Oden, have you given up on him? What would make you believe?

I have. It killed my elf mage.

 

You rep him while I made the oringal joke! But do I get repped? Nooooooo.

 

So substantial weight gain + injuries to both knee = no change in leaping ability?

Dude, seriously?

 

This.

Goodbye David Robinson athleticism, hello Desegana Diop athleticism.

--> IMO <--

 

How much change to leaping ability? The poster in question put a specific number on it. Are you supporting that number?

The injuries supposedly shouldn't change the effectiveness of his knees. Not all injuries change/weaken the body permanently.

The weight gain may affect his leaping ability, but it remains to be seen how much of that weight he keeps on once he's able to work out normally for several months.

 

What happened to him being Jamaal Magloire? No longer optimistic about Oden?

 

I'm completely worried about Roy's durability, in fact his knees are one of the major reasons I think this team's chances of winning a championship are a lot dimmer than they were last summer

I think Oden will be productive when healthy ... it's the "when healthy" part that I no longer have much faith in (and yes I do believe we have seen a pattern of brittleness with him, despite the fact that his injuries appear to be unrelated).

 

I have no doubt that Oden can contribute if he's healthy. I even think he could be an All-Star. However, I have almost zero confidence in his ability to stay injury-free. I personally think he's an accident waiting to happen every time he steps on the court.

I hope he proves me wrong this year.

 

reportedly he was about 265 last year. Thats all of 8 pounds more then he weighed in at the pre-draft which is the baseline being referenced... is that really substantial in your world? His knee injuries shouldn't have any affect on his jumping/athletic ability according to actual medical experts. Thats the reason they do the longer to recover from microfracture surgery and of course a broken bone (kneecap) heals completely... besides it sure looked like he was jumping fine last year when he was leading the league in blocked shots

I know you pride yourself on taking a glass half empty viewpoint, but this is one of those times where your broken record is just wrong

STOMP

 

I'm not trying to nitpick, but looking at him last year, I think he was at least 270 and perhaps closer to 280. I really do think playing under 260 would make him both healthier and more impactful. I really hope we're working with him to look more like David Robinson and less like Shaq.

 

I think everyone but Oden himself thinks 260ish is a good weight for him. His kneecap as I know you know, broke from being so beastie his quad ripped it in half. So weight wasn't an issue with this injury or the Maggette one. In fact none of them were as he was 250ish when the micro injury happened.

That said lower weight should = greater speed and athleticism.

 

Well said. He's simply more effective when he's quicker. He'll foul less and will still have enough strength to battle down low.

For the record, the Blazers' training staff deserves some serious blame for his massive muscle gain while injured. They should have been keeping him lean instead of letting him go Gary Trent.

 

Well your eyeball measurements vs whats reported isn't really worth debating, plus there is a strong possibility that the 265 reported weight I'm recalling was from one of the Blazer's sunshine crew. Regardless, I've always been in the camp that would rather him focus his training on being lighter/quicker then heavier/stronger both for performance and longevity reasons, so we're hardly at odds. Of course it's possible for a player to be trim/fit at X weight and also fat/out of shape at the same weight... there is good weight and bad. I've been happy to read/hear multiple reports of Greg being focused on his diet. Here's one. I never bought the excuses provided by the Shaq camp of how he bulked up because he takes such a pounding from opponents. If you're already the biggest guy on the court, how much bigger do you need to be? I saw O'neal with his shirt off in the PHX locker room a couple years back and dude is just a fat ass. I did not think Greg was like that last year at all. He seemed to be in great shape contesting shots and moving much better then his rookie year.

sidenote... just for noting how fickle a weight measurement is for guys this big, I can recall Wayne Cooper claiming he'd lose about 8 pounds every game.

STOMP

 

Well, then you should have specified that in the poll options.
I was just talking overall production.

 

I've read that NFL linebackers/running backs can lose 40-50 lbs in a week during the season, from all the work they do, if they don't eat voraciously. The amount of weight burn that hard-working athletes at that level can achieve is insane.