That's a pretty bold statement and one I personally refute. Like I said you should go and find that thread and if you want you can call out individual posters. No.
Doubt I'll have much luck, but I'm sure people here at least remember some semblance of the thread. (Like PapaG)
Greg's met my expectations. I expected him to struggle with fouls and that's been one of his biggest problems. Guards letting their man go right by them on a regular basis isn't helping. I think it's safe to say that Sergio has the slowest feet I've(we've) seen in a Blazer PG in a Looooong time. When's he's been out of foul trouble he's a lock for a double double. All of his help defense stuggles can be attributed to his latteral quickness, which will return in time. He will get better. Looking forward to seeing him improve even more in the latter part of the season.
I for one don't think we've seen the REAL ODEN YET!!! I don't know if it's a mental thing or what but if this kid every synchs his mind and body at the same time the league is in trouble. We see glimpes of it and that is exciting!
I for one am worried about Gregs melon. He is getting a Vince Young complex in my mind. Luckily the team isn't completely depending on him like the Titans did with Vince. Hope Greg can love this game again, so we can see just how dominant he is!
If we were talking only about his physical recovery, I would agree that he is meeting reasonable expectations. It is the mental side of things that worry me.
There wasn't a "less than expectations" option, so I chose "disappointed", but I wouldn't say I'm necessarily disappointed. I think he's a little less than I expected, but he certainly isn't a disappointment, not by any means.
Yeah, i agree Nate. IDK if disappointed is the correct word, he just didn't live up to the stats I predicted for him.
The parts that I couldn't predict were: 1) The refs being so hard on him. 2) His teammates being such bad.... teammates. 3) McMillan being so bad at utilizing the #1 pick in the draft.
To more fully flesh out my position on Oden: He hasn't met my expectations of per-game stats. But my expectations were based on pretty uncertain issues, like how much his surgery would affect him, how much his long lay-off from playing would affect him. Thus, there's a range that falls within "meeting my expectations." That range can't be summed up entirely by numbers, but can be described like this: considering all the factors in play, is his play so far consistent with the idea that he's a great center talent? My answer to that question (based on observation, per-minute efficiency, rate of improvement) is yes. Therefore, I selected "met my expectations."
Also, I don't think anyone is factoring in the injury at the start of the season. That had to throw him off a bit, as well.
Meh, i'm not into excuses at all. You can make excuses for everyone in the league if you try hard enough. What i see in a lot of portland fans is that they are really protective of Gregory and if he doesn't have a good game its always "If you were expecting him to get X every game you don't know bball" or "The refs are taking him out of the game, he did nothing wrong" or something like that. If he has a good game nothing of the sort is brought up, but if he struggles then "He is coming off microfracture". Its the exact thing that I really dislike about Mike Barrett, beccause there is always an excuse for the Blazers not playing well... "tired legs"... "refs calling it one-sided"... etc... So I decided that i'm just going to let it play out and know that he is only going to better. I just believe in him and I try to let his play do the talking and not have to rationalize it.
Greg is coming off of MF surgery but his skill level is extremely exaggerated. His footwork is mediocre. His post game is Jamaal Magloire-esqe. I've never seen such poor post moves since the Vladamir Stepania days. How many times must he be told to keep his hands straight up on defense? He either had A.D.D. or has severe performance anxiety. He is a good passer and has decent court vision from the block but the rest of his game, specifically defense and post moves, is not even close to being NBA caliber.
I am dead serious. Did you think for one second a Portland rookie center wouldn't be in constant foul trouble? If so, you haven't been paying attention the last 30 years. If Oden had not gotten hurt in the first game of the season, then I would say his numbers should be better by now. However, that lowered the number of games he played, which has hindered his development. He has improved steadily over the course of the season, and has had some big games. Consistency is an issue obviously, but that was to be expected. Further, he isn't going to be the first, second or third offensive option on the floor, so he isn't going to score a whole lot. Further still, for much of the season Portland has been a long range jump shooting team, which somewhat negates Oden's ability to get position for rebounds. Yes, his stats are what I was expecting them to be in Feb. They are what I expect them to be at the end of the season. If he doesn't make a jump similar to the jump LA made from Rookie to Soph seasons, then we can talk about disappointment. But to say he is a disappointment right now only means your expectations were pretty damn stupid.
The only one of the three that could be perceived as an "excuse" would be #1, the rest are legit. I just call em like I see em.
