Oden Gets Rolling In Vegas

[Shapecity]

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> 2007 NBA Summer League

Greg Oden gets his first taste of NBA competition tonight at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, an annual opportunity for teams to give their draft picks and other young players game experience.

Oden and the Blazers, who play at 7 p.m. against Boston, are expected to be one of the league's top attractions.

What the Blazers hope to accomplish:
The Blazers want forward LaMarcus Aldridge and center Oden to play alongside each other and become a cohesive unit, as both should start when the regular season begins. Also, the team would like to see longer stretches of high-energy play from point guard Sergio Rodriguez and consistent shooting from guard Martell Webster. The performances of Rodriguez and Webster -- who were role players last season -- could have a bearing on their status entering October's training camp.

"For the entire team, this will be about meshing, and to see if they can get a comfort level," general manager Kevin Pritchard said. "You don't throw a basketball team together in one or two days."

The Blazers will pay attention to their foreign talent, perhaps with hopes of bringing one or more players to training camp. Forward Joel Freeland, a first-round 2006 draft pick who played for Grand Canaria in the Spanish ACB League last season, has improved his skills and strength. Point guard Petteri Koponen of Finland, selected in the first round last week, has been a clever passer during early practices..

Other teams participating:
San Antonio, Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, Memphis, Boston, Golden State, New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Sacramento, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee, Denver, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix, Washington, New York, Houston, Minnesota and Team China.

Other players to watch:
Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, forwards, Seattle; Michael Conley, guard, Memphis; Yi Jianlian, forward, Milwaukee and Team China; Corey Brewer, forward, Minnesota; and Aaron Brooks, guard, Houston

Blazers' schedule:
Today: Boston, 7 p.m., Cox Pavilion Sunday: Dallas, 1 p.m., Cox Pavilion Wednesday: L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m., Thomas & Mack Center July 14: Phoenix, 7:30 p.m., Thomas & Mack Center July 15: Seattle, 7 p.m., Cox Pavilion</div>

Source: OregonLive

 

[Ming637]

10 fouls in 20 minutes? Not so impressive.

 

[amador08]

Very sloppy game! lol

 

[LBJ2006MVP]

headlines ...Oden is a BUST.... Portland wants Zach back lol

 

[GatorsowntheNCAA]

Lebron's first summer league game he got dunked on by Britton Johnsen. Who? Exactly. Doesn't mean squat.

Glad to see Taureen get some PT, he didn't shoot well but 7 boards in 30 minutes is pretty impressive for him.

 

[og15]

Summer league has refs who aare trying out, and it's mistake filled sloppy basketball for the most part. Young big men usually have to adjust to fouling, but one thing we know about summer league. If you play good, it's good for you, and gives promise for the season, though it doesn't project your season performance of gurantee anything (Brandon Hunter and Skeeta owned summer league, so did Earl Barron). If you play bad, it means NOTHING at all, and does not project your season performance.

 

[The_Future]

<div class="quote_poster">GatorsowntheNCAA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Lebron's first summer league game he got dunked on by Britton Johnsen. Who? Exactly. Doesn't mean squat.

Glad to see Taureen get some PT, he didn't shoot well but 7 boards in 30 minutes is pretty impressive for him.</div>

Hell as far as I am concerned he was the second best player behind LaMarcus Aldridge who was a total beast. From what I can gather Webster didn't start his scoring until garbage time. Green plays good defense something Sergio obviously does not do, but he needs to work on that jump shot of his.

 

[B.e.]

It doesn't really mean much, but ten fouls is kind of bizarre in any fashion.

 

[AKIRA]

Oden took 4 shots, 4!??! wtf man this guy needs to be given the god damn ball if anyone expects him to score. I think portland had 8 assists all up, 8 assists between the whole team, now i know that it is still summer league but only having 8 assists between a whole team is a joke, these so called point guards need to learn how to do their job. if you had oden and aldridge on your team dont you think you atleast get about 10 assists as a team, seriously. yeah summer league games dont mean much, if anything, but you would think that these players had some passing skills. Anyway were the refs calling stupid fouls or something? judging by the amount of fouls for each team id say yes. this is why i hate summer league games, they serve no purpose, how do adjust to the NBA game if your playing worser players than you were playing in college? fukin pointless! just give the players a break for them to work out there within their teams and then get the season started earlier, all this pre-season stuff is so stupid.

 

[GatorsowntheNCAA]

<div class="quote_poster">AKIRA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Oden took 4 shots, 4!??! wtf man this guy needs to be given the god damn ball if anyone expects him to score. I think portland had 8 assists all up, 8 assists between the whole team, now i know that it is still summer league but only having 8 assists between a whole team is a joke, these so called point guards need to learn how to do their job. if you had oden and aldridge on your team dont you think you atleast get about 10 assists as a team, seriously. yeah summer league games dont mean much, if anything, but you would think that these players had some passing skills. Anyway were the refs calling stupid fouls or something? judging by the amount of fouls for each team id say yes. this is why i hate summer league games, they serve no purpose, how do adjust to the NBA game if your playing worser players than you were playing in college? fukin pointless! just give the players a break for them to work out there within their teams and then get the season started earlier, all this pre-season stuff is so stupid.</div>

These players are tradtionally better than the players you play in college. Normally they are the undrafted FA that were good in college, but are getting a chance on a summer league roster. Oden only played 20 minutes because of the 10 fouls, so I wouldn't go crazy yet about it. Like I said previously Lebron got dunked on in his first summer league game. He'll start getting better. 3 assists by Taureen in 30 minutes is pretty disappointing, but again it's game 1 in summer league. They don't really have chemistry yet.

 

[og15]

<div class="quote_poster">AKIRA Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Oden took 4 shots, 4!??! wtf man this guy needs to be given the god damn ball if anyone expects him to score. I think portland had 8 assists all up, 8 assists between the whole team, now i know that it is still summer league but only having 8 assists between a whole team is a joke, these so called point guards need to learn how to do their job. if you had oden and aldridge on your team dont you think you atleast get about 10 assists as a team, seriously. yeah summer league games dont mean much, if anything, but you would think that these players had some passing skills. Anyway were the refs calling stupid fouls or something? judging by the amount of fouls for each team id say yes. this is why i hate summer league games, they serve no purpose, how do adjust to the NBA game if your playing worser players than you were playing in college? fukin pointless! just give the players a break for them to work out there within their teams and then get the season started earlier, all this pre-season stuff is so stupid.</div>
Actually summer league talent is a pretty good step up from college talent. You're playing other Top college players who were drafted along with you, some guys who have already moved to the professional ranks, and higher level European guys. It's definately superior to the guys you'd be playing in college.