Encouraging Oden Article (HoopsWorld)

[ABM]

From: HoopsWorld

You knew it was only a matter of time before Greg Oden left a lasting impression on his teammates during this long awaited rookie season.

Times up.

"He's just showing you what he's going to become. I think he's coming along great," Portland Trail Blazers small forward Travis Outlaw told HOOPSWORLD.

"I think these last few games were his best yet," LaMarcus Aldridge said recently.

Praise and promise go hand-in-hand for the soon to be 21-year-old Oden.........

.............Now with Brandon Roy nursing his sore hamstring, McMillan may have to start utilizing Oden more offensively sooner than he anticipated. While McMillan's offense is primarily an "inside-out" gameplan, it's glaringly obvious during Roy's absence – where the Blazers have gone 1-2 in that stretch – that the offensive results have come from "inside."

A little Oden offense anyone? There's no time like the present.

If Oden can somehow duplicate his offensive outings against recent foes Toronto (16 points), Boston (13 points) and Los Angeles (10 points) without being an offensive option, what is Oden capable of when the ball is consistently in his hands? What can Portland's plethora of guards do with open-looks from an Oden double-team?

"Now that he's doing some good things we drop him the ball and run him some quick sets, slowly give him more opportunities. With Brandon out there are more opportunities to go there,".............

............."We are starting to see what he is capable of, but he has a ways to go. But I think he'll get there. Now he's starting to experience what it is like to play that way. And it looks pretty easy for him," McMillan said.

"As he continues to grow, I think he'll become the guy we all think he's capable of becoming."

Somewhere in that assessment of Greg Oden lives a scoring touch.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

This is new news? Although, the preceeding 104,761,492 threads stating the exact same thing must have been a warm up for yet anooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooother "Oden will be a great player" thread.

[yawn!]

 

[ABM]

This is new news? Although, the preceeding 104,761,492 threads stating the exact same thing must have been a warm up for yet anooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooother "Oden will be a great player" thread.

[yawn!]

The portion I was particularly encouraged about was Nate's indication to increase Oden's offensive touches. Seemingly, no more of the "we just want Greg to focus on D" mantra.

 

[BrianFromWA]

I'll leave the meaty-ness of my post to MM, but did they say we have an "inside-out" offense?

 

[1 Eye Jack]

I'll leave the meaty-ness of my post to MM, but did they say we have an "inside-out" offense?

With Roy out that should be exactly what we are doing. LMA should be getting 18-20 touches a game in the post and Oden should get 10-12 shots. Let everyone feed off the double teams. Both bigs can pass and will open the game up for the rest of the team.