball . . . is unrealistic at best. Those who thought he'd come in a dominate every opponent, every game are foolish.
You can disagree all you want Yenniedn, but please discuss hoops rather than trying to make it something personal! Thanks!
What's personal? I am discussing hoops and your expectations of Oden. You want to throw out your "opinion" and you've received mine and others. Not even half way into his first season - given everything else - for you or anyone to run around frantically yelling "bust" is a bit of a over-reaction, wouldn't you say?
This is true. However, it's not domination that some of us expected - it's respectability. I think most of us feel Joel Pryzz has been FAR more helpful to this team, and nobody would say he "dominates". Some of us aren't asking for Greg to be an elite center THIS YEAR - we just didn't expect the guy to play this bad.
Yeah, he's played poorly of late. But don't deny that he's had some good games and also certainly had great flashes of what he CAN be. And y'all know what? The inconsistency is part of most every rookie's experience (with very few exceptions). Rudy started out of fire - then slumped. I'm sure he'll pick it up again. Batum - flashes of brilliant and disappears at times. Bayless - same. Pick a rookie, most any rookie and you'll see typically inconsistencies. For the OP to expect the refs to give him the #1 pick nod and be frustrated with that??? Why bother.
Shaq came in and dominated, Wilt came in and domintad, Kareem domintaed! Oden was put into that once in a decade type of realm, not by me!!!! That's why we took him over KD. The experts all said you can't pass on a center with this type of talent, once in a franchise type of center! Calling me foolish for listening to experts who get paid well more than any of you do for your opinions seems quite odd. Oden was brought in to be the hub of this team. Make no mistake about that. You build around your center! I know he's coming off a surgery, but meet me half way!!!! The coaching is awful for a big man here, and to be fair, for a denfensive minded coach like Nate you'd think Greg wouldn't be on the bench in the first quarter of every game! That and OUR DEFENSE SUCKS !!!!
And did any of those centers you just mentioned play a solitary year of college ball before going pro?
He's on the bench at the end of the first quarter of most games either 1) because he's in foul trouble or 2) that's the normal sub rotation for any NBA squad. Your starters come out after 6-9 minutes of play in the first quarter and your subs come in to relieve them because, oh I don't know, maybe they get tired? Just because you can point to a couple of guys that came in and "dominated" doesn't mean that everyone will. And everyone that doesn't doesn't become a bust - and it is certainly isn't warranted to call him that after 30+ games. The guy is basically a high school kid (one and done in college means you might as well just go straight to the NBA) playing against a level of competition he's seldomly ever seen . . . night after night. How about people take their hands off the panic button and give the kid some time? Just as your precious scouts may know what they're talking about . . . don't you think the Blazers brass (from KP on down) don't know what to do? Last I checked, they've done a pretty good job rebuilding this team of late. I'll surmise that KP (and yes, even the villain Nate) know a lot more about putting together an NBA team, managing it, running it, coaching it than I ever will. If not, I'm sure they'll take the next opportunity to trade him for a late first round pick in this year's draft.
You can now clearly see that OP expected Oden to dominate from the get-go - and that's what we're discussing. Any other thread that addresses the situation any different would be replied to differently.
He HAS had his moments, but they've been so few and far between. Here's how I saw things before the season started . . . I knew Greg was going to struggle at times with foul trouble. I knew his post-up game was very raw. I knew he had pressure on him beyond anything I'll ever understand. And I knew he was coming off knee surgery. I knew he would commit silly fouls, and look very green at times. I just figured that with his size, strength, and (supposed) freekish athleticism that he would offset more of his mistakes. I thought he would be a monster on the offensive boards - like a young Shaq was. I pictured him in the paint gobbling up offensive rebounds and slamming them home, getting easy points w/o having to run plays for him. That hasn't happened. If he's not the freekish athlete we thought (and I'll admit, I need to give it time. He deserves time to heal from his injury. But I don't see a "feekish" athlete at this point, just a pretty good one) than he better learn the game.
Greg looks lost out there and and when he does foul out or have to sit the bench he looks more often relieved cause he's not really part of the offense to begin with. Who should be accountable for your franchise center looking that lost? If you're going to say he's young on one hand, then he better be getting coached, I'm not seeing that. I have yet to see Nate grab Greg on the sideline of a game and talk to him! He does it with Brandon, Bayless, Rudy, Outlaw, Blake and so forth. Nate has approached this year backwards. This year was solely to get Greg ready for his role as an elite center. Nate hasn't done it! In order to do it you must run the offense through Greg and have plays called for him and get him going every game early with touches. Win or lose this must be done for Greg to get to be the player he needs to be. He will not improve if he doesn't play and be meaningful with that play!
Um Greg was not introduced as a average run of the mill center so ya know!!!!! That's why he was the most coveted #1 draft pick since Lebron!! He was compared to Shaq, Hakeem, Robinson and Bill R. This kid has been followed since the 8th grade!!!! Yea he's that good!!!
You seem to contradict yourself. You start out with reasonable, sane expectations of the guy going in. Then you figure that his freakish athleticism would make up for most of the downside but then you admit that he's coming off surgery and probably not back to where he was or should be. I'm sure he's doing his best to learn the game and I'm sure the staff isn't just telling him to sit out of practices because he doesn't need to learn the game. We don't see even 5% of the stuff that goes on outside of what's televised on games so I wouldn't want to guess at it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Oden first and only approach would go over well with the rest of the team. Nothing happens in a vacuum. If we know anything about the NBA and the multi-millionaire 20-somethings that make up it's talent base, they can be tempermental, sulking prima-donnas as need be. Let's forget about your All-Star Roy and your up and coming power forward and your prized Euro recruit that you pried from Spain and the rest and just level everything on Oden's shoulders. Everything else aside, managing the personalities on an NBA team must be one of the hardest things to do. You don't have to look back very far in Blazers history to know that you can't just buy as much big name talent as your owner can afford and expect it all to magically work out somehow. Developing Oden is a must (and I'm sure it's a high priority) but you can't just push the rest of the team aside.
I don't buy the whole "if we don't do something now he'll be lost forever"... Tyson Chandler didn't come into his own until he got to New Orleans (and started playing with Chris Paul). Guys can turn it around. Confidence can come and go. It's not like Greg has a "expires by" date. He isn't a fragile flower, and if he is then he's not going to be great anyway. The kid needs to develop. Period. I just wish McMillain would give him some more touches and let him play through his fouls. Who cares if he fouls out.
If Phil got Oden, trust me the ball would be pounded into him because Phil knows that Kobe can go off when other teams are focusing on Greg! This isn't that hard man! That's exactly how the Lakers won those rings. Everyone had to contend with Shaq and Kobe was left to roam as was Fisher, Horry and George. Inside out is how it works! That's not opinion! Championships teams prove me right! Why do ya think Roy was so excited when we got Oden? He knows that if Oden is fed he is a star! Get the ball to Oden and I PROMISE ROY IS AN ALLSTAR FOR YEARS TO COME as is LA!
Here's another way to look at it! We are running through the guards now and losing to the Bobcats and a sub 500 76's team. Why not run it through Oden for the next five games? If he fouls out fine, but I'll bet ya when three collapse in on Oden, Roys and LA's shots become super easy to get.
