http://www.82games.com/0809/BYPOSIT.HTM Basically, this is an alphabetical listing of teams' league-wide ranking by position. What I found very encouraging and surprising was where Portland fit in amongst the elite. The below four teams, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland and Utah, were the only ones with at least three positions ranked ninth or higher. I'm not certain what's more impressive. LA's girth of high-level talent or Portland showing up here despite their schedule and relative inexperience. Boston - SG #6, SF #9, and PF #6 LA - SG #2, SF #7, PF #2, C #3 Portland - SG #9, SF #4, PF #9 Utah - SF #2, PF #4, C #6 And you know what's a truly exciting thought. Greg's impact will assuredly put Portland in the top 9 very quickly. This team may shock the world THIS FUCKING season!
#6 for Utah under center. LOL It is impossible for me to agree that Okur (and the other Utah centers) can rank 25th in rebounding, 17th in free throws and rank yet be #6 over all. LOlL That is not what I want from center. #3 in asists and #2 in turnovers...not impressing me. OK I admit, i am not a big okur fan.
Greg is ranked 14th in PER(centers) as of today...How long until he passes Bynum at 8? I'll give him 2 weeks. http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/holl...tistics?sort=per&qual=true&pos=c&seasonType=2
the SF ranking is getting a huge boost from Roy. according to them he plays there 27% of the time and has a 27.6 PER at that position. also look at the opponent SF PER while roy is at SF. http://www.82games.com/0809/08POR5C.HTM
When Oden becomes a dominant force, I hope someone makes a collage of all the "experts" saying how he was going to be a bust (ie Cowherd, Bayless, Simmons, etc) and puts it up on YouTube!
82games updated these rankings. We've moved up at SG and SF to #7 and #3. Lamarcus's slide dropped us at PF from #9 to #16. We're creeping up slowly at C to #18 and #12 at PG. Portland doing some great things in spite of playing the most road games of any team. It won't take long for those C and PF numbers to get closer to single digits. http://www.82games.com/0809/BYPOSIT.HTM
roy continues to have a mind boggling 27.5 vs. opponent counterpart 6.4 PER while playing SF. presumably that's got to be partially or mostly some kind of statistical fluke, but it's still intriguing.
It could be a selection bias. McMillan may only be playing Roy at SF when he thinks Roy has a particular match-up advantage there, and has been correct in those appraisals. I'm not saying that is the case, but it's a possible explanation.
Cowherd never said Oden will be a bust. He has said repeatedly that he will never be an elite level player on offense. If by "elite-level" we mean LBJ, Kobe, Shaq (in his prime), Iverson, Tim Duncan-like, then I agree 100% with that take. I just don't see Oden ever being a guy who will get close to 30 points a night on average. This doesn't make him a bust, though.
Check out the Positional Rankings now. Portland is among the elite teams. My perception of this team has completely changed. Pritchard's mind set should be how to contend for a title this season, as long as it doesn't diminish their chances in the future. http://www.82games.com/0809/BYPOSIT.HTM These rankings are as of today. Portland is #9 at PG, #6 at SG, #3 at SF, #10 at PF, and #12 at C. Only Cleveland, Los Angeles are significantly better. Utah is arguably worse than us.
Also, those numbers at PF and C are only going to get better! We could have everyone in single-digit ranking in another week. This is something that no team has on us. We could slip a bit at PG, but at this point, Blake and Sergio look to be getting better as the team learns to play with one another.
Those numbers are still being heavily skewed by the murderer's row of Centers and other big men the NBA so generously lined up for the Blazers in the first couple of weeks of the season.
