From the columbian, http://columbian.com/article/20081116/BLOGS05/811169997/-1/BLAZERBANTER Interesting read, just what every Blazer fan was hoping Oden would deliver.
with having Oden in there, it makes joel much more agressive defensively as now they have 12 fouls to give in the pure Center position instead of 6.
Heckuva stat, and a fun read. I'd be very interested to see those charts for the Blazers, or for any team for that matter...does anyone know if those are Hendricksen's own scribblings, or if he got them from 82games.com or something?
Impacting the game with more than just his stat line. We all knew this would be coming, but it's amazing that it is an immediate impact. It's unbelievable that within Greg's first two complete games that we've posted our best two defensive performances in the paint. Xericx makes a great point about Joel being able to be more aggressive.
As I recall Hendrickson does his own compiling of stats (obviously gleaned from official sources) and is one of the reasons I consider him to be the very best Blazers beat reporter currently covering the team (the others being his non- "rah rah" writing style, and his ability to control himself and not peak behind curtains). Hendrickson also has a very good understanding of the NBA cap and all its associated rules; If the Columbian folds, I think the Oregonian would be a fool not to pick him up.
One can make the argument that if Oden never improved from his current level of performance, he will still be a very valuable member of the team and help push them to championship-caliber. When you consider that he's virtually guaranteed to improve a lot, based on age, experience and demonstrated tools, the ceiling for what this team can become is sky-high.
No arguing with that, but the injuries and the potential for more also make his improvement less than an absolute. He's yet to play more than 25 minutes in a game over two season. I don't post this as a Debbie Downer, either, but those are the facts.
I don't think his injuries suggest a potential for more. They've been independent of one another, not related nor recurrence. His hand injury shouldn't have any predictive value, and his foot injury doesn't seem to...from what I read of the injury, it's not something that weakens the foot, leading to higher chance of further injury. The microfracture surgery, according to the online sources available, suggest that the procedure Oden underwent actually strengthens the knee, rather than weakening it, which could lengthen his career. I'm not a doctor, so I obviously can't speak definitively, but from what information I can get, it doesn't seem like Oden really has significantly higher chance of injury in the future than any other big man.
I hope you are correct. Greg Oden looks like a future All-Star right now. I just can't disregard him missing significant portions of three seasons-to-date since he entered the public spotlight at Ohio State. If health isn't an issue, it's going to be a blast here in PDX over the next 10 or so years (if the fans don't drive him out of town after his rookie deal due to unrealistic expectations).
