You know what does surprise me is his finese. I'm not talking about when he powers pass a defender, but when he puts up a little hook shot it's always soft and with touch. Last nite I remember him getting a rebound and flicking it softly back up with one hand for the score. Same thing last year even when his shots were missing usually they just barely missed, but he obviously had nice touch to his shot it was just a matter of dialing it in. To me that is what some seem to be missing.
Yeah, as often happens in these forums, we get more wrapped up in terminology than actual substance. I think we both have similar expectations. When I hear "aspiring to average," I think of Steve Blake or Joakim Noah. I don't put it in the context of #1 pick/physical dominance/etc. Compared to #1 draft pick physical specimen centers, I'd say Oden is well in the "aspiring to average" category.
My post to his article. MAGS said... LOL. I loved seeing you on NBATV.com and they talked about this very article. I was laughing all game, knowing you were there seeing Oden completely "man-handle" both chicago's bigs. I just wanted to thank you for writing this piece to light the fire under Oden. As a good sport's columnist, you already know the surgery that Oden had, takes 2 full years before you fully recover. This is basically his first year healthy. I sure hope there is a rebuttal to this article coming soon.
His Turnover rate is rapidly falling and I loved his passing last night, like Rice said he's "improving by the hour"!
I won't get into the whole dominant vs. average argument. As has been stated, there is a lot of room between the mid-point (average) and the extreme (dominant). I will just say you have a very unconventional definition of average. You realize there are only two players in the league who average => 14ppg and => 0.600 FG%? And, they both play a lot more minutes than Oden. In fact, Oden is only one of four players in the entire league to be averaging more than 10 PPG on 0.600 or greater FG%. Oden is already above average offensively. I don't know what the number is this year, but in past years, the "average" NBA player averages about 8 PPG. Oden is currently averaging 11.3 PPG. That's not average, that's not "aspiring to average". It is, by deinition, above average. And that he's doing so incredibly efficiently (league leading 0.640 FG%) makes it all the more impressive. I'd say "slightly above average aspiring to dominant" is more accurate at this point. He's not dominant yet, but all he really needs is more time and more touches. I'm confident he'll get there. BNM
How about a ball in a bearing? A well oiled bearing? Or a very large gear meshing with a series of other gears, like in a giant clockworks? Or the middle finger in a giant hand balled up into a god-like fist smashing our foes into dust? Please excuse me. I'm sick and heavily medicated.
My entire point is that I think Chad Ford and many other people use the word Average based on expectations, given his pre-draft hype, pre-draft expectation and draft position. If Martel Webster gave you 11.6 points a night, you would call him an average offensive player - without any problems. He was a top-10 draft pick, a nice one, and 11.6 PPG is average performance for a guy drafted that high. That's all I am saying. You want to argue he is above average already, I agree, by efficiency, not by production - and that's all I am really going to say about it anymore - because it is just restating one's opinion over and over again.
Didn't know where else to put it, and didn't want to start a new thread, but there was aplay last night, I think in the 3rd quarter. Either Rose or Pargo went for a runner in the lane, took it at about the 12 foot or so mark. Oden was close to the front of the rim and jumped as high as possible. He barely missedit, and the shot went in, but he had no business being as close as he was to it. Would have been an incredible block if he got it, adn with the force he swatted with, would have cleared half court on the fly.
OMG I saw that too. There wasn't much said about it, but I remembered seeing his head above the rim and literally his fingers were 2" from getting a block. I was like "WTF?!?!?! Where was he and how did he react so fast off that shot?!?!" Just imagine when the players actually know how to channel players to Oden's best "help D position?!?!" The paint will be controlled.
Then they are misusing the word average. He already scores more than the "average" NBA player. If he was doing so, but very inefficiently, I could buy your arguement that he is below average offensively. But, he is scoring more than the "average" player - AND he's doing it exceptionally efficiently. I just don't see how above average scoring + exceptional scoring efficiency = below average. BNM
Noah == hustle Oden == muscle Imagine if you could put Noah's motor in Oden's body. He'd foul out in about 4 minutes, but man what an entertaining 4 minutes it would be. BNM
No they are not. Average is a statistical term. The result is based on the population you refer to. Sure. Does he score more than the "average" 1st round pick? All you need to do is figure out what the "population" is when you apply the term. Since Ford did not specify it, but referred to Durant, I am guessing that he was talking about the #1 pick. You disagree because you think it is referred to the entire NBA player population. There is your difference.
You're not getting his point. He did not say "average" NBA player, he said So, to be fair to his point, you must determine the average of all #1 picks (really the median would be more interesting - to me, anyway). I don't know what that is, but my guess is that it is quite a bit higher than what Oden is averaging. Of course, it's really a moot point. Greg in treading on new territory in terms of his injury background. He'll be fine. As you showed, he's definitely above "average NBA player" even if he is "below average #1 pick". He's right at "average 2nd year #1 pick who didn't play his entire draft year because of microfracture surgery".
Sheesh, that's an awful lot of qualifiers. Even minus the MF surgery, he was never a prolific scorer in college, he was something like 15/9 his lone season at OSU (albeit in 28 mpg because he was fairly foul prone then too). Many we're really splitting hairs over semantics around here; Greg looks good right now. /thread
Since I'm sure Ford didn't do an exhaustive study on the averages for the "#1 pick population," I'm guessing that even if you're right in interpreting what he meant, he's referring to what #1 picks are expected to be...i.e. superstars. So if Ford is saying that Oden "aspires to be an average superstar on offense," I, too, have no problem with that. Oden is on his way there but not nearly there yet. However, I disagree with your interpretation. I think he meant average with respect to the NBA population...in which case, he'd be very wrong.
I think that as a Mod you can add a sticky for interpretation threads about what ESPN personalities said, or did not say. Or don't.
