OK. So we have the 3rd best SG, 14th best PG, 13th best SF and now the 11th best PF. Anyone want to make preliminary calls on Oden? 3rd in PER for his 21 games he played last season, but that's not for a full season, so even the experts likely won't use 21 games of data to make a projection. I think Howard and Yao are likely 1/2. I think it's safe to say they'll give Horford, Lopez, Kaman and Marc Gasol nods above Oden. If assuming a healthy Oden, then they might assume a healthy Bynum and have Bynum up there as well. Not sure I could put Jefferson and Noah up there above Oden, but some might leapfrog Oden there. So maybe 8th-10th? Be curious to see where he lands.
Honestly, I think ESPN will judge Oden something ridiculous like 17th. I don't think it's fair and I don't think it's accurate, but they're going to weight his past injuries heavily into this judgment.
I think LA will improve areas of his game that might not necessarily show up in the box score. He's supposedly bilking up- and that may translate into better defense and more post up shots.
Improving in any areas would be nice. His statline per minute has basically been a flatline since he entered the NBA.
You are easily satisified. There are only 30 teams in the NBA. I felt they were generous in giving Lamarcus the #11 spot. That means almost 1/3 of the schedule we go in with a disadvantage at PF that night. If they had ranked them as they should have, it would have been more like half the nights. Lamarcus needs to nut up and up his game, if the Blazers want to do anything of note, anyhow.
Listen FAMS...... there were only 4 other PF's that averaged better #'s then LA. Please explain why you think there are 15 other PF's better then him. And please name the 15.
How about because he goes through stretches where he is invisible - on both ends of the court. While LMA has holes in his game, just becoming more consistent with what he already brings to the table would be a big step forward.
I think both Oden and Camby wind up in the top 10 list for centers by the end of the year, and probably one of them will be on that list right now. So you add it up and we've got top 14 or better players at every position, plus a top 10 coach (I don't think I'm being over-generous in saying that). Are there any other teams that can say that? I can't think of any. At least in theory, we'll have a matchup advantage against every single team we face this year. (Of course, against LA the only clear matchup advantage we'll have will be Batum/Artest, which isn't that significant. In fact, Artest seems to score at will--.548FG%-- against whoever is guarding him on our team.)
The way I look at it there is the best: 1. Gasol 2. Bosh 3. Amare 4. Nowitzki 5. KG 6. Tim Duncan 7. Boozer By the way I am pretty sure that 6 of those 7 outproduced Lamarcus stat-wise. Guessing he will actually be Tier 1: Blake Griffin. Then there is tier 2: 8. Milsap 9. David West 10. Luis Scola 11. Carl Landry 12. Josh Smith If you go actually check their stats, you will find their stats very comparable and or superior to Lamarcus in areas. Landry produces almost the exact same stat line but is more efficient. Now I see Lamarcus, as somewhere in that 9 to 14 range, but it is a blur there to decided who is better. The problem being, is Lamarcus has a record of being out played by a couple of those guys head to head. He has been outworked by Scola and Landry both in the playoffs. David West has lit him up like a christmas tree with gasoline on it a few times. Josh Smith is a superior defender/shot blocker/rebounder/finisher. Are we not talking about the guy who we are depending on to be the #2 guy on the team? You aren't going to go far if the #2 guy on your team is a middle of the pack guy league wide. He needs to step up and play more towards tier 1 for Portland to have a chance, unless Greg takes a huge load off of him this year, then he can go back to being Rashard Lewis and nobody will care.
I don't think anyone could possibly cut the top 14 with their 5 starters other than Portland. The only teams even close are: Spurs - Parker (9th), Ginobili (5th), Jefferson (16th), Duncan (not rated yet, but will be top 5), and McDyess (horrible - so they lose their 5th there). Boston - Rondo (3rd), Allen (16th), Pierce (7th), KG (not rated yet, but will be top 5), and Perkins (not rated yet, but could be 15th-20th). So given that, I'd say Boston is the closet depth to Portland. Lakers have two top 5 guys and then Artest in the 15th-20th and Bynum will be top 20, so they're only missing Fisher (which could be low 20s). Obviously teams like Dallas, Chicago and Miami have three solid guys but have a couple spots that are way out of the running. So I think Portland wins the top 15 award for the year.
I think my post points out that we've got several guys at several positions who are around Aldridge's caliber (above average starter). So yeah, he's our #2 scorer (for now), but I'm not really sure it makes much sense to say he's out #2 guy. This team is Brandon Roy and a Roster of Above Average Starters. That may not sound impressive, but it actually kind of is. It's pretty rare to field a starting unit with not a single below average starter. This team will be a lot more than that if Oden gets back on track.
