We have to start asking ourselves the same question with Batum. He dislocated his shoulder in the '08-'09 season, and hasn't really been fully healthy since. Plus, a shoulder dislocation is MUCH more susceptible to re-injury than a bone break. Oden may have had more severe injuries to date, but Batum's seems more likely to be chronic.
Keep Oden. So far Batum is still a "promising" player. Like Webster, he hasn't reached any significant measure of his "potential" and may or may not in the ensuing years. But centers like oden only come along every 5 years or so. Injured or not, a healthy Oden is worth substantially more then Batum- even if Batum plays up to his potential.
Oden, not even a question. Oden still is the path to a championship, especially if you think about needing to compete with big teams like LA.
while on the court, both have been productive... Greg just more so. One is a very efficient complimentary player, the other a very efficient dominant player same STOMP
this is a distinction that I wish some here would grasp... all injuries aren't the same going forward STOMP
Underlined sentence is why Oldmangrouch and the other haters are so silly. Until it's proven that Oden has congenital bone issues (his legs or feet would have broken by now if that were the case as they take the most pressure) it's been a nasty series of flukes. I promise if we traded him he would become a god and haunt us on some big market team where he would inevitably end up. Even if Batum becomes twice what I think he can be, he will never, ever, ever haunt us the way Oden would.
Yep, haters just don't get it. They want to have a good team, but not a championship team. Try any basketball forum with blazers fans who understand basketball and that rarity of a coordinated 7 footer.
Too many Blazers fans have had too much big man trauma and resent big men when they are hurt far, FAR more then when our SF sits out half the season or our star SG misses about 20 games per year. I swear to god that's why people are so unreasonable about this OBVIOUS answer question. If you want a title it's Oden, if you want a sure thing competitive team that gets spanked by LAL or god's be praised they man up to get swept every year by Miami well you go with Batum then obviously.
You could substitute both Roy and for that matter Paul's name for Batum that's why I want to stooge slap the people who voted for Batum.
No question G.O. For the same reason we drafted him. It is easier to find a very good SF then it is to find a very good center.
here is how I look at it.. we probably will have to beat the Heat to get to a Title. With Oden (if he meets his potential) we have someone who could beat their positional player. With Batum, although I have a pretty big man crush on him, he still would never be able to match Lebron at his position. With a possible lineup of CP3, Roy, (Matthews?), LMA, and Oden... you can look at being superior to them at 2 positions (PG and C) And Roy can at least play close to Wade (production wise) With hopefully LMA playing 80% of Bosh's 100%... with Batum they are still better than us at the SF spot, but our Advantage at the PG spot would be much much less.
Just the fact that this question is even being asked is absolutely crazy in my book. Batum has clearly taken on the roll of most over rated Blazer.
The game is changing, I don't think you need a dominant post player to win a championship ... certainly a capable rebounder/defender, but not necessarily guys in the mold of Hakeem, Wilt, Kareem, Walton, etc. The rules have moved big men out to the perimeter and guards and wings can barely be breathed on or they draw a foul. With that as the foundation of my choice, I'd give the nod to Batum ... but just barely.
Who cares about the hype and what position they were picked. The fact is that when Oden is playing, he has the ability to dominate the game at both ends. Adding Batum back to our roster helped, but didn't drastically change our team. Adding a healthy Oden to the roster transforms our team. It isn't close.
Ah, nicely done Nik an actually VALID argument against keeping Oden. I still don't agree given what me eyeballs told me when Oden was in games last year, that said at least your argument was very solid. Repped.
I don't think you have anything to base this on. It may just seem like the game has changed because there are no guys like Hakeem, Wilt, Kareem, Ewing, Shaq, etc in the league right now. There is no evidence that a team with a guy like that wouldn't be better than the current teams winning the championship.
No hand checking on the wing, no more holding your position on defense, restricted circle under the hoop, defensive 3 seconds, no more real physical play under the hoop ... the list goes on. Just look at how badly Dwight "DPOY" Howard was handcuffed by the refs in the playoffs. The game has changed and it's not just because there aren't as many talented/dominant bigs (though that part is also true).
Wow - a lot of Batum haters here! (if anyone who dares to question Oden is a "hater", then so are the Batum doubters - fair is fair) I'm sure we will be revisiting this subject next summer, and every year thereafter until one guy or the other becomes an ex-Blazer....and probably beyond. Heck, it was just a few months ago that some posters here were still swearing that Webster was a more valuable player than Batum.
I agree with this post as a general point. However, looking at it from a purely talent standpoint, Oden has Batum beat....by a pretty significant margin, and that I can't ignore.
I agree with your point but not your conclusion. In fact, I would generalize it further: you don't need a dominant player at any single position to win titles. The Bulls won plenty of titles without any dominant big men (unless you view Rodman as one). Many people have noted the lack of dominant point guards winning titles since Magic Johnson. The Lakers had no dominant small forward when they won titles this past decade. What you need to win titles, though, are dominant players. The positions don't matter. And that's the reason I disagree with your conclusion of Batum being more valuable. Even though I predict big things for Batum, I don't see him ever being the kind of dominant player who can drive a team to championships. Become a tremendous player on a title team? Sure. But unless he actually becomes Pippen, he won't be a main driver of championship success. Oden, however, can be. His play when healthy has been consistent with a player who will be dominant in his prime. Batum may be the smaller risk due to health (though even that is somewhat debatable, unfortunately). But risk management is really not what wins titles. You need big, dominant seasons from players to win titles and Oden has a much higher chance of producing those, as far as I'm concerned. If the goal is to win one or more titles, I think Oden is clearly the most valuable.
