Sherman Alexie on Greg Oden

How did I "shit" on Oden? I have always felt that the expectations placed on him were unrealistic. I felt that last year, I felt it three days ago prior to the injury, and I feel it today. If anything, I'm being consistent. People need to appreciate what they have/had in Oden, and not rip apart the rest of the team based on their own unrealistic expectations for him.

Please point out where I shat on Oden. I'll wait.

 

Now hold on a second. Oden can still be a pillar. I just don't see him as THE franchise. I never did, and his injury problems have always played a role in my opinion. A bigger role, however, are what my own eyes have shown me. Defense and rebounding - he could be a defensive player of the year someday. That's good enough for me. Then again, I have lower expectations for Oden than many posters here.

 

The experts here like you Papag? I've read you spout off and call down "experts" all summer long into the fall and now winter approaches. Are you doctor Jack Ramsay? Maybe you are the ghost of Red Auerbach stuck in the internet? If not why don't you take YOUR equally uninformed and equally IGNORANT posts and GTFO and take your FAIL with you.

 

I will hold you to that, I will also hold myself to that as it is my belief. In the meantime, Roy and LMA should take this season off to work on their games and lets pull an extended New Jersey and then seize John Wall at #1.

 

I assume you're not serious, but I'm pretty sure that such a blatant act of trying not to compete in good faith would bring penalties from the league...like a loss of the team's first round pick this year and into the future. And I'd agree with league penalties in that situation. If you want to trade your players away in some ill-conceived "blow it all up and start over" plan, that's fine...but holding out healthy players to try to get a top pick is pretty unethical manipulation, IMO.

 

I think that's a fair assessment. That said, I never saw him as The Franchise, at least offensively, so the latest injury is basically just some reinforcement. The team still needs a healthy Greg Oden to have any chance at a championship, so that opinion hasn't changed either.

 

Wasn't serious. But as snakebit as we are, two minor injuries (not anything serious) to LMA and Roy would be a mercy killing to this season and a possible chance to reload for next year.

I'm pretty sure teams tank constantly and aren't called to task. I question New Jersey's lack of game this year right when they are trying to move. I also think boston tanked to get Oden, Cleveland clearly tanked to get LeBron and so forth and they were no where near as injury riddled as we are.

Roy and LMA are the only things between us and a HIGH lottery pick. As it is, much like teh D Miles situation we got all shaft and nothing to show for it (no injured player exceptions for any of our three rotation players and a likeli cruddy lottery pick/no pick). There is zero chance we advance this year and would just be chum for the Lakers or whoever we get stuck with our #8 seed if we even get that.

 

Tanked by holding healthy, important players out? I don't think they did. They did trade away talent to get worse. If Portland wants to try to dump Roy and/or Aldridge in trades to get worse, the league probably wouldn't have anything to say about that. But turning a mild case of plantar fasciitis into a season-ending injury would probably draw league scrutiny.

 

If I remember correctly, when the Celts "tanked", Pierce was vocally pissed cause he was healthy and being held out of games.

 

Ah. Well, then, in that case, I guess I was wrong and the league isn't concerned with that.

 

There isn't.

When your manchild center goes down with a season-ending injury, all bets are off. I just hope Oden can come back NEXT YEAR. We can still root for the Blazers and enjoy watching the games, but this team is going nowhere in the playoffs.

 

I love Sherman's work and all, but maybe he should stick to that now that he doesn't have a team?