His stats are terrible tonight regardless of what he had the "potential" to do. I was hoping for more than your opinion to show me why he isn't a concern at this point. It's maddening to me how the guy can look like a future star in one game and then disappear for the next two.
I can understand the scoring, but the rebounding? Oden should trip into at least 2 rebounds per 8 minutes.
I would say that if you don't watch the game, then you really can't say much about the game.
That said, Oden did not bring it on defense so Nate sat him.
I think that when Oden gets a few touches on the offensive end it helps his defensive intensity. They didn't give him the ball tonight. When they did, he was triple teamed and fouled immediately, save for the one play where backed Lopez down and scored on him. It would have been nice for Portland to pass him the ball more and try to get Lopez out of the game.
Oden is currently not very good at defending the high post. It will come as his explosiveness returns, but for now that is the way it is. In Oden's defense, Joel didn't do a whole lot better. Lopez has a really nice touch from 10 to 12 feet out.
As far as rebounds go, a lot of the time Oden was in when Portland missed it was off of a 22' jumper. Since Oden was near the basket he really didn't have much chance to get those rebounds. That's why Roy had so many in the game as opposed to Oden. Joel, on the other hand, was in with Bayless a great deal. Portland didn't take as many bad long range shots, so rebounds were easier to get around the hoop.
Oden's play in the game tonight is the result of several factors. One, he is still recovering from surgery and will be for the next year. Two, he doesn't quite get a lot of what Nate wants him to do in the team defense. When he is one on one he is fine. Three, he rarely gets the ball passed to him. The Nets fronted him like mad and Portland was unable/unwilling to pass the ball over the top. When they tried to make that pass they did it too low and the ball was stolen or deflected. After the second time that happened, they simply stopped trying. Four, when Oden got the ball he was immediately fouled, so he didn't even get into a shooting motion.
The fact that the Nets triple teamed a rookie and fouled him whenever he touched the ball tells me they were very concerned about stopping him. Which in turn tells me that other coaches in the league fear what Oden could do. That is reason to believe he will be fine.
Lopez, on the other hand, never got more the single coverage. Portland would have loved for him to take a ton of shots, since every shot he took was one Harris didn't take. Portland not only didn't fear Lopez, they encouraged him to shoot. That makes a big, big difference in statistics at the end of the night.
And fuck Sports Center. They took their entire opinion of the game from 5 15 second clips. Their opinion is therefore worthless.
