I don't watch Chandler much . . . but Oden and Chandler seem like two different players. I guess you can compare stats to try and show they are similar, but Chandler is a long skinny high acrobatic kind of big man and Oden is a big thick brusier down low. Is it just me or was Bosh a different player after getting banged up by Oden . . . off the top of my head I don't recall Bosh going into the paint much after that . . . and that last shot of the game . . . instead of taking it strong to the hoop, he tries a fall away running shot over LA and Oden.
I watched the beginning of that Chandler video and it just made me sad. The guy was blocking shots into the stands that he could catch and keep for his team. I hate that. That is almost as bad as a three pointer with your foot on the line.
When I played basketball, I've never just caught a ball to block it. That just doesn't happen very often. I've only seen Luol Deng do it twice and Michael Jordan do it once. My blocks are different style, because I played volleyball, and am used to jumping straight up with full extension to block, but still a far ways away from catching. Those big blocks into the stands are good momentum builders, and can scare the crap out of most players.
As a Bulls' fan, I'd make the case for Rose thusly. He's the best player on his team, Oden is not (Roy is, right?). Oden is not particularly playing at a level you'd call elite - 15/10 is good not great. They are talking about Rose as an All-Star in the East (opposing announcers), especially with Billups moving out of the conference. I don't hear the same kind of talk about Oden; granted he's in the West. Rose is doing things as a rookie that few before him have done (like score 10+ points in each of his first 10 games - Jordan was the last Bulls rookie to do it). Rose has already won rookie of the month award, Oden hasn't. That said, with 20-20 hindsight, I'd draft Hakeem over Jordan every time for all the reasons the GMs talked about in the first post. I'll also point out that in 2000, Elton Brand and Steve Francis shared the award. And I agree that Mayo is a VERY strong contender for the award.
Chandler wasn't even the best center prospect in his class. He was a good prospect, but he wasn't anywhere near where Oden was as a prospect. I'm not too worried about Oden becoming another Chandler. Ed O.
Still makes me sad. Watch the video, he could have caught those shots and kept the ball for his team. Players pin the ball off of the glass all the time but they show off and like to throw shots back into the crowd. Which is fine if you can't get the ball, you don't want to give the other team a garbage bucket on a tip. The fact that players do it all the time doesn't make it right, I see plenty of players shoot shots with their foot on the three point line. As for scaring the crap out of players, I bet most would be more embarrassed by having a guy just catch the shot right out of the air.
Well, that's not really a fair comparison - but it still favors Oden. You are comparing Chandler's 2nd year in the league to Oden's first 16 games. Yeah, Oden is a year older now than Chandler was as a rookie, but Oden is also coming off microfracture surgery after sitting out 18 months. And in spite of that, young Oden is producing at a far better rate that young Chandler did. Greg Oden has 7 double-doubles in his first 16 NBA games. Tyson Chandler had 7 double-doubles in his first 93 NBA games. He didn't record his 1st career double-double until his 46th NBA game. Oden had his first NBA double-double in his 3rd NBA game. Even assuming no improvement by Oden, at the rate he's going he should have 20 - 25 double-doubles by the time he's played 46 games in the NBA. It took Chandler two complete seasons and 146 games to record 20 double-doubles. Even in his second season, it took Chandler until his 23rd game to get his first double-double of the season. Again, Oden has seven in his first 16 games - as a rookie coming off microfracture surgery. It wasn't until the last month of his second season, over 130 games into his NBA career, that Chandler started posting double-doubles at a rate comparable to what Oden has produced in the first 16 games of his rookie year. And, that production was short lived. He started out his third season well, but even before his injury, his performance had tapered off. After the injury, Chandler only scored in double figures one time in the last 24 games of his 3rd season. Chandler had 21 double-doubles in his 4th season (a total Oden should exceed easily his rookie year) . He regressed to just 9 double-doubles in his 5th season. It wasn't until the second half of his 6th NBA season that Chandler became a double-double machine. So, before we declare Greg Oden the next Tyson Chandler, let's let him play 130, or so, NBA games and see where he's at by then, after having a chance to adjust to the NBA game and fully recover from his microfracture surgery. BNM
There's only one game this season in which I saw Derrick Rose play an entire game. And in that game, he scored 6 points, got one assist, and led his team to a 42 point loss. Some guy on the winning team named Greg had a double double.
I was at the Rose Garden for the Bulls game - I specifically chose that game as part of the package I bought because I wanted to see Rose in person. It was a great game to experience as a fan - but a disappointing one if you wanted to see Rose in person. He looked at Blake as if he was a fruit carving knife and just folded...
