Well, I was commenting about the dominance issue. TS%, FG% and the like show that he is efficient, but Joel had fantastic TS% and FG% last year, that did not make him dominant. Same with BLK% - The bird-man had fantastic BLK% last year, but he is not a dominant player. DRTG, on the other hand, is a catch all stat that shows real dominance, and it is not a surprise that the 3 best regular rotation guys in the league in the query we showes are very good defensive player. Everyone knows that KG is the Celtics defensive Anchor. We all knew Sheed could play great defense. Not many people are aware of the fact that Greg does it for Portland. He is a dominant defensive player, and an efficient, and occasionally dominant offensive player. It is not a surprise that Sam Smith does not realize it, he is a hack, just like our very own shit-stirrers here in Portland. Darn tootin' - Kid is going to be a player, and all the mental midgets that called him a bust, are, well, mental midgets.
Oden seems to demand quite a few double teams and is shooting the second highest FG% in the league. Not bad for a guy who is "aspiring to average."
I like to bring up Viktor Khryapa whenever the Bulls get brought up. It's all part of the Sam Bowie grieving process.
After last night he's #1, combined with his 79% from the FT line he's an efficiency monster on offense EDIT: just checked, Oden's 2nd in the league in TS% at 67.7% with only Chris Paul higher than him... Considering Paul was generally considered to be shooting at an unsustainable rate and he's been out since playing us 2 weeks ago it might not be long until Oden reaches #1 there as well.
Again, efficient vs. dominant. I have no problems with this assessment so far. Greg is just not a consistent offensive threat, yet. It will come, but at this point - Chad Ford speaks the truth.
I think it has more to do with mechanics and they way he looks when he goes into his moves. Despite his great percentages, it still doesn't look "great", which makes it harder to call him a good or great offensive player (and his ability to read and react to a double team is still a work in progress). If he can keep growing, and if the team can keep feeding him the ball (the two are intertwined) then I think he's got serious 17-18 ppg potential. The dominant "Shaq-like" 25+ ppg averages seem less likely if only because this team has so many other options on the court with him, and he's still got a ways to go before you'd want to feed him the ball for 18-20 shots per game.
There's room in between "dominant" and "aspiring to average," it isn't one or the other. Oden is not dominant offensively, but he's more than average, let alone "aspiring" to average. It's not just his efficiency, it's the fact that teams consistently double-team him. When you're an efficient, productive scorer and you draw frequent double-teams, you're an above average offensive force. It's not just a question of the double-teams showing that other coaches respect Oden...drawing double-teams has a large positive effect on team offense.
how is someone who commands a double team, leads the league in FG%, shoots 79% from the line, and absolutely dominates the offensive boards not at least an average player on offense? at this point - Chad Ford is laughably wrong STOMP
Style points don't win games. It's results that matter. I don't care how awkward he looks. He's unstoppable. Greg's results on both ends of the court are becoming dominant and game winning. He doesn't have to score all our points and he won't. This team is going to be scary good. PS: I love Greg's passing.
I think this is the correct analysis ... C'mon guys. I think we're letting last night's breakout performance color our memories of the other 15 games he's played so far this year. He has not been dominant all year, he's certainly starting to really gain confidence in the past few games, but he hasn't been this unstoppable wrecking ball on offense.
Because the Blazers are just using him sporadically on offense. Again, I think that Oden is going to be a much better offensive player than people call him, and I think that he can be dominant in spurts - but overall, the way the Blazers use him, the way he has to deal with foul problems, the way he has lots of turn-overs against better post defenders (which the Bulls do not have). I am OK with that description. Roy is a dominant offensive player, Durant is a dominant offensive player, D-Howard is a dominant offensive player. Greg is not there. But it's coming.
He is a pretty consistent offensive threat. In 9 of his last 13 games and 4 of his last 5 he's been in double figures. It's not dominant, but it's reasonably consistent, and increasingly so. Last year he really wasn't. Half his games he never made it into double figures, and of course he missed 21 games too. He's certainly not anywhere near Durant. But he's a guy every opposing coach has to account for in their defensive scheme. Thus, he's a threat.
well then you're wrong too. Greg is more then an average offensive player. Of course he's going to get better, but on dude is already a beast inside having a big effect on many games. Subpar offensive players don't do what he is accomplishing STOMP
2,6,6,12,8,14,11,14,18,8,8,11,6,16,16,24 Those are Greg's scoring results this year, so far. Threat? You bet. Efficient? No doubt. Some dominant performances? Yes sir. Better than last year? Great. But he is not a dominant offensive player yet. It will come. I have no doubt about it. I have no doubt a lot of people will eat a lot of crow over their assessment of Greg and his potential. But he not a dominant offensive player, yet.
The entire Sam Smith argument was that he was not ready to dominate the league. I pointed that he is already a dominant defensive player, and some people pointed to his great TS%, rebounding rate in rebuttal. I consider that as part of the same argument about the word dominant. With that said, I love what we get from Greg, I think he is going to get so much better that it is scary (for the rest of the league) - and I see no problems with calling him "aspiring for average" at this point. When he scores 14-15 PPG - I would be ready to call it "average" for such a high-draft pick with such a physical dominance that he has - and I have no doubts that it will come. You think it is not right, fair enough. I am willing to accept different opinions. That's all there is to it. I am pretty sure that Greg thinks he can be a lot more consistent, a lot better on offense as well (based on his post-game remarks) - so I am good with it. Anything from here on is an argument over the definition of the words dominant and average and the like - and I am going to leave it to Mr. Language Person to discuss it.
