Comments on: How Nate’s seeing Oden’s development

By: Don

Don — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:13:35 +0000

What does Portland need from Oden? Scoring? Absolutely not! At least not as in a 20ppg performer.

What Portland needs is for him to dominate defensively like he already has proven he can do – at times. He just needs to be more consistent at it. He needs to rebound – which he has already proven he can do. He needs to be a threat down low to score if the other team sends a double team. And he needs to be able to pass to Aldridge, Roy or whoever the open Blazer is.

As far as I can see, Oden is already 80% there when it comes to what Portland needs from him. He’s really not that far away.

By: Rick_Dawg

Rick_Dawg — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:18:10 +0000

Hey have you heard any more about Maurice Lucas and when or if he’ll be returning to the Blazer bench this year? Man I hope so because I think Maurice could really help Greg improve on the little things in his game.

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 06:22:07 +0000

I keep seeing Oden compared to other great NBA centers in their first year. That doesn’t seem relevant at all to me. The comment about the time to recover from MF surgery above gives ample reason for being patient with his development. The other factor is that he comes to the NBA with only one year of college. He’s very young. Compare him with other centers (or other players) who joined the NBA young and you understand the value of being patient and giving him time to develop.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:43:11 +0000

Twiggy,

As someone who has tried guarding Nate Robinson in pick-up games and got to watch him play basketball and football for 4 years, I can tell you he is the most freakishly athletic guy I’ve ever seen. Truly amazing to watch.

I can’t wait to see Oden in a few years when he is in game-shape and learns some new skills. People need to be patient.

By: jwks22

jwks22 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:34:44 +0000

Dwight,
I enjoyed your take on G.O… I get very frustrated at the national media who are so wishy washy when it comes to G.O.. People seem to conveniently forget that the kid had MF surgery. It takes one year of playing an NBA season to get back physically. See Armare and Z-bo. They had bounce back seasons in year two after the surgery. When you combine this with the fact that Greg has barely played any competitive ball against elite players, he’s 20 and he’s got a ton of pressure on him because he was the number one pick, you have a recipe for inconsistency. I think Greg’s biggest obstacle is his confidence. He seems very up and down in this category. When he finally realizes that all he needs to do is go out and play and be patient, he’ll blossom.

By: Luanne53

Luanne53 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:59:05 +0000

Like Luke Jackson said a while back (in reference to Oden) “you can’t teach big.” I agree with you, I think that GO just needs time. I hope that fans will give him some breathing room so he can enjoy himself. Have a yummy holiday! Go
Blazers!

By: twggyy

twggyy — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 02:13:39 +0000

What about nate robinson? That Rudy seems like a pretty thin guy also. I know what your saying, but lets give some hope to the average size young ball players out there! I really enjoy your thoughts on the Blazers. Thanks