Post entry passing? Feed the Beast!

There were 3 entree passes to G.O. that were batted away when he put the ball on the floor or before that after he was "fed". There's a reason he had so many turnovers and alot had to do with him not being able to control the ball.

 

I think you're very wrong here on Oden being happy with just defense and rebounding. Everyone likes to score, period, but a 21 year old former #1 pick has to feel pressure to put up better scoring numbers and not to (when he's clearly capable) would be disappointing for anyone.

Also, while he defended the paint and rebounded really well last night, last year and in the preseason you could see an extra bounce in his step when he got it going offensively and started punishing other teams, his offense visibly builds momentum for him out there on the floor. Also you talk about not wanting to break his confidence by putting to much on him, but his confidence could take a massive hit if he feels like he's ready to play a more prominent role and he sees that his teammates and the coaching staff just don't trust him.

 

There were 2 turnovers from Chuck Hayes batting the ball away, 1 travel, the afformentioned offensive 3 second call, and away from the ball 3 offensive foul calls.

Also, controlling the ball on the post entry pass has a lot to do with how good the pass is, and it's easy to see that that's something the players around him (sans Miller) have some trouble with.

 

If you have 3 turnovers in getting the ball into the post, you find a different way and work on it in practice.

 

I don't really see why. If Oden plays the rest of this year like he did last night, he's going to be contending for Defensive Player of the Year. For a guy widely labeled as a bust, a guy who sat out an entire season with injury, a guy who was a huge disappointment in his rookie year, do you think his confidence would really be shaken if he *only* was a DPOY candidate? On a 60+ win team?

He's going to average between 10 and 17 PPG this year. 10 if we run very few plays for him, 17 if we run several more. I really don't think either number will have a huge bearing on his self-confidence.

What could affect him, though, is if he adds to the label "foul-prone" the label "turnover-prone." As in, "Every time they run a play for him in the post, there's a really good chance he turns it over."

I'd like to see him do what Zach Randolph did in his first year or two. Score so efficiently on lobs, dunks, putbacks and garbage baskets (no-pressure, few turnover situations) to the point where the team feels it's a no-brainer to start running plays for him, or even designing the offense around him.

Oden just isn't there yet. It may come a month from now. Or a year from now. But I see no reason to push it.

 

Randolph's first 2 years were far less efficient than Oden was even last year, his health combined with an offseason of work already puts him ahead of where Zach was after his 2nd season.

Year 1(Zach): FG% 44.9, TS% 47.9, FTA/36min 4.1
Year 2(Zach): FG% 51.3, TS% 55.5, FTA/36min 4.5

Year 1(Oden): FG% 56.4, TS% 59.9, FTA/36min 6.2

In Zach's 3rd year his FGA jumped up from 6.7 to 16.9, all I'm asking to see is for Oden to get about 10fga per game.

 

Hmmm. You make a good point there. *rubs chin*

Maybe he's already done what I wanted him to do.

Anyway, I guess I just want to see the current defensive iteration of Oden work for a while longer before trying to improve on him at the offensive end.

Maybe it's just because I'm always tempted to improve on a good thing with my own business, and much of the time I would've been better off waiting to see how it develops on its own. Solidify one success before trying to create the next one.

 

On this very subject, check this out:

 

I understand the attraction of the "consolidate successes before trying to advance on other fronts" strategy, but while it's a good, conservative approach in business and military campaigns, I'm not sure that's how it works for athletes. There's probably only so much return Oden can get from "working on defense" right now...he'll keep improving with practices and game experience, but his advances there will probably be subject to diminishing returns because he's already so good. What should he do with the rest of his time in practice and the rest of his mental processing resources? Defense is probably becoming second nature to him, as he regains the athleticism and instincts that have made him a defensive monster throughout his basketball career. Consciously, he should probably be devoting his energies (mentally and physically) to the aspect of the game that doesn't seem to come as naturally for him right now: offense.

Kevin Durant, to take a completely random example , probably won't see nearly as much return on working on his already tremendous shot as he would on working on his passing skills or defense.

When one is so good at something that it's second nature, there probably isn't a large gain to working to "consolidate" your position there.

 

Except that Oden has yet to prove he is consistently good at staying out of foul trouble. If he can't "consolidate" that position, everything else falls apart.

 

We need more focused plays to get the ball in the post. Change it up a bit. Don't advertise to the other team we are setting a post entry pass from the wing. Spread the floor, set a couple back picks to give the ball to Oden low on the block. But JESUS MAN! Make this some kind of priority!

 

Unless he's a freak in a bad way, he'll get better at not fouling with experience. Pretty much every big man does. He looked miles better in last night's game, even though he ended up adding on fouls in the fourth quarter. I think his extreme foul troubles of last year were due to his instincts being all wrong for his diminished athleticism...he went for plays that his head told him he could make, and has made, but his body couldn't make them. Now his athleticism is back, so his instincts shouldn't lead him astray.

I don't staying out of foul trouble is something he expressly has to devote lots of practice time and conscious thought (in game) to.

 

That is sad.

Nothing more to say.