Good post.

Offense will come in time. Work on something now that could have an impact on the game. REBOUND. Agreed. Rebounding is a mentality, ask Dennis Rodman.

The development of Greg Oden is key to our franchise sustainable success. But let’s be patient with him. He hasn’t played basketball in over a year. He is a big guy, with athletic skills, but will take time to get the feel back. Ask Amare Stoudimire.

I do like the fact he has noticably trimmed down. Coach Mac must of got a hold of the Chipotle pic.:) And KP the intelligent guy he is must of got him a personal chef, and nutrionist. Trust me KP it’s worth the investment. Ask Stanley Roberts.

I didn’t agree with what I read on Bill Simmons and what I heard on Cowherd today. First of all first impressions are not everything. And if you want to argue with that, my first impression of Greg Oden was the preseason Sac game. And he looked awfully good.

Second of all we are saying Rudy is a star, but not downplaying Oden’s ablilities and potential. Oden will be a star. I believe in that.

Give Greg Oden time (maybe 10-15 games) to get some runs in, and he’ll be a different player than he is now. Give a him another year (injury free knock on wood), and he will be a star.

Welcome your thoughts.
Jimmie

I have to tell you though. I’m being cautiously optimistic with Greg. He really seems like a deer in headlights right now. Ultimitely, I’m giving him 3 months. If we’re still making excuses for him in 3 months, then we have a problem! By then he should be in full game shape and comfortable on the court, on national television, against the biggest baddest teams in the league. I’m tired of the extremes (Brian Wheeler and Mike Barret’s “Oden looks like a beast in practice”, and Gavin and CIP’s “Oden’s a bust” talk)… I have to say that out of the radio guys in town, Canzano has been the most right on in his evaluation.

How long has he been back practicing full speed from surgery? Not only has he taken a year off, he hasn’t put any time against the caliber competition he’s playing against … ever. It’s a whole new level of basketball, starting from scratch, after major surgery.

We have no idea what to expect, and we have the perfect team for him to move forward at whatever pace is best.

Rebounding is a great element for Greg to work on. And if the occasional offensive rebound ends in a monster dunk that would be OK, or tossing it to Blake or Rudy in the corner for a three.

he will be fine, and I think in Feb-Mar we will all be looking back on this and saying: “remember when we were so worried about Greg”

Although endurance and rebounding will probably come at the roughly the same time. I want to see Oden in shape and active. He could probably lose of few more pounds as well.

That rebound dunk he had was awesome. The blocked shots.

I agree with this post, he should concentrate on rebounded and I think his offense and shot blocking will just naturally happen has he develops his placement and movement on the floor. If he can provide 10 and 10 in 25 minutes fairly consistently I would be happy.

I also think he needs to be coming off the bench behind Joel for at least half a season, if not longer. He needs confidence, which will come with playing time, which will increase his conditioning.

I guess I’m not as freaked out by the fact that dude is rookie center fresh off surgery. I have similar thoughts about bayless. I can’t wait to see that guy on the floor more…

i absolutely 100 percent agree that rebounding (followed by the defensive positioning) should be the focus points for greg. simplifying the game is the right approach. this becomes more evident every time he has the ball in his hands.

greg’s progress in rebounding should mirror his mental progress. as he becomes more comfortable in the spotlight and with his body, the rebounds should add up. right now, the aggression that he needs to be a rebounding force is simply not there. i’ve yet to seen it. he is as passive as someone his size can be — on and off the court.

not even in the preseason games in which he played his best ball did we see any consistent, dominant aggression. that aggression is mental as much as physical. rebounding is about confidence and risk-taking. for those reasons, i suspect it will be awhile until he is where we want him to be on the glass.

when it comes to boxing out, the one nitpick i have is that he doesn’t always get his shoulders square to the basket so that he is wide and taking up more of the room where rebounds are likely to fall and so that he is taking full advantage of his long arms. this might be a timing issue or simply a positioning issue or just part of the NBA learning curve.

(1) Size — which Oden has in A+ quantity.

(2) Physicalisty — again, Oden seemingly has the ability to make his body do stuff.

(3) Technique — He’s played so little, I don’t think anything more than “the jury is still out” could possibly be regarded as accurate at this point… Although I did see some REALLY massive boxouts during his limited time in the Miami game.

(4) Desire — and this is the BIG question mark for Oden. To be a great rebounder, one must REALLY WANT to be a great rebounder. It is hard work. Watch Pryz work for 10 possessions in a row sometime — he is always scheming, muscling, angling, working to get into position for boards — often, generally, usually, for nothing, when shots go down or the rebounds from long shots fly long… It is PURE DESIRE that puts him in position to be able to use his size, physicality, and technique effectively.

Does Oden have similar desire?

Who knows at this point.

I rather doubt it, just because Przybilla is EXCEPTIONAL in the way he works (and the results he achieves from this work).

t

I just want to tell Dave that this is a great post. That is it. Well done, keep it coming.

     the Blazer coaching staff needs to put in some cross screens
and pin down screens. They could use a smaller guy, ie Blake to
set a cross screen for GO (ala Stockton for Malone, Fisher for Shaq).
This will help Greg in his ability to move, getting true low post position
and help him improve his offensive rebounding. While the cross screens
will help on the offense, the increased confidence in footwork in the
paint will definately help his D rebounding.
     Keep working hard BIG man !

     COINCAST SUCKS !!! SOMEBODY SIGN A DEAL ALREADY !!!!

GO has played approximately 29 NBA game minutes. How in the heck can we judge him after playing just 29 minutes? He got one post-up last night and traveled yet finished nicely. Give him ten post-ups in a game and then judge his offensive play. In preseason he showed a nice little jump hook while rolling to the basket. Rebounds and defense are not a problem for him. He has some offensive skills that will show as he plays himself into shape. You can bet after his first double double comes he’ll be starting and Pryz will be coming off the bench.

He needs one good task to go after that he can focus on, letting all the others just happen over time. Focusing on the one thing will take the overwhelming feeling away a bit. Even Travis, several seasons in, had to refocus on just rebounds. He did that the past few nights and the rest of the game seems to be falling into place (thanks momma Outlaw).
I do, believe in Greg, he’s shown a lot of promise. Right now he’s coming in after microfacture surgery, a year of hype, and the ankle. He’s played less than half a game. Adjustments will need time.

Checkout Quick’s evaluation for what amounts to another much needed reassurance that Oden will become the piece we need:

I think the novelty, pressure, and attention will wear off over time and that will be his coming out. We need some low-key matchups for him and some time and the mental pressure will release. This is over a year of added pressure coupled with major surgery and rehab and too much time for the brain. He just needs minutes. It will come. Having one focus to start with like defensive rebounding will help clear it up as well.

~Z

When he gets his conditioning back, the rebounding, blocked shots, and help defense will fall into place naturally (especially with the emotional chip on his shoulder after being out for so long).

I think he needs to work on his offense first, because without that, he’ll just stifle the team’s offense in the same way that Pryzbilla does.

And when Greg Oden has his first monster game, we WILL look back at tonight
and know that this tentative first full game was crucial in setting up his inevitable breakout.
He has to get a certain number of games (1? 3? 7?) out of the way for experience’s sake,
to get a knowing comfort zone to his in-game play, before he can truly be unleashed.

This game, and probably more like it, must happen now so that they can STOP happening as soon as possible.

I stand by those comments now more than ever, after reading this post.

First off, great post, Dave.

I agree 100% with you and everyone else who is and has been saying that Greg just needs to play more games. The kid just needs some games on him and real-NBA experience will go miles in his development. He is in a great situation to develop at his own pace on a deep and talented roster that will afford him that luxury. Are there grand expectations for him to produce? Undoubtedly. He’s a #1 pick. But the general fan savior mentality needs to stop (for now).

It is clear that Oden is not going to come out and destroy the opposition in his current incarnation. After his first game ended in injury, getting through his second game injury-free was a step in the right direction. Granted, if he came out and started laying waste to every five in the league, that’d be great. But realistically, we’re most likely going to see Greg develop slowly over the course of this entire season. Effective rebounding is a cornerstone of every big man’s resume and will make for a solid foundation from which the rest of his game can develop.

This would definitely be forward progress in the evolution of Greg.

82 games in a season. Alleviate the unbearable pressure this kid has on him. He needs to get some rebounds, rebounds, and some more rebounds. The rest of the team can take care of everything else.

On another note who would win in a fight Rudy or Godzilla? I got Rudy. He’s fearless.

is not shooting form or rebounding desire. Oden’s problem is footwork. Simply put, he has not developed the nimbleness and technique that Al Jefferson or Tim Duncan have. Oden’s feet seem to get in the way even when he makes a good move.

The good news is that Yao didn’t seem to have good footwork when he came into the league either and he has developed that. It’s something that can be learned.

read ESPN for weeks now. If Greg Oden does amazing they will just say it was one game, if he sucks they will say he is trash and a bust. I just want to watch the games and not think about it anymore.

Oden has just finished employee orientation and he’s only been on the job two days. I didn’t even have a badge to get into the building on my second day on the job, and dang sure wasn’t expected to Bill Brasky with two days experience.

and know he has a bright future. Sure, for now it might be rebounds, providing a defensive presence, but there is some real potential for an improved post game. As someone pointed out above, he did have a nice finish on the traveling call, so there was some improvement…but I would argue there will be more based on the Aldridge arc.

 Aldridge had, by most accounts, a fairly marginal post-up game. Some time working with Maurice Lucas and now he has an above average post game. Oden can take the same route. Lucas can help him with his footwork and show him possibilities. From everything I have seen and heard, Oden has a tremendous work ethic. Put those factors together and there is the potential he could become a decent to good scorer inside.

The best part is, any offense he gives the Blazers is basically pure icing. He already changes the game defensively as all of us saw at Miami. It is no longer “Joel goes out, the opponent goes inside”, so he is already pulling his weight.

The real test will be on us, the fans, and the media; lay off the poor guy, he is only what…20? Stop riding him. Portland Sports talk, I am looking in your general direction. How about a little positive stuff, eh?

Oh man his comments about Oden yesterday got me fired up! I don’t know what Colin has against Oden. I do appreciate that Colin tends to ignore hype and try to look at things more realistically and objectively. I strive to do the same thing. However, Colin makes it sound like we think he is going to be Shaq or Kareem, and I think we are all informed enough to realize that Oden is on track to be a monster defensive center who gets lots of power dunks on putbacks. He mentioned that you can tell alot about a player based on first impressions. I agree, Colin. When he played in Miami he completely changed the game by just being in there. Open shots came from the Heat double-teaming him when he got the ball in the post. He didn’t even have to score but it lead to open shots for other players. Rebounding: He is a huge body that takes boards that would otherwise be nabbed by the other team if he wasn’t in there. Colin just mentions that he had 2 points. Colin should realize that we don’t see him as an offensive player and we don’t need him to be! We need him to do what he does! We have scorers. Besides, he will get plenty of dunks off of pick and rolls and putbacks. Oden is perfect for us and will be the center we need to be a contender. If we wanted somebody who could go out and score 20 points per game, we would have drafted Durant. Well, lucky for us, Pritchard is in charge of drafting, not Colin Cowherd.

I feel better now!