Greg is not even close to Dwight Howard's athleticism right now. "and is the most hyped big man prospect of the past decade" -- this means nothing.
I saw Oden at the season opener and I'm happy to say that his shoulder isn't the size of my head. Howard's, though, is a different story. I don't think there's too many players in the NBA as strong as Dwight right now, let alone a guy who isn't even two years removed from high school conditioning.
I noticed Roys comments... Then I wondered what exactly he was thinking about when he made that comment. What I was thinking about when I heard it was Howard knocking him to the floor. And I was curious if he was thinking about that when he said that or if it was a straight up answer.
Come on, guys . . . this is embarrassing. We're all fans here - but let's keep the homerism in check shall we? I love Oden. I love Rudy. I love the Blazers but come on, Oden already better than Howard at this point and time? It's embarrassing that these threads exist so other fans can come in here and point fingers at us and call us a bunch of homers. Put the kool-aid down, Oden's got a long ways to go . . . sheesh!
I actually knew that from doing Lakers trivia...Its the only time Ive ever heard his name. Its amazing considering Lakers big man history
I don't see how this thread is such a big deal to so many. For one, it's Brandon Roy's comment. Not any of ours. He would know more than any of us. Secondly, I don't see any fans here saying he's currently a better player... at least on the part of this thread I read. The preposterous idea, though, that the #1 center prospect since maybe Shaq could challenge the current #1 center in the league is simply not that outrageous. I think we all expect(ed) Oden to be one of the best centers in the league. And therefore it's not ridiculous to believe he could be better than Howard... at some point. Granted Roy is insinuating that Oden is better now... but the qualifiers in here - made by these recockulous Blazer posters - that Oden could one day be that good are not outrageous. Not sure why so many believe they are.
What is ridiculous is that we're comparing hype/anticipation/potential (Oden) with actual games played and cold hard stats (Howard). And oh yeah, Dwight's built like a tank and can do whatever/whenever he wants without having missed any games. Oden has played 29 minutes in two years. Have you SEEN Dwight? He's a football player that got lost on the way to the stadium and ended up in basketball shorts (who then found out he could dominate there too)!!! Meanwhile, I'm cringing everytime Oden leaves his feet to do anything (and it's going to be that way for some time to come). Mind you I say this as a HUGE Oden fan - but you gotta take off the rose tinted glasses SOMETIMES.
That's the thing - there are no rose-tinted glasses in here. Everyone is just projecting and hoping. If you can't project, why follow the draft and rookies? What's the point, then, if you can't discuss how good you think they'll be?
Dwight Howard tonight: 4 pts, 7 rebs, 5 blks Let's keep those numbers in mind if Oden has a less than stellar game. Dwight is human. He didn't even hit a single shot. His only four points came at the FT line.
Hey now, I didn't start this thread to imply Oden was better than Howard. Roy made the comment and I found it interesting. If Roy truly thinks Oden is better than Howard, then Travis and Roy must have had a brain swap. I do think Oden has Howard type potential. In the 4 games we've seen Oden he has shown a tremendous amount of improvement. His offense in the first Laker game made me worried that he was 3-4 years away from being productive. In the last 2 games I know feel like he can give us something this year from the post, that doesn't mean Howard/Yao type production maybe more on the line of Bynum type offensive production
What is really impressive to me is that GO is a much better rebounder than we what I expected. I never thought he would be an elite rebounder - I was hoping for good. But - the kid is only a tenth behind Pryzbilla and only Aaron Gray (who plays little minutes, probably against scrubs only) and Biedrins are also ahead of him. Just think of what he will do once he is used to the NBA speed and regains his conditioning...
Oden is going to be special. At this point i worry about injuries being the one thing that can hamper him emerging as a very good player inthe next couple of years.
I think we are seeing Greg at 65-70%. I would be shocked if he's not averaging 10-11 rbds a game by mid season. His timing is starting to comeback on rebounds and also on block shots. Personally I would like to see us play more zone defense. Teams are trying to bring Greg out and run pick and rolls against him which does two things, gets him in foul trouble and makes him use more energy. Let him patrol the middle and force teams to beat us from the outside.
I think Greg will be the best center in the league by the end of this year. Of course that assumes that he stays healthy. I don't think there is anyone else like him out there. Howard doesn't have the size to stop him, and Yao/Shaq don't have the speed and athleticism.
I doubt he will be the best center by the end of the year - he is not going to be 100% by the end of the year - and D-12 is a special player. But - I would not be surprised to see a healthy Oden become the best center in the NBA in a couple of years.