I have been out lots of time an seen Greg out in dt Portland. One time he was stumbling down the street with his Cain he was so wasted. Alcohol we a problem for him there is no doubt. I never see any of the current blazers out. Doesn't mean they aren't drinking but it was like Greg didnt give a fuck people saw him out partying when he was supposed to be trying to get better. Oh wait I've seen victor claver out once... Party animal
I think you're hurt and just looking for reasons to hate Greg Oden, which by the way is fine. Greg was only able to play if the team let him, so you saying it was Greg's choice to come back early is wrong. That's on the team, just as it was on the team to check him out physically/medically prior to the draft and choose to draft him instead of Durant, just as it was on the team to help him rehab. And I think he did try, and for awhile succeed, to endear himself to the fans. It just didn't work out. It's not like Oden sabotaged his rehab (and therefore his career) because he hated it here. At the end, both sides felt the same way, it was just time to move on. I can't blame either side for that. For every quote you can find of Greg Oden saying "Portland isn't a great city to live in if you're a young, African American male with a lot of money", I can find one like "He feels bad for Portland and the team, more than anything, more than he did for himself," Oden's agent, Mike Conley Sr., said Friday. "He felt he could have made an impact, and he knows they were counting on him." Maybe it's insecurity, but I don't know why some of you get so defensive about any comment that slights Portland. If you got drafted and were a rich, african american athlete, is Milwaukee where you want to go? Minnesota? Utah? And if you endured 4 years of rehab and failure in the city, wouldn't you want to move on too? That doesn't mean you hate the fans and all they did for you. I don't require everyone who plays for Portland to love it more than home and to live here during the offseason. Who cares? All it does is underscore how accurate it is when people say it's like being in a fishbowl when you play for Portland. Every single thing you say or do becomes a multipage thread on some message board. I just don't think his body is cut out for the rigors of an 82 game season and I don't think that has anything to do with alcohol or not rehabbing properly. I could be wrong, remains to be seen how successful his comeback will be.
Oden didn't embrace Portland? Neither does Aldridge. He's not here all summer. He has no camps for kids. He doesn't donate big bucks like Damon Stoudamire. Why does a player have to embrace his city? It's just a repeat from 10 years ago of the overscrutiny of off-court behavior. The "off-court critics" now would have been the same group then.
I believe wholeheartedly that Greg intended this to mean "Portland isn't an easy city to stay sober in if you're a young, depressed, immature, unsupervised African American male with a lot of money."
And I wholeheartedly believe that Portland is not a fun city for a African American with a little money to spend, nothing racist but Portland is a White city. There are no Hip Hop clubs worth anything and the only places that play it are strip clubs. I can't really blame Greg for feeling that way, but I agree his response was immature. I blame the Trail Blazers organization as a whole for not giving him good guidance. Funny he's got a great shot at a ring this year, it's too bad it wasn't with us.
I think a lot of the blame lies with the Trailblazers Organization. They lucked out against all odds, securing the rights to draft a once in a decade true center, and all we see, looking back in hindsight, is a giant cluster fuck of mismanagement and ineptitude on both parties counts. First it's 'Pristine' knees and then Dance Dance revolution injury - my ass - the whole mismanagement of Oden has stunk from day 1.
Yet Kevin Durant, from Washington, DC, has no issues living in Oklahoma City. Yes, it's all Portland's fault. It's not at all the fault of St. Greggers wanting to party like a rock star. He should be fun to watch in Miami as the season progresses.
The team was bad at giving Rudy something to do. He was initially played up as a Spanish sex symbol, but blogged on holidays how lonely he was in his apartment. No girlfriend. So in his second year, Pritchard finally told Roy to include Rudy when the players went out, and to stop ostracizing him in the locker room. Too late. Rudy wanted out by then.
Sometimes, more goes into being a franchise player than putting up impressive statistics on the court. So even though LaMarcus Aldridge was a catalyst in the Trail Blazers' season-opening victory against the Lakers on Wednesday, hitting his first five shots and finishing with 19 points, he made perhaps an even bigger impact earlier in the week, when he put up a different set of impressive numbers. Aldridge, the 27-year-old who has become the franchise centerpiece in his seventh season in Portland, bought and personally delivered 100 turkey dinners to Northeast Portland families in need. "They needed to see that someone cares about them," Aldridge said. Aldridge is an intensely personal and guarded man. He is more wary than willing while interacting. But behind those barriers lies a huge heart, and a couple of weeks ago, the words of a young Portland woman seeped past his hardened veneer and latched on to that heart, inspiring him to spend the $5,000 to buy the food.
Many black basketball players have come to Ptd and managed to excel and not become alcoholics. The Ptd white thing is an excuse. I love the way De'Anthony Thomas embraced Eugene and said it is the perfect environment to get away from all the pressures he felt in CA and just concentrate on football. Not completely faulting Oden as it made sense for him to get the hell out of dodge. But while he was here, the vibe I got was more isolation from his teammates and fans than anything else. I think there was one year I felt he was part of the team, but mostly you never saw him on the bench and he was more of an enigma than anything else. I'm sure it was tough on Oden, but not everyone would have handled it the way he did.
As I said, why does a player have to "embrace" (donate to?) his city. So I was defending Oden, not criticizing Aldridge, but since you guys want me to play that part... So you looked back and the only thing you could find was that a year ago, Aldridge spent $5000 on 100 turkey dinners. These weren't $50 turkeys. These were $50 meals, apparently on a solid gold platter. He fed 100 people at the Salvation Army one rich man's meal each. A contracted stomach can only hold so much before it vomits and craps the rest. There must be some more efficient use of that 50 bucks. Was it all for show? You won't get far in painting Aldridge as a local philanthropist. This summer, living in Los Angeles, he made some crack about preferring that city. It was on this board but I've forgotten what it was.
He also hosted a charity basketball game, the proceeds of which went to breast cancer awareness, Providence/St. Vincent's Cardio Vascular Institue and New Avenues for Youth. I remember a few years ago after the nuclear disaster in Japan he also donated $1,000 per point in a game to a relief fund. He was given the inagural Maurice Lucas award a couple years back which is given to the player who 'best represents the true spirit of Maurice Lucas through contributions on the court and in the community'. Since then I think it's gone to Wes and Lillard. I think Aldridge is a private person and doesn't seek attention especially off the court, which is why you may have this opinion of him.
Those first 2 sentences are a nice little $25,000 gift each year With all his money, it's not big time, but as I said, my point was, why does a player have to embrace his city.
