Back from the game -- stunned by Oden

[Shooter]

Great comeback by the Blazers in the fourth quarter. Rudy Fernandez was the key, along with Roy. This team has a quiet confidence that is wonderful to see. They never panic, and they never give up.

Regarding Oden: My God, he looked bad. Has any #1 pick in Blazers history ever performed this far below expectations? LaRue Martin, perhaps, but not many others. Oden not only missed two wide-open dunks, he lumbered up and down the floor the whole time and could barely get out of his own way. Every time the ball was passed into him, he threw it back out to someone else. He literally couldn't wait to get rid of it. The guy seems to have zero confidence right now.

I'm wondering if Oden is suffering from depression. When the starting lineup was introduced, he walked out to the court instead of running like everyone else. He doesn't smile, and he looks extremely sad most of the time. I really feel for him. He's got to be extremely disappointed in himself.

But there's a silver lining to this cloud. The team is performing extremely well without any real contribution from him. When he finally gets his head on straight, and his game together, the Blazers are going to be scary good.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Great comeback by the Blazers in the fourth quarter. Rudy Fernandez was the key, along with Roy. This team has a quiet confidence that is wonderful to see. They never panic, and they never give up.

Regarding Oden: My God, he looked bad. Has any #1 pick in Blazers history ever performed this far below expectations? LaRue Martin, perhaps, but not many others. Oden not only missed two wide-open dunks, he lumbered up and down the floor the whole time and could barely get out of his own way. Every time the ball was passed into him, he threw it back out to someone else. He literally couldn't wait to get rid of it. The guy seems to have zero confidence right now.

I'm wondering if Oden is suffering from depression. When the starting lineup was introduced, he walked out to the court instead of running like everyone else. He doesn't smile, and he looks extremely sad most of the time. I really feel for him. He's got to be extremely disappointed in himself.

But there's a silver lining to this cloud. The team is performing extremely well without any real contribution from him. When he finally gets his head on straight, and his game together, the Blazers are going to be scary good.

He had a pretty crummy game offensively, but he didn't look that bad. He's no Larue Martin, that's for sure.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Oden needs to get it together. He doesn't try on defense and barely makes it up the floor. He lacking confidence and motivation, IMO.

 

[RoyToy]

Yao Ming makes it up the floor better than Oden. It's sort of sad.

Idk what Oden's deal is, but he just looks awkward out there. Lumbers up the court and just sort of stands around. A couple times he'll set a pick or post up, but that's about it. On defense he really becomes less active. He'll literally just sit there with his hands in the air around the basket. He's supposed to be a shot blocker.

What Greg Oden is supposed to look like on defense: [video=youtube;MUOL7ohUSFA]

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

Maybe a particular reunion could revive Mr. Oden?

 

[Da_O]

I hate people

 

[RoyToy]

That's a bs excuse as far as I'm concerned. Oden isn't the first #1 pick to feel a huge amount of pressure. How do you think LeBron James felt? He was it for the Cavs.

Oden came into a situation where he was 1 of 3. He doesn't have to be the main man here. He couldn't be if he wanted to because he isn't taking it away from Roy, that's for sure.

I'm going to cut Oden slack because he sat out a year, which is hard enough when you consider the rust factor. Put a MF surgery on top of that and that's just a tough situation. Still, though, the guy just looks awkward out there.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Christ we're a fickle lot. What was it 2 days ago when everyone was oohing and ahhing over Greg's dominance against the Pistons, blocking and altering shots, and pulling down a career high in rebounds, getting his fifth double-double in 12 full games of action? Greg looks like a rookie who hadn't played competitive ball for 18 months and rehabbed from MF surgery for 12 of those months.

 

[Chuck Taylor]

Put me down as one who believes in Oden. At least at the start of the day, Greg had the best PER of any current rookie (including #1 pick Derek Rose), and will only get better. Until then, have patience.

 

[Da_O]

Greg is fine, as long as he's contesting shots, and fighting for rebounds, I"m happy. His development will take time. I did like the shots he was taking. Two missed hooks, but those will come with time and are high percentage shots. The two missed dunks are just kind of unlucky.

 

[Shooter]

Christ we're a fickle lot. What was it 2 days ago when everyone was oohing and ahhing over Greg's dominance against the Pistons, blocking and altering shots, and pulling down a career high in rebounds, getting his fifth double-double in 12 full games of action? Greg looks like a rookie who hadn't played competitive ball for 18 months and rehabbed from MF surgery for 12 of those months.

Oden has had a few good games, and a lot of poor ones. I'm really not concerned about his numbers--what bothers me is the way he looks on the court. He seems disjointed and awkward, and doesn't even look like a natural athelete when he runs. Even my girlfriend, who is no NBA expert, noticed it tonight from the stands. At one point she told me, "I don't know about Oden. He doesn't look right."

 

[RW#30]

Oden will be fine. This was a crappy game against a gimmicky offense. You could tell he never been in this situation. The Knicks were running all kind of crazy double teams, and defensive rotations. This is Nellie ball. Big guys have trouble with it. Let him get accustomed to the league and step aside. Give the guy a year to get use to everything. He will be a force. Big guys take longer.
Five hours ago everyone were talking about how he is top 5 rookie. Let him play.

 

[B-Roy]

Oden needs to get it together. He doesn't try on defense and barely makes it up the floor. He lacking confidence and motivation, IMO.

2 blocks in 19 minutes is not "doesn't try on defense". If you watched the game at all you'd see how hard Oden was playing. He played hard and showed good footwork on defense.

Confidence and motivation? Do you even listen to yourself talk? Oden's reason for a subpar game was that he only got 19 minutes and the team avoided giving him the ball. He got about 5 touches in the 1st quarter and one for the rest of the game. The point guards ignored him on offense! Although, to the Knicks credit, the gimmicky defense confused Oden.

I really don't know why you're so quick to jump on a player who played slightly below his averages for one game, Mr. "Aldridge is no better than Channing Frye" Fez.

 

[Crimson the Cat]

He rebounded and defended.

Micro-fracture surgery + inexperience with a run-and-gun tempo = Struggle

WTF

 

[RW#30]

Even my girlfriend, who is no NBA expert, noticed it tonight from the stands. At one point she told me, "I don't know about Oden. He doesn't look right."

That does it. You are right. I am calling KP. We got to trade Oden before the conspiracy is out.

 

[B-Roy]

Oden has had a few good games, and a lot of poor ones. I'm really not concerned about his numbers--what bothers me is the way he looks on the court. He seems disjointed and awkward, and doesn't even look like a natural athelete when he runs. Even my girlfriend, who is no NBA expert, noticed it tonight from the stands. At one point she told me, "I don't know about Oden. He doesn't look right."

He's always looked like this though. (Minus the awkward running-MF surgery might have something to do with that) College, preseason, regular season. It's his game face.

 

[Shooter]

2 blocks in 19 minutes is not "doesn't try on defense". If you watched the game at all you'd see how hard Oden was playing.

I was at the game, and I didn't see that at all. The blocks were fine, but he didn't have to do much except go up in the air when a guy drove the ball against him. He doesn't rotate very well on defense, and he is slow to react. He also doesn't run down the court very fast.

Oden's reason for a subpar game was that he only got 19 minutes and the team avoided giving him the ball.

Nonsense. The ball was passed to him multiple times, and he always passed it right back out. He was afraid to take a shot, and said so himself after the game.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

2 blocks in 19 minutes is not "doesn't try on defense". If you watched the game at all you'd see how hard Oden was playing. He played hard and showed good footwork on defense.

Confidence and motivation? Do you even listen to yourself talk? Oden's reason for a subpar game was that he only got 19 minutes and the team avoided giving him the ball. He got about 5 touches in the 1st quarter and one for the rest of the game. The point guards ignored him on offense! Although, to the Knicks credit, the gimmicky defense confused Oden.

I really don't know why you're so quick to jump on a player who played slightly below his averages for one game, Mr. "Aldridge is no better than Channing Frye" Fez.

It's his body language. He's almost 7'1" and if he just so happens to put his hands in the air he'll get a block or two. He's moving like he doesn't want to play.

He had MF surgery but it was, according to various doctors, to be very minor compared to Kidd and Amare, ect. He's had an entire year! I expected him to look sluggish as he learns the NBA game but I didn't expect a very uninterested Oden on the floor. Watch him run. Watch him move. It's not encouraging at all.

 

[MARIS61]

Oden would look better on offense if someone would get the ball to him quicker, before he is double-teamed. He's not a half-court guy.

 

[Minstrel]

He's a rookie, he's been out of basketball a year prior to this season. Do we really need to make every single a game a referendum on whether Oden is living up to expectations? His per-minute efficiency suggests he's playing well. Observationally, it's pretty clear that he's having a large effect on the team defense (and the team defensive efficiency numbers bear that out). If next season at this time, he looks awkward and lost and lumbering, there's a problem. Until then, let him get into shape. He's having a major effect on games when he's in, which can be verified observationally or statistically.

 

[Shooter]

It's his body language. He's almost 7'1" and if he just so happens to put his hands in the air he'll get a block or two. He's moving like he doesn't want to play.

He had MF surgery but it was, according to various doctors, to be very minor compared to Kidd and Amare, ect. He's had an entire year! I expected him to look sluggish as he learns the NBA game but I didn't expect a very uninterested Oden on the floor. Watch him run. Watch him move. It's not encouraging at all.

You're absolutely right. As I said, I was a bit surprised to see Oden walk out to the pregame introductions instead of running like everyone else. He doesn't seem to have any enthusiasm at all right now. It's very odd.

 

[Tortimer]

Oden didn't have one of his better games but it wasn't as bad as Shooter is making it out to be from what I saw watching the game. Oden is slow and I think he still needs to lose 10 pounds and get in better shape. I'm not worried at all about Oden and think he is going to be dominating by next year. I do think we need to try and get Oden the ball more and see if we can get his confidence back. I thought last game he looked like he was actually having fun and did contribute to the win in the 4th qtr.

 

[Da_O]

Oden would look better on offense if someone would get the ball to him quicker, before he is double-teamed. He's not a half-court guy.

We also don't have anyone that can execute the pick and roll.

But on a side note

"THE RUBES ARE AT IT AGAIN!!"

 

[PapaG]

Christ we're a fickle lot. What was it 2 days ago when everyone was oohing and ahhing over Greg's dominance against the Pistons, blocking and altering shots, and pulling down a career high in rebounds, getting his fifth double-double in 12 full games of action? Greg looks like a rookie who hadn't played competitive ball for 18 months and rehabbed from MF surgery for 12 of those months.

Yep. 5 out of the first 12 games in his career are double-doubles, and he is averaging just over 20 minutes a game.

 

[RW#30]

It's his body language. He's almost 7'1" and if he just so happens to put his hands in the air he'll get a block or two. He's moving like he doesn't want to play.

He had MF surgery but it was, according to various doctors, to be very minor compared to Kidd and Amare, ect. He's had an entire year! I expected him to look sluggish as he learns the NBA game but I didn't expect a very uninterested Oden on the floor. Watch him run. Watch him move. It's not encouraging at all.

Really. We would have lost the Detroit game without his interior defense and blocks at the end. He is a huge part of this years 13-6 start. Ignoring that and pointing out his bad game against the crappy Knicks defense is ignorant.

Yes, all of us hoped for a bit smoother transition to Oden, but who cares. Call me in 2 years and tell me he is a bust.

Here is Walton's #'s




35 games, 448 point on 51% shooting,12.8 points per game. He also had 94 blocks in 32 minuets of playing time.


Wasn't earth shattering.

 

[B-Roy]

Oden played hard defense from what I saw. Just because his "body language" told you he was "uninterested", doesn't mean he wasn't trying.

The pick and rolls with Oden were hard to watch, Oden would come out, Blake/Roy/Sergio would use the screen, and Oden would roll to the basket and call for the ball. They maybe gave it to him once. After awhile he just stopped rolling and it was a sad sight to see. IMO, the team never allowed Oden to get his rhythm offensively.

On a side note, I saw this at a Knicks (Posting and Toasting) blog and found it quite funny:

This is my biggest question of the night. Quentin Richardson got whacked in the face, and nearly looked like he was going to have to come out, leaving Nate McMillan to pick someone off the bench to come in and take the free throws. If you're not familiar, that's the case. When a player is too injured to shoot his own free throws, the opposing team gets to pick someone off the bench to come in and take the shots. Here's my question. What if this had happened during one of the games that Stephon Marbury was suited up, but didn't play, perhaps because he'd refused to do so? The other team would definitely pick him, right? Would that visit to the line not be the tensest, most awkward two free throws ever taken in an NBA game? How would D'Antoni react? How would Steph react? What would happen after the free throws were taken? This has officially moved into the number one slot on my "things I would do if I had a time machine" list. Saving the dinosaurs can wait.

 

[Tortimer]

Really. We would have lost the Detroit game without his interior defense and blocks at the end. He is a huge part of this years 13-6 start. Ignoring that and pointing out his bad game against the crappy Knicks defense is ignorant.

Yes, all of us hoped for a bit smoother transition to Oden, but who cares. Call me in 2 years and tell me he is a bust.

Here is Walton's #'s

Season Age Tm Lg G MP FG FGA FG% FT FTA FT% ORB DRB TRB AST 1974-75 22 POR NBA 35 1153 177 345 .513 94 137 .686 92 349 441 167

STL BLK PF PTS
29 94 115 448

Wasn't earth shattering.

Many Blazers fans were saying the same thing about Walton his first year. I remember a couple fans(season ticket holders) that sat just behind me at the Blazers games Walton rookie season. They would keep complaining about Walton and saying he was a bust. I finally got feed up and turned around and told them to shut up and they better get behind Walton if we ever wanted to be any good. I told them he is going to be special. The year we won the championship and the following year they were huge Walton fans. Just wait Oden is going to be special and he isn't a bust from what I have already seen.

 

[BengalDuck]

Wish I remembered what writer it was that said, basically, that "when they're drafted, everyone preaches patience with young big men before they learn the game. Yet when they struggle for a while, people forget exactly what they were preaching before." Or something like that.

These Oden struggles are absolutely what we were all expecting. And if you weren't expecting them, then you haven't followed basketball all that much. He'll continue to struggle for the rest of the year... slowly getting better. Hell, he'll still have a lot to learn next year, too.

 

[RW#30]

We also don't have anyone that can execute the pick and roll.

But on a side note

"THE RUBES ARE AT IT AGAIN!!"

I agree. I like Nate and want him in PDX, but he needs to come up with a better way getting Oden the ball. Get him side pick/roll or isolate him, get him moving. Oden is a sitting duck with double teams coming at him all the time. Help the kid.
Paul needs to spend the cash and get Hakeem to Portland for a few years. I would love to see Oden model his game after the Dream.

 

[graybeard]

Oden will be fine. This was a crappy game against a gimmicky offense. You could tell he never been in this situation. The Knicks were running all kind of crazy double teams, and defensive rotations. This is Nellie ball. Big guys have trouble with it. Let him get accustomed to the league and step aside. Give the guy a year to get use to everything. He will be a force. Big guys take longer.
Five hours ago everyone were talking about how he is top 5 rookie. Let him play.

Love your avatar, RW. People wonder where the hippies went, now we know..... they're toothless and hiding in the cornfields of Iowa.