Oden

[HailBlazers]

Obviously his talent is raw. They knew it when they drafted him. I'm not saying you don't know anything about basketball just GO. The Kid has heart, and with some good influences he is getting in Portland, the sky is the limit. GO is no Kwame Brown can't you see the difference old man?

 

[THE HCP]

I really think he is going to be an amazing player for us! You will see.

 

[mgb]

Just for the record, I HOPE I am wrong about the kid.

With hard work, he should improve physically.

He may never be Walton/Russell, but his court smarts can also improve with experience.

Will his intensity improve? He has a great role-model in Joel. Pryz doesn't know the meaning of "cruise control!"

In the meantime, people need to be less defensive about critical comments.

Oden's passing has surprise me and that's not because he doesn't have 'court smarts'. I think he's a lot smarter than you give him credit for.

In a way it seems Oden has taken a step back and that is because of fouls. I think other teams are attempting to foul him out because he does make a difference when he's in the game. That's something you would try to do against Shaq too. He'll get use to it and adapt to it.

 

[The Sebastian Express]

I think you'll regret pounding on the guy the next 2-3 years and into the next decade.

Kingspeed doesn't understand college seasoning for the aforementioned players and how that assisted them.

 

[Kaydow]

None of Shaq, Robinson, Duncan, Ewing, Mourning dominated in college as a freshman. I don't know why that has any bearing on whether he's a once-per-decade big man.

Okay, point (sort of) well taken. There's some truth to what you are saying. But one could make an arguement, for example, that Ewing played in a different era (pre shot clock, pre 3 point line) G-Town used to win a lot of games 51-47, or 49-44. There was no penalty for packing in a 2-3 zone w/o a 3 point line. Trust me, Ewing was more impressive as a Frosh than Oden. Robinson had been in the Navy and hadn't touched a basketball in 2 years. His average went from 7/4 as a fresh to 23/11 in his soph year.

I'm not banging on Greg, but . . . do you really think he'll be mentioned in the same breath as those guys above when he's done playing?

All I'm saying is that I'm not expecting that at this point.

 

[Minstrel]

Trust me, Ewing was more impressive as a Frosh than Oden.

I saw Ewing in college. I saw all the players I mentioned. I think you greatly underestimate how good Oden looked at a freshman. I watched all his games and was extremely impressed...and this was long before the Blazers won the draft lottery, so I had no emotional investment in him. I didn't for a moment think he'd be a Blazer.

I'm not banging on Greg, but . . . do you really think he'll be mentioned in the same breath as those guys above when he's done playing?

All I'm saying is that I'm not expecting that at this point.

I would never set "one of the 6-7 greatest players ever at his position" as a reasonable expected result. I wouldn't have set that as an expectation for Robinson or Duncan or Shaq, as rookies. Where we seem to differ is that you seem to feel that he doesn't really seem to have that reasonable ceiling, whereas I do.

So far, I've seen this: without the explosiveness he showed prior to his injury, he's shown the clear (if currently inconsistent) ability to be a defensive game-changer and a rebounding machine. He's also drawing double-teams from the opposition before he's even put up big offensive games, and his passing has been very good. And he's only 30 games into his career.

To me, that still places his ceiling at Hall of Famer. He clearly needs to work on his footwork, but there are three main things holding him back, all of which I think are more likely than not to be resolved (positively) with time: he needs his old explosive athleticism back, he needs to adjust to NBA speed such that he's reading and reacting without the visible "thinking lag" and he needs to learn how to play defense without fouling. None of those are monumental things like "needs to learn to shoot" or "needs to get better at rebounding."

If he were playing his sophomore year (or junior year had he not been hurt) at Ohio State, I think he'd be dominating at a pretty high level.

 

[BrianFromWA]

The argument about age/experience is valid - up to a point. Keep in mind that Oden has been compared to Shaq (or whoever), while as far back as high-school Bowie was being compared to Bill Walton. I'm not sure he had the brain of Walton ....but I would at least compare him to Sabonis.

Oden may have worked his butt off on his physical rehab - but I'll make you a friendly wager he didn't spend any of that year watching games films! He just isn't a student of the game like Roy, Duncan, etc.

I'm with you on most of the thread, OMG, but I think you're a little off on the friendly wager (frosty beverage at the next L*ker game, perhaps?)...

In the NBA Roundtable earlier this year (with Oden, Russell, Walton, Ewing, Robinson, Lanier---and I'm missing someone) Oden talked about how he spent a lot of time watching old-time film. Knew about Russell's moves, Ewing in college and the NBA, etc.

 

[PapaG]

The only difference I notice between Oden and Shaq/Robinson/Hakeem/Howard at this point is intensity and focus while one the court.

But that is subjective, so it doesn't matter, unlike "Basketball IQ".

 

[oldmangrouch]

I'm with you on most of the thread, OMG, but I think you're a little off on the friendly wager (frosty beverage at the next L*ker game, perhaps?)...

In the NBA Roundtable earlier this year (with Oden, Russell, Walton, Ewing, Robinson, Lanier---and I'm missing someone) Oden talked about how he spent a lot of time watching old-time film. Knew about Russell's moves, Ewing in college and the NBA, etc.

Interesting.

Like I said, I hope I am wrong about the kid.

 

[oldmangrouch]

The only difference I notice between Oden and Shaq/Robinson/Hakeem/Howard at this point is intensity and focus while one the court.

But that is subjective, so it doesn't matter, unlike "Basketball IQ".

I'll cheerfully admit those things are subjective. I'll also admit that it can be tough for an observer to tell the difference between a player who is physically gassed, mentally lost, or just unfocused.

I wish I could just blindly accept that Oden's problems are all physical....but that isn't what my eyes are telling me.

 

[HailBlazers]

I wish I could just blindly accept that Oden's problems are all physical....but that isn't what my eyes are telling me.

Oden's got as much pressure as Barack Obama. I guess the difference between You and all the other Haters out there is you got no faith. If you really had hope for the kid you would quit nit picking his Rough start to his career and support him. rise WITH us.

 

[Tortimer]

I have told this story many times but I'm going to tell it one more time. I had season rickets to the Blazers Bill Walton's rookie year and was a big fan of Walton from his college days at UCLA. Walton was struggling really bad his first year especially the first half and a few other season ticket holders in front of me were always yelling to take Walton out and that he is a bust. This went on for quite a few games and finally I just snapped and told them that if we are ever going to be good and have a chance at winning a championship they need to get behind Walton. I also told them he is just a rookie and is going to be great in the future. I did notice after that they didn't yell as much to take Walton out and after we started winning and Walton started playing really good they were his biggest fans. I'm saying the same thing with Oden....if we are going to be really good and have a chance at winning a championship get behind Oden.

 

[SheedSoNasty]

I'm with you, tortimer. Oden's presence on the floor really isn't going to kick in for a while as he transitions into a much tougher NBA game after coming off of major surgery. For those who are giving up on him this early in the game, I'm curious to know how they'd feel if we were to trade him for someone like Brook Lopez. He's having a pretty good rookie season, but I doubt he'll ever lead a team to a championship.

 

[KingSpeed]

I think you'll regret pounding on the guy the next 2-3 years and into the next decade.

I'll regret it?? I love the Blazers. I want Oden to do well. If Oden plays well, I will be CELEBRATING it, not regretting it.

 

[alex42083]

I'll regret it?? I love the Blazers. I want Oden to do well. If Oden plays well, I will be CELEBRATING it, not regretting it.

Well why say you've given up on the guy then?