Subscribe Feed (RSS)I promised I’d check with some people around the league I know who were at the USA Basketball national team mini-camp last weekend for some reaction to Oden.
What I got was pretty predictable. Everybody thinks he’s improved and that he’s moving “better” — not to say he’s moving great, but better. But I will say this, nobody — and I mean NOBODY — is seeing him as anything close to a major contributor on offense.
“I love Billy Bayno (the coach who has been working with Oden this summer),” one person said. “He’s really good. But he’s got a lot of work ahead of him with Oden. He’s still rushing. He’s still not comfortable. He’s not catching balls he should catch and at the post he just can’t slow himself down.”
Another source said he would resign himself to Oden’s fate: “He’s still got a chance to be a great defensive force. He’s a dominant rebounder. You might have to be happy with that. Make him a Bill Russell — just sort of take him out of the offense.”
And a final take: “They actually went to him in the post,” another source said. “He got the ball. But not much happened. He can still look pretty clumsy at times.”
Tags: Greg Oden, U.S. National team
he’s not going to be great, DEAL WITH IT! You got a job yet?
Clumsy….Yeah I get that. But Godzilla was a little crumsy as well, and he kicked the living crap out of Japan.
Graham, that was a good analogy it made my day (already).
Almost 21 years old and not yet perfect. Oh, the humanity!
I can’t imagine that ugly little jump hook improving over night. Simple playbook for Greg: Clog the lane on D, and get out of the way on offense.
The sad thing is that because the expectations for Oden were so high (apparently inappropriately high), there is almost no way that his career won’t be considered a disappointment.
He could be the dominant deffesnive presence of era, he could be an All-Star, he could even be a key piece of multiple championship teams, but unless he merits inclusion in the list of the top 10 centers of all time, he will have fallen short of what people expected. And that is an unforgivable sin in sports.
BS….if he is a starting center of a championship team then nobody will consider him a disappointment. Championships heal all.
Say we had Durant…would Pryzbilla get it done against Dwight Howard, Yao Ming, Andrew Bynum, or the next elite center?
I’m not so sure. At least we can say we’re solid at center, even if we didn’t get the best player in the 2007 draft.
Well Yao Ming is basically done…and I would take Pryz anyday over Bynum.
Bill Simmons “tweeted” an interesting take on the Oden/Durant situation from Sam Smith – with some good quotes from Oden
http://tinyurl.com/ly3qzw
All the more reason to go bring in a permanent big man coach to work with him. Oden’s a huge factor toward the overall success of this team. Get someone in here to teach him.
Hey, brilliant!! I’ll bet the Blazers have never thought of that!
Oh wait…Maurice Lucas is a big man coach. I guess he just forgot to tell Oden how to play.
You mean the guy who was coaching Oden until he got hit with cancer this year?
Stay classy, BarrytheMuslim.
Oden will always be measured against Durant. Durant will be someday be one of the top three players in the league, Oden might someday become one of the top 100 players in the league.
In the setting in las Vegas, there were no NBA refs calling fouls on Oden, so he was able to stay on the floor for extended periods. We still don’t know if he’ll be able to play stretches of longer than 3 or 4 minutes without committing fouls. To me, he’s still nothing more than a good backup for Przybilla (not that he won’t be starting). His offensive game is horrendous.
Maybe by the time he’s 26 or 27 years old he’ll be an Erick Dampier type of player. That’s about as good as I think the Blazers should expect.
Really? Is his offensive game more or less horrendous than Przybilla’s? The guy put up 9 and 7 – in twenty minutes. Joel has never scored over 7 points a game. Oh, and he’s only 21.
While I’ll admit his game needs improvement, comparing him to Erick Dampier at this point of his carrer is jumping the gun a bit.
It’s not jumping the gun, Erik. Oden has already matched Dampier and this year he will surpass him.
Why call it a jump hook? He doesn’t jump and it doesn’t hook. He shoots it from his shoulder. Jason Quick has written about Oden’s super sweaty hands and how Oden actually uses a sort of stick-em for basketball players. I wonder if that’s why he’s a chronic fumbler.
While I understand everyone’s pre-occupation with whether he has improved physically, I think the real core issue will be where Oden is at mentally.
His rookie season was the first in his life where he wasn’t the star and the go to guy on his team. It was the first time he really struggled at times on both end of the floor. It was the first time he was very far away from home and his loved ones. It was probably also the first time he has had to deal with such expectations and criticism all at once.
Keep in mind he also had to undergo microfracture surgery, which is also a huge mental game in and of itself…
That’s alot of heavy transitions for anyone let alone a kid who just turned 21
At this point I am more concerned with where Greg is at mentally. The mind and our perceptions are very powerful things, and I think it will be key for Greg this upcoming season. He can take alot of pressure off of himself if he looks after himself mentally and emotionally.
I love this kid’s determination. The fact that he wants to do so well for us speaks volumes about his character
Looking forward to the season, and I think Oden is too
If Oden can continue to improve his defense and play more minutes and LMA can learn to attack the basket more the Blazers will be in good shape. I cringe every time Oden trys a “jump hook”. I think the Blazers have a good mix of talent.
What a big shock, that the Odenites are still peering through their Odencolored glasses and grasping at straws…. Maybe if the Odenites would actually pay attention to what the bball coaching pro’s are saying about Oden,instead of the fantasy world they are living in, they would not be so dissappointed this upcoming season…..
Lets face it — he’s no Luke Longly.
Maybe us “Odenites” are looking at him as a solid defensive presence in the middle. He is big and strong enough to keep other teams honest.
His biggest problem was getting fouls called. If he can actually stay on the court he will be all we need. We have a team of scorers, we don’t need a ball hog at center.
Not to complain. Wait, I guess I am going to complain. That wasn’t much of a breakdown from sources on Oden. I guess Casey Holdahl’s videos did pretty much show what there was to see on Oden. He’s moving better, in better overall shape, running faster and still has a long way to go. I guess he’s still not going to beat out Durant for that scoring title any time soon. Fair enough. Why don’t we all just take a breath and let Oden be what he’s going to be and focus on what’s really important. Dwight how about breaking down the new Blazer Dancers next !
What I got from the video is pretty clear evidence that Brook Lopez is A WHOLE LOT BETTER than Oden. Moves better. Defends better. Shoots better. Has better hands. Looks bigger and stronger (althought I’m not sure that’s true). He just looks like a lot better basketball player.
Lopez is a better scorer and more polished offensively. Oden is, and will always be, a better defender than Lopez.
There are a lot of armchair coaches who forget that defensive prowess doesn’t always show in the box score, and only idiots think Basketball is strictly and offensive game.
Better DEFENDER!!!??? What a joke!! Are you kidding?? Oden can’t stay on the court for five minutes at a time without getting in foul trouble. That’s not being a good defender…it’s being a clumsy, out-of-position defender.
Yes, better defender, without a doubt. Duh, Barry, get with it.
Same video, different opinion.
I saw Greg stripped once of an offensive rebound; I saw Lopez stripped twice on offensive moves. I saw Lopez beat Greg once at the rim for a three point play, but I did not see him get one offensive rebound. I counted two for Greg. With the one exception noted above, Greg contained Lopez in the post on the two series they showed.
But if that is WHOLE LOT BETTER in your mind, so be it, but it seems a little hysterical
The Odenites are getting to the point of having egg on their faces in regards to Oden…. The truth is finally coming out about Oden.
What truth??? That he’s horrible?
I agree about the mislabeled “jump hook”. I think we should call it the “sideways shoulder throw”.
That shot is ugh bugly. First there was the sky hook then there was the Ugh Bugly hook. If that’s the best the coaching staff can get outa that … DEFENSE!DEFENSE!
He might only be a Bill Russell? Um, sold! I’ll take it, thanks. Eleven championship rings and five finals MVPs are acceptable.
Or an athletic Dikembe Mutombo who can dunk on people. To that I’ll echo your “sold!”
Hey Dwight, aren’t you the guy who was chief proponent (or maybe that was whiner) about the blazers not force feeding Greg in the post nearly often enough last year? I love Oden and think he will be a major factor on this team but it’s been painfully obvious that he’s not yet, and may never be, ready to be a focal point of the offense. Lobs? Sure. Put backs, pick and rolls to the hoop for dunks? Sure. The occasional iso on the low block even. But spending a bunch of time trying to pound the ball inside to him at this point is not the recipe for winning games.
I get the feeling that its like his timing chain and gears are just not quick matching up, maybe more like the “chirping” my tires do on pavement when my Rover’s differential is locked. Just a little herky-jerky slight hesitation… but it doesn’t feel right and causes chin-dribbling if your not paying attention when drinking,
BUT
that doesn’t mean I’m ready to dump the old dog and it will always ride like that. A little shop work, more appropriate usage and the depth of performance capacity shines through.
I just keep remembering a few games at the end of the season and a few time during the playoffs when Greg DID start to show an offensive game and scored several times going to the hoop.
What is going on? Its the difference between dumping him a pass in the low post and watching him go one-on-one in a power move vs. what Andre will bring more of… feeding him the ball in movement in a place he can best score.
Maybe its hope talking, but I see something else than the critics. I remember that feeling about “The Kid” and then they wasted his youth. Oden just needs more squats and playing time to get his jump and timing back. I’m glad KP won’t quit on him. Now, if Nate would just let him play some and forget the fouls – who cares if he fouls out at the start of the season – let him play and learn, and get his timing back.
Greg Oden is the BlazersEdge! You’ll see…
Oden needs to attend a big man camp or something. Stop having the Blazers personnel baby his butt and spin to the media how much he has improved. I saw the USAB video and he looks heavy. Always the last guy down the court on defense/offense. He needs to shed about 20 pounds and get back some explosiveness if he plans to stay out of foul trouble next season. That would probably take some pressure off his surgically repaired kneeds too. His hook shot is still straight up fugly and needs a lot of work.
I suspect I’ll be making my decision about Oden vs Durant toward the end of next season–he should be fully over his surgery by then.
I will say this right now about Durant–the more I see him the more it’s evident that he’s really really good already and he’s also a very young man.
In the next few years we’ll know more. Until then, try to enjoy the ride of both these players.
And I suspect that about next year I’ll make my final decision on whether or not the Blazers should have drafted Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan.
By then, Sam’s injured leg should have fully healed and we’ll be able to make a fairer, better determination as to whether or not he was the best player to select.
Barry,
Leave the sarcasm to those who know how to use it.
Oden doesn’t have 1/4 the skills of Sam Bowie and that is a fact. Greg is a very low skilled big man that has proven to be extremely injury prone throughout both his college and pro careers. Again, another fact.
Sam was a very skilled player. I’m not sure Dwight Howard has 1/4 of his skills, if all we’re doing tonight is measuring skills.
As I correctly posted in here 8 months ago, Greg Oden is a bust and he will never live up to what the fans were told he was going to be. Kevin Pritchard screwed up the pick and the gap between Durant and Oden will continue to get wider in 2009/2010.
I have to say, I’m really disappointed at the quality of the posts on here today. A bunch of jerks, shallow-thinkers, attention whores, and brats.
As for Oden, of he can keep finishing dunks, rebound, etc, he’ll score 13-15 a game and that will be plenty.
I’m curious: are the same people calling Oden a bust those who also say we can’t give up on Bayless because he’s a lottery pick?
Bayless is horrible, but he wasn’t a #1 pick either.
LOL Franklin, at least you’re consistent, I’ll give you that.
Brian Grant as big man coach? why not?
Dwight when Oden came out of college, did you think he was going to be an offensive force? Did you ever even WATCH him in college?
If he can stay on the floor he gets 10+ rebs a game, blocks a few shots, and clogs up the middle.
That’s all we need from the guy.
You know who else has no offensive game to speak of? Dwight Howard, who just took his team to the NBA Finals.
Chris has got it. Franklin is still talking about facts that he doesn’t have and Barry needs a better understanding of time–what is past and what is still developing.