More from Nate regarding Oden

[illmatic99]

Not sure if this has been posted yet: http://www.columbian.com/article/20091029/SPORTS01/710299937/1001/SPORTS01

Portland’s coach stated that Oden consistently established himself on the defensive end, altering shots and clogging the paint.

McMillan offered critics a reminder that the Blazers drafted Oden for defense, not offense, and that he is not the focus of the team’s offensive sets.

One more year.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

Our coach is an ass.

 

[RoyIsClutch07]

Our coach is an ass.

You almost get the feeling is trying to be one too. That is he being stubborn and bull headed on purpose. Maybe there is a bigger picture to this than the media and fans. Maybe this is more directed to a person or persons inside the organization.

Philosophical differences.

 

[Ed O]

There's a difference between being a focus and being relegated to a place in the offense where the only way he touches the ball is when he rebounds it. I would be happy with somewhere in the middle.

The logic, though, is what kills me even more... who CARES why he was drafted? He either can do it or he cannot. If he can't do it: say that. And explain how he actually was statistically effective last year on the offensive end.

Ed O.

 

[crowTrobot]

greg odzybilla here we come

 

[Ed O]

One thing is whether Nate is defending Oden or himself with his comments.

I don't really see how much criticism could go at Oden about his offensive game on Tuesday night.

Ed O.

 

[Mediocre Man]

He shouldn't be the focus of all the teams sets, but he should be the focus maybe 5-10 times per game.



Nate is an Assclown

 

[THE HCP]

I'd like to see him get at least 10 shots a night. I was very impressed with his rebounding and blocks though!

 

[Sean.ivity]

Brandon will have a talk with him

 

[The Sebastian Express]

Personally I preferred his comment later in the story where "Free throws lead to foul trouble, and our quick penetrating guards get to the line". I would have hoped that he had stated "foul troubles lead to free throws" and that he was going to try to take advantage and create mismatches with our 7'0 275 pound center to put the other team in foul trouble.

Alas, whiplash Nate humor continues.

 

[Mediocre Man]

Brandon will have a talk with him

You mean Brandon "I don't get enough touches when Andre is in the game" Roy? What precious Brandon needs to understand is that having a low post threat will make his game, and his team a lot better.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I have no complaints with GO . . . but the guy turns the ball oiver 7 times and the Blazers should be focusing on getting him the ball more that game?

I suspect that again GO will get his touches again this game. And I suspect that if he turns it over at that rate again, they will stop looking to get GO his touches during the set plays. Blazers are trying to win the game . . . you can't experiment and risk losing . . . to n non-NBA team for sure.

 

[Mediocre Man]

I have no complaints with GO . . . but the guy turns the ball oiver 7 times and the Blazers should be focusing on getting him the ball more that game?

I suspect that again GO will get his touches again this game. And I suspect that if he turns it over at that rate again, they will stop looking to get GO his touches during the set plays. Blazers are trying to win the game . . . you can't experiment and risk losing . . . to an non-NBA team for sure.

That stat is starting to piss me off.

3 TO's were him losing the ball. The other 4 were violations without the ball. The team also did a piss poor job getting Oden the ball where he needs it. It's yet another reason that Miller should be starting.

 

[ironcrotch]

Not to be a Nate-apologist but I think it all boils down to when they said that they were limiting the pressure that is put on Greg. I think we can all agree that Oden's confidence is something that is a bit fragile. Allowing him to focus on defense first will limit that pressure, last year saw Sad Greg a lot and now that we haven't seen it yet we forget that we're still need to bring the big fella on slowly. No need YET to rely on him to pound it into the middle, especially when we can see that he's still a bit raw with his moves. Once he starts getting the few touches right he'll get more.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

The turnovers amuse me because one he was so deep for so long and had two Blazer players with the ball stare at him but not pass seems like it is going to be a theme this year.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

That stat is starting to piss me off.

3 TO's were him losing the ball. The other 4 were violations without the ball. The team also did a piss poor job getting Oden the ball where he needs it. It's yet another reason that Miller should be starting.

The stat pisses me off too . . . how many starting centers get 7 TOs on opening night. I think GO might have set an NBA record . . . and not a good record.

 

[Mediocre Man]

The stat pisses me off too . . . how many starting centers get 7 TOs on opening night. I think GO might have set an NBA record . . . and not a good record.

I'll have to look at all the teams who had players on it that wouldn't pass the ball to their center when he had deep post possition.

 

[Jayps15]

I have no complaints with GO . . . but the guy turns the ball oiver 7 times and the Blazers should be focusing on getting him the ball more that game?

I suspect that again GO will get his touches again this game. And I suspect that if he turns it over at that rate again, they will stop looking to get GO his touches during the set plays. Blazers are trying to win the game . . . you can't experiment and risk losing . . . to n non-NBA team for sure.

1) 4 of those TO's were OFF the ball

2) What set plays? You mean the predictable as hell set up in the post and have the wing throw it in? Everyone watching that game knew exactly what was going on before the pass was even made, it's not hard to pressure someone and stop them from scoring if you know exactly what they're trying to do.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I'll have to look at all the teams who had players on it that wouldn't pass the ball to their center when he had deep post possition.

Please look, because that has to be up there with the most TOs by a center on opening day . . . whether or not the team would pass the center the ball.

Opening game doe not seem like the type of game posters should be complaining about Oden getting the ball. I mean 7 TO is alot for any player on any game day . . . much lesss a center who never touched the ball.

 

[Sean.ivity]

You mean Brandon "I don't get enough touches when Andre is in the game" Roy? What precious Brandon needs to understand is that having a low post threat will make his game, and his team a lot better.

Thats what I meant, I'm sure Roy could understand that having Oden down low establishing the low post game and getting the other teams bigs in foul trouble would open the paint up for him. So Roy tells the coach to run more plays for Oden and we all know the influence Roy has with the coach.

 

[alex42083]

It's puzzling that Nate is so adamant and so stubborn with this. It's not like G.O. is Chris Dudley out there.

 

[illmatic99]

Pimping OLive here, but w/e. Quick has a chat coming up in about 10 mins.

I'm sure that he'll talk Oden/Nate: http://blog.oregonlive.com/blazers/2009/10/blazers_chat_with_jason_quick.html

 

[dpc]

Jeez i might be the only guy who says "please god pass the ball" everytime Oden gets it. I cringe every time he gets the ball down low. This team would be screwed if he were the focus on offensive sets.

 

[BrianFromWA]

It is a lot. Which makes it ridiculous that, since he's getting turnovers b/c the guards are improperly executing the P&R (again, something that's been going on without correction since Sergio and Jack and Blakey were doing it in 2007), they continue trying to ride that horse and not do something that will get the OTHER team's "bigs" in foul trouble.

If you're saying you won't pass him the ball because he turned it over three times--no matter what benefits may come from it--why are you advocating continuance of the P&R where he supposedly caused the turnover three times? Isn't that hypocritical?

 

[BrianFromWA]

Jeez i might be the only guy who says "please god pass the ball" everytime Oden gets it. I cringe every time he gets the ball down low. This team would be screwed if he were the focus on offensive sets.

You ever see Tyson Chandler's offensive game? Or Kyrylo Fesenko's (who's?) last night?

Seriously, it's not that tough. Assuming your guards care.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

To be honest the most infuriating thing about Nate is his aversion to actually passing the ball to the roller on a pick and roll. He made Joel an absolute non-factor on offense since he's been here because he refuses to use the one offensive set that Joel could complete with Damon on any consistent basis. When you have a 7'0 guy like Greg who has okay hands, and can cover a lot of ground it's pretty insane that we don't do a pick and roll and give it to him at least a few times a game.

 

[Shooter]

I suspect that this is McMillan's way of saying, "I don't really trust Oden when it comes to offense." Not saying he's right, but he probably thinks there's a better chance of scoring when Roy or Aldridge are shooting, so why go to Oden and blow an opportunity?

 

[Schilly]

It is interesting that Nate seemingly is feeling the need over and again this season to defend himself.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

Jeez i might be the only guy who says "please god pass the ball" everytime Oden gets it. I cringe every time he gets the ball down low. This team would be screwed if he were the focus on offensive sets.

I'm not quite there with you, but I don't get why everyone thinks Oden is this dominanat post up player. What I don't get is when Oden gets the ball down low, the crowd starts to buzz. You hear it everytime. It almost forces Oden to look to shoot and the results have not been the best when he goes to his post up game.

A few times a game, great. But there is plenty of time for Oden to develop an offensive game. I say put the ball in the hands of the scorers and win the game. The alley oops and GO cutting to the hoop for the easy basket will develop in time.

Oden has not shown great hands (I heard he had soft hands) in the NBA, especially the being stripped part. Why rush this process?

 

[Minstrel]

Oden shouldn't be the focus of the offensive sets, but the offensive sets should include Oden. As more than a rebounder.

Completely leaving him out of the offense, by and large, is pretty silly.

It's like McMillan thinks he has two choices with Oden...dump it into him and play the offense around that or ignore him. The dump-it-down-to-him didn't work in the several times they tried it last game, so he's elected to ignore him. That seems like really simplistic thinking on the part of McMillan. How about involving him in other ways like, as many have suggested, pick and rolls? Or backdoor cuts for alley-oops? He's seven feet tall, powerful and incredibly athletic...throwing him the ball near the basket where he gets to make a play in rhythm (rather than out of a set position) seems like an obviously necessary thing to do.