Warriors game, Aldridge, +/-

[Rastapopoulos]

Does +/- mean anything? I mean, the two stars of the game were probably Oden and Stephen Jackson, and Oden had the worst rating of any player (-11) and Jackson was tied for worst on the Warriors with -3.

I will say this though: I only watched the first half, but the team just seemed a lot more fluid with Joel in the game. He is looking REALLY good. I don't know if it's because of Oden, but he's actually almost adequate on offense! It just seems every game he gets several dunks, and he occasionally has to make an actual move to get in position to do them. He's anything but a liability (and the +/- ranking appears to confirm this impression: he had the highest on the Blazers with +10).

Conversely, the team still looks very awkward with Oden on the floor. He just seems a step slow and clumsy still. Joel looks much more mobile and just obviously "clicks" much more. I can't say I'm too worried, though - I just hope Oden gets up to speed fairly quickly.

But what's with Aldridge? Is he sucking recently or what? This was an awkward game for all our bigs because they were being swarmed by midgets, but Aldridge was guarded by Maggette and just couldn't get anything done. Somehow I feel that wouldn't be a problem for the hated Pau Gasol. Wasn't he supposed to be our star and leading scorer this year? Wasn't he supposed to be looking amazing? What happened to that Aldridge? (And yet, he had a positive rating, although only +1.) Is he a weak link? It doesn't seem to me that he's been squeezed out of the offense - it looks like he's being given plenty of opportunities but just isn't converting. Views?

 

[blue32]

I dont think Oden and Aldridge have figured out how to work together yet, and of course the terrible officiating last night caused like three offensive fouls on Alrdridge, and a couple of tick tacky defensive ones.

 

[e_blazer]

+ - is a very distorted statistical system, especially when a guy doesn't play many minutes.

Aldridge is definitely sucking. Hopefully, it won't last long.

Oden is a beast. The Blazers are still adjusting to him and he's still getting in shape, but....dang!

 

[Nikolokolus]

Lamarcus is probably going to have the hardest adjustment of any Blazer with Oden in the lineup; Questions in his mind probably run something like this: when do I defer, when do I take over, where should I look for my shots, should I take the ball down low or should I float to 15 feet and look for my faceup jumper? The guards on the other hand (Roy and Rudy in particular) arlready seem to have figured out part of the pick and roll and the inside-out game with Greg.

As for the rest of Lamarcus' struggles, his shot has just been off, he's still trying to make something happen on the mid to high post, with little jump hooks (which is a good sign) but they just aren't falling. Last night I'd chalk up to some hoom cooking by the refs, and Maggette being crafty enough to flop and draw a lot of iffy offensive foul calls.

Give it time, and if he's still stinking it up in mid December then you can start worrying.

 

[andalusian]

I have a feeling LaMarcus might have been practicing shooting 18 footers all night long. Hope he comes blazing tonight and help us put Chicago away quick - because this is the kind of game that really worries me.

On one hand - the Bulls have no interior presence - so Greg should be feasting. On the other hand - The Blazers have no perimeter defense (unless Nate decides to give Bayless more than 4 minutes) - and Rose kills us.

 

[The_Lillard_King]

I expect a big game from Aldridge tonight.

 

[Mediocre Man]

This is why +/- means nothing

 

[mook]

Bringing in Oden has changed the way the team runs its offense, even when Oden isn't in the game. Used to be that Przybilla never got a pass in scoring position, because that wasn't his role. Teammates never even considered it. Now it seems like the whole team is so used to running plays for the center that it's just natural to dish it to him for the dunk.

While Oden has had a positive impact on a guy he almost never plays with, the opposite seems to be true with Aldridge. The guys is trying too hard to be a 20/10 player, and the truth is that there's an incredibly short list of NBA teams who have had two guys put up 20/10. (Are there any?) Oden is better than Aldridge. Roy is better than Aldridge. On many nights even Rudy is better than Aldridge.

Aldridge is going to have to learn to be Shawn Marion/Rasheed Wallace kind of player. A third option on offense who can occassionally bust out with a 25 point night. But a guy who does so many other little things to help us win.

It'll be interesting to see if Aldridge is willing to accept that role. A #2 pick in the draft with his height, extension and speed--it may be hard for him to accept.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Looks like Henry Abbott thought the same as me:

Here's what I saw: After a slow start, the Blazers were rolling. Honestly, it was just so obviously Portland's night. They had better players at nearly every position, and they were hunting turnovers on defense, while putting the right pieces in place on offense.

Then Greg Oden checked in. At this early stage of his career, he might move more awkwardly than any professional athlete I have ever seen. I don't expect that to last. In college he was generally graceful and athletic, and he still is that while moving in a straight line. But get him moving laterally, or heavens forbid, rotating, and he is like a new doe in the spring, skittering around trying to remember what his feet are for.

I don't know if the weird movements make his decision making tough (it's evident at times he doesn't know where he is, let alone his teammates or the defense) or, more likely, if both the decision making and the weird movements are products of being in a new environment. Remember, he's not just back on the basketball court after a layoff, but on the NBA court for the first time ever. And he's all fired up to impress everybody, trying to move hard, even when he's not all that sure where to go.

His presence got Portland jammed up all kinds of ways. Somebody should keep track of how many times he fell down. I bet it was at least five. He turned the ball over five times. He also fouled five times. And by having his weight distributed strangely he was often not ready to jump quickly to protect the rim when the C.J. Watsons of the world came driving in. Then there were the many times he didn't see an open teammate, or turned a high energy pass into an energy-sapping difficult catch. I watched a couple of plays in slow-motion where Oden's large newness inpsired his teammates to make turnovers, and Portland's turnovers were the story of the game. (Someone, please tally the team's turnover rate with Oden on the floor compared to Joel Przybilla. UPDATE: Hats off to Brett from Queen City Hoops, who tells us that Portland's turnover rate with Przybilla was 12.3%, and 14.7% with Oden. Spinning those numbers the best possible way to reinforce my point, and using my sketchy math skills, I assert that means Portland was nearly 20% more likely to turn the ball over with the rookie on the floor. UPDATE: Turns out the difference was much more stark last night. Those were the total season numbers. Last night, with Oden Portland turned the ball over 20.1% of the time, and with Przybilla it was 14.2. Neither number is good, but that's 49% more turnovers last night with Oden on the floor.)

 

[MrJayremmie]

Yeah, that was a tough matchup for LMA... he will be fine. He needs to adjust also, but I think the main thing is that his shot is a little off.

 

[gatorpops]

Looks like Henry Abbott thought the same as me:

Out of 21 turnovers Oden had 5. That is like 23.8% of the turnovers himself.

So Abbot seems to be right. Oden did seem to take responsibility for that after the game I believe.

Unrealistically we expect Oden to play as an NBA vet and the team to somehow jell with all that. I am as guilty as the next person. It is coming though and then NBA watch out!

g

 

[andalusian]

One of these turnovers was the fault of people not telling him one GSW's players is coming from behind him. The other 4 were either trying to go for a dunk and being stripped from behind or travel while trying to dunk - not a big deal for a rookie, imho.