Kelly Dwyer's Top 30 series continued: Centers 30-21

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

You'd say? Does this imply all of those centers are better than Oden? Which of these superior specimens would you trade for now?

Not what I'm talking about at all ... in fact I think you'd be hard pressed to find a single "implication" in anything I wrote in my original post. Mainly, I was shocked, because I figured Dwyer might sneak him in around 25 based on "potential." If Yao is 11th in his latest round then it just means that GO didn't make the cut.
 
Greg, when healthy, is an elite offensive and defensive force. I expect him to be close to #10 with a note that says that if he is healthy, he should be in the top-5.

The article (ranked as #11):

"If Oden stays healthy and can limit his fouls? He's top five. Maybe top three"

Nailed it.
 
if every center is healthy this season, the top 4 (in no particular order) are Yao, Dwight, Greg and Bynum. It's a clear step down talent wise after that.

STOMP
 
The last list confirmed it: Someone had a bet that they could have a picture of Ilgauskas with every center. Brilliant.
 
The recap is about the best summary I've read on why his injuries have been more bad luck than being injury prone. To be fair, GO broke his patella jumping, not landing, however.

A broken wrist. Microfracture surgery. A sprained foot, hurt when Andrew Bynum(notes) grabbed him from behind and forced him to stay on the floor instead of allowing him to jump at the rim. A chipped kneecap, struck by Corey Maggette(notes) on accident. A fractured left patella tendon, hurt as he landed awkwardly after contesting a shot against Houston. These are quite a few injuries, for someone who has been playing on the NCAA or NBA level since 2006.

But they're different injuries. Freak injuries. Not like Yao Ming(notes) or Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) or Bill Walton turning their feet into dust with repeated stress fractures. These are just things that have gone incredibly wrong.

So, I'd like to rank Oden higher. I really would. And while some might want to see him paired with Yao Ming around the same spot, it needs to be shouted that Greg Oden is not Yao Ming. He hasn't had the same repeated injuries in the same spot. He's injury-prone, yes, but only in the most literal sense of the phrase.
 
The last list confirmed it: Someone had a bet that they could have a picture of Ilgauskas with every center. Brilliant.

... except Oden! :D

Ed O.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top