Now that Marcus will be here for the next two years I see him as the starter when he is healthy*about 65 seasonal games. Both he and Oden are great big-men and we may see a twin tower approach at times next year but Camby is now the defacto starting center. I see us bringing Oden along super slow this time off the bench for at least a year and a half(barring injuries). The Camby signing helps take a load off the guy shoulders because hes now backing up Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Camby. This gives us the best 3 Big lineup in the league and thats not even considering Przybilla. Now lets beat the Suns.
I think Camby is the "defacto starter" only until Oden is deemed fully rehabbed and back in game shape. As good as Camby has been, Oden, for the time he played this season, was even better. More of an offensive presence, drew double teams, as much of a help defense force, as much of a force on the boards and a better man defender. Camby's only edge was committing fewer fouls...which matters, but doesn't trump everything else. In addition to already being better, more playing time for Oden means more development to become even better. When he's healthy, I really don't see much argument for Camby being the starter. Camby makes a fantastic backup to both center and power forward.
It's a perfect three man rotation. Start LA and Oden. Pull one of the two near the end the 1st quarter and insert Camby. Then pull the other one a quarter of the way through the 2nd and insert the first guy. Completely interchangeable lineups with LA-GO, LA-MC, and MC-GO. Easily the best defensive front line in the NBA if healthy.
Camby is a different player than Oden and the team plays a different brand and more frustrating brand of defense with Camby in the game. Oden as a offensive player will present more matchup problems vs second units and Camby is a facilitator which will allow Lamarcus and Roy to get their offenses going. Oden is going to be mostly a dump off man/offensive rebound scorer and will step up his production through postups when the mismatch presents itself, which should be most games.
Overall I agree, but I'd be all for Oden coming off the bench until he can prove that he can stay out of foul trouble consistently. Whenever Oden played, the one number that I was always focused on was how many fouls Oden had. It would be nice not having to constantly worry about that.
Oden was playing some very good basketball right before he went down, and this was in the middle of the Blake/Miller shuffling. Now Miller understands what Nate wants and I really want to see what Miller can do for Greg's scoring. I say start Camby until Greg is healthy and in shape, at which point I think you try to start Greg.
When asked about the possibility of returning as a Blazer after CAM-BY chant game, Camby himself said that he is used to being a starter but would fill any role that helped the team win. In another interview, he acknowledged that he was getting to the end of his career and just wanted to play a role and win. I got the feeling that he was perfectly willing to come off the bench as long as it meant more wins and he was involved. I think he would piss a shit if Pendergraph was starting ahead of him, but not if 24PER Oden were. My guess is that Camby Starts at the beginning of next season but is moved to a backup role as soon as Greg can PROVE he deserves the starting spot, which will happen within one month.
I'm expecting a battle in training camp for the starting position. Oden is supposed to be fully recovered and will have had a couple of months to work on his conditioning, so it won't be a matter of getting himself into shape. He'll be entering training camp about like Camby will, healthy but rusty. With Nate's track record, I suspect Camby gets the starting job even if he's not the better player. Nate just always seems to favor the incumbent until circumstances force his hand. That's ok in this instance, as it's basically guaranteed Camby will get some ding or another in the first month or two of the season, and hopefully after that Oden is cemented in as the starter for the next decade. Anyway, I think Camby will have a lot of veteran insights for Oden about how to run a team's defense. More about communicating with everyone else where they should be, as opposed to just worrying about your own job. Miller, Roy and Aldridge may control the offense, but it's the center who should be running the defense on this team.
But the reason one worries about his foul situation is that he's good...it sucks when he has to sit. Why sit him on purpose? I want him to learn to stay out of foul trouble, yes, but I want him to play as many minutes as possible while doing so. If anything, Camby reduces the worry factor...now if/when Oden has to sit due to fouls, Portland is bringing in another very good player.
IMO, Oden still has a lot to prove. And our medical staff does as well. I think Oden could be special in this league and for our team, but not until our medical staff gets their shit together, to help prohibit the shit that went down with him. When Oden himself is tellin' people that our medical staff missed the tiny crack on his kneecap, which caused it to split, its time to step back and re-eval the PDX staff. So, as long as Greg comes into TC in shape and ready to go, I consider it his rookie season all over again. Hopefully he becomes that legit force we need!
True. Another thing that worries me is whether Oden's body has the ability to stand the grind of an NBA season. Since the time to perhaps give him an extension is coming up, I guess we need to play him enough to answer that question, even if I don't like the answer.
In a word..... No. Oden will be the starter when healthy. He was a game changer before he went down. Did you fail to notice?
Oden is up for an extension this summer, right? I really hope he doesn't have the audacity to seek a max extension.
Sadly, if we were to rotate our centers every other game next year, we'd get more consistent play/production out of them than we did this year. And it might just help them stay healthy.
This. The championship window starts and ends with Greg. He needs to dominate for us to win a title. The time for "bringing him along slowly" is over. I don't think playing time will be a big issue. Between Oden, Camby, & Pryz you have 3 injury prone guys (Sorry to lump you in there Joel, but you are now a big injury risk) Assuming Oden earns it (and if he's healthy he will), he's the starter. But he'll miss games, Camby will miss games. And who knows when/if Joel comes back next season.
I think we both thought Andre Miller would be the starter from day one this season, too. After all, he was clearly the better player. Truth is, though, that McMillan likes incumbents. Magloire, Jack, Webster, Przybilla, Blake....there's a pretty solid track record there to show that Nate tends to stay with "what at least sort of works" as long as he can instead of gambling on players who might prove better. Oden will be an interesting circumstance, because he definitely used to work. But my gut tells me Camby gets the starting job. He won't keep it after the first injury crops up, though.
I think the Camby signing means Oden is expecting to get more that 12.5 mil/yr when it's time for his extention.
Here's what will happen. Getting back into shape, Oden won't play full minutes at first. Joel will be out the first couple of months. So it's Camby starting (and Camby is still the much better player than Oden due to experience). But then Camby's age shows, and he's less motivated now that he's not on his contract year, and Oden starts to feel his oats, and the national media is making fun of McMillan for not starting Oden (a la Blake vs. Miller), so Oden starts after a month or two. Then Przybilla returns in about December, and one of the 3 gets injured, so my crystal ball gets foggy at that point.
