Why is Oden Stripped and Blocked so Often?

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
Stevenson

Stevenson

Old School
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
4,174
Likes
5,413
Points
113
Especially considering his strength, I just don't get it.
 
My post from the game thread on this topic:

He gets stripped on the post more than anyone else that I have seen in the NBA in a while.

He's got great hands and seems to be a strong guy... I hope it's a matter of experience and maybe altering how he holds the ball. I suppose it's his general hesitancy, as well, that lets people recover and help to collapse on him.

One thing that I love is that he works hard on the offensive boards. For every one he gets, he's got the inside position at least one other time and the ball doesn't bounce right. I love it how hard he works there.

Ed O.
 
Ed O said:
One thing that I love is that he works hard on the offensive boards. For every one he gets, he's got the inside position at least one other time and the ball doesn't bounce right. I love it how hard he works there.

Ed O.
Click to expand...

Totally agree - he's always fighting in there and you gotta love that. And I think that clearly there are scouting reports that you can strip him down low as every team seems to do the same thing. He'll figure it out. Very nice game today for him.
 
Stevenson said:
I think that clearly there are scouting reports that you can strip him down low as every team seems to do the same thing.
Click to expand...
It's not just down low, though. He's getting swatted from behind a lot as he gathers to go up. Is it that his legs are lacking strength, either from the knee surgery or from adding too much bulk up top, that he has to crouch more to get enough explosion?

I'm also wondering about his limp. I don't remember if he had that at Ohio State... A modest difference in leg length shouldn't make for that pronounced of a limp. Has he always had that natural strut, or is it lingering weakness in the knee?

It's only a matter of time until his ability catches up to his effort and desire...
 
He'll figure it out. It's basically combination of two things:

1) He brings the ball down to his waist area too frequently, and...

2) He's too hesitant with his moves around the basket. He needs to take the ball up more quickly and with more authority.


I think the absence of Maurice Lucas may have prevented him from getting some of the coaching he needs in this area as well. I think he'll be much more effective offensively next year.
 
handiman said:
It's not just down low, though. He's getting swatted from behind a lot as he gathers to go up. Is it that his legs are lacking strength, either from the knee surgery or from adding too much bulk up top, that he has to crouch more to get enough explosion?

I'm also wondering about his limp. I don't remember if he had that at Ohio State... A modest difference in leg length shouldn't make for that pronounced of a limp. Has he always had that natural strut, or is it lingering weakness in the knee?

It's only a matter of time until his ability catches up to his effort and desire...
Click to expand...

I think he always had that as his natural strut but it might be a little more then normal. I think he slowly seems to be getting in a little better game shape. I was happy with his game today.
 
This seems to be a problem with a long of young big men who are used to playing against tiny/weak high school players and not having to worry about losing the ball that way. It took Al Jefferson a while before he learned how to handle the ball with care.
 
tlongII said:
He'll figure it out. It's basically combination of two things:

1) He brings the ball down to his waist area too frequently, and...

2) He's too hesitant with his moves around the basket. He needs to take the ball up more quickly and with more authority.


I think the absence of Maurice Lucas may have prevented him from getting some of the coaching he needs in this area as well. I think he'll be much more effective offensively next year.
Click to expand...

Anyone hear how Lucas is doing? I think Oden could use his instruction.
 
.. and a lot of these strips should really be fouls - the officials are really letting the other teams whack him like crazy.
 
I love Luke and all, but Oden needs a real big man coach. Someone that can teach him some better footwork.
 
He's making one too many moves every time. Making three moves when he only needs two, or two when he only needs one. He's also exaggerating his moves. He's acting. He's trying to make the huge play every time.

He's having a problem with his lift and conditioning and it's effecting him mentally. He's not getting the coaching he needs right now, but is still developing and learning. I see something new from him every game, and I see him correcting mistakes from prior games.

The easiest problem to fix offensively is simply giving him the ball at the right time. Without exception I see Greg Oden wide open, or at least in great position with momentum put his hand up 3 to 5 or more times a game, and even though the ball handler sees him (Rudy, Roy, etc...) they keep the ball or defer to a teammate. When Randy Moss puts his hand up you throw him the damn ball, and you get credited with a TD. The Blazers need to realize that when the big man wants the ball, you give the big man the ball.

If you give Oden the ball when he has his hand up good things are going to happen.
 
Tortimer said:
Anyone hear how Lucas is doing? I think Oden could use his instruction.
Click to expand...

Luke is back home now, but he's still at least a couple of weeks away from rejoining the team. He had a nasty case of pneumonia and just recently started to go on the mend.
 
As others mentioned it's really a matter of learning the nuances of the pro game compared to high school and his one year of college. Greg just needs to practice keeping the ball near his chest or beneath his chin, and he needs to learn how to create more space with his body like using the old "Barkley bump" instead of trying to clear out with his off arm.

It takes time, especially for a guy who only played a year of college and was never seen as an offensive player.
 
There are quite a few fouls in there - as well as legit strips. If you watch the replays on a lot of them he's getting his in the head or on the arms, not even the hands. He's getting hardly any love from the refs unless it is blatantly obvious and he's being pulled awkwardly.

There were several times tonight where he just got walloped and nothing at all was called. They're going to have to learn how to call fouls on him (and against him) like they had to learn with Shaq (please note that this is not comparing him to Shaq skill wise but simply size wise and he isn't as big as Shaq was).

He is getting better at taking it right back up though, and it'll only get better as his legs and knee gets stronger.
 
He's slowly getting better offensively. That huge putback he had at the end of the game while fading away with a little hook, he probably wouldn't have made two weeks ago.
Just a matter of time for Greg.. I have no worries, the guy is already a beast on the boards and on the defensive end, which is really what we need from him.
 
I think we need to recognize that the Blazers have had no breaks in their schedule this season and have been on the road more than any other team. As a result, there hasn't been much time for coaches to work one on one with Greg to help him deal with some mistakes that he's making once he catches the ball. I have no doubt that once the schedule eases up a bit, there will be some adjustments made in Greg's technique around the basket that will decrease this problem.
 
He gets blocked because he has never played against anyone who was tall enough to block his shot. His hook is too flat. Like everyone has said, he will adjust. But right now they need to stop forcing it in to him.

How about the offensive foul call in crunch time? How pathetic was that? He makes the hook and gets called for a clear out. The call was late, and it was wrong. The refs reacted to the Toronto players. It almost cost us the game.
 
Pinwheel1 said:
How about the offensive foul call in crunch time? How pathetic was that? He makes the hook and gets called for a clear out. The call was late, and it was wrong. The refs reacted to the Toronto players. It almost cost us the game.
Click to expand...

I think that he did clear out a bit... most of the contact up top was initiated by Oden's left tricep area. Jermaine, though, had a hold of his jersey on his back... it seems like that's a pretty easy thing to notice. But what do I know? :)

Ed O.
 
Ed O said:
I think that he did clear out a bit... most of the contact up top was initiated by Oden's left tricep area. Jermaine, though, had a hold of his jersey on his back... it seems like that's a pretty easy thing to notice. But what do I know? :)

Ed O.
Click to expand...

Jermaine was definitely inside the dotted line. Shouldn't that make a difference?
 
Ed O said:
I think that he did clear out a bit... most of the contact up top was initiated by Oden's left tricep area. Jermaine, though, had a hold of his jersey on his back... it seems like that's a pretty easy thing to notice. But what do I know? :)

Ed O.
Click to expand...

Ed if that was the case then you might as well call every inside shot an offensive foul. Because there is always a little bit of a clear out. Brandon would foul out in the first quarter. I just watched the replay about 10 times and did not see it. Now on a previous play he did and was called for it. But this one was a "rookie reputation call". But I will say they gave us a make up call on toronto's next possession. But still we lost 2 pts on the exchange.
 
Wizard Mentor said:
Jermaine was definitely inside the dotted line. Shouldn't that make a difference?
Click to expand...

Not on push-offs. Only where a player is set and draws a charge.

At least that's what my understanding is.

Ed O.
 
Greg doesn't trust his knee yet completely, when he does he will take less time to gather himself to go up for the dunk. When he progresses with the trust in his knee, he will have his explosiveness go through the roof without having to gather himself.
 
One reason he gets stripped a lot is guys know that when he has the ball down low their best chance of stopping him is to simply hack at the ball before he goes up. Sometimes it's a clean strip, sometimes it's a foul, and sometimes it's a foul that's not called. He will learn to take better control of the ball in time. With his strength, I would think this is a short-term problem.

I think he will get blocked less when he improves on his ability to create space between himself and the defender, as well as when his general awareness of where the help is coming from improves, and when his timing gets better.
 
I remember an interview last year during a game where Greg was talking about how he does some things differently than Joel. If my memory serves me right, Oden said that he holds the ball higher than Joel around the basket and will not get stripped as Joel does at times. Does anyone else remember that interview?
 
Greg gets hacked a lot down there. Usually that slap at the ball is an automatic foul... sure would be with a lot of other players... but with Oden they are letting it go for some reason. He looks really out of control half the time though and you can't tell what the heck is going on.

The Oden offensive foul was a bad call. You can push someone off within the limits of your own body or you wouldn't be able to jump up. His arm didn't really move outside his frame.
 
Once he learns to take his time, make one move, and go he will be fine. It seems like right now he gets the ball and a million thoughts of what to do next go through his mind. I thought the best posession of the day was when he backed in twice, drew the double, kicked it out and the ball ended up in Rudy's hands for a wide open three. He is very good at passing the ball out of the post, he will get better at scoring.
 
Ed O said:
He's got great hands and seems to be a strong guy...

Ed O.
Click to expand...

While I agree that he has great hands, it isn't showing right now and that is probably because of his time away from basketball and some nerves. I've seen Greg fumble the ball more times this season than Przybilla. Greg will improve but to say he has great hands right now? No.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top