"...And the fifth best team is the Portland Trail Blazers. Although I have not looked at all rookies, Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez look to be on pace to be the primary contenders for Most Productive Rookie award. Currently Fernandez has produced more wins. Oden, though, has the higher WP48 and should eventually have a higher Wins Produced (if he stays healthy). I should note that Oden’s productivity has been obscured by the outstanding play of Joel Przybilla. And I should also note that Portland employs six players with WP48 marks that are above average. None of these, though, are named LaMarcus Aldridge..."

The Wages of Wins Journal has some interesting thoughts on the early season. Regarding the Blazers-- it is well known that Wages of Wins gives a TON of weight to rebounds, which helps explain why it loves Joel and Oden, and hates LMA. However, I think its clear that to be a player we can consistently count on, LMA needs to up his FG% and his rebounds. I'm not sure who the 6 Blazers playing above average by this metric are, but I am 99% sure 4 of them are Roy, Joel, Oden, and Rudy. My guess is that the other two are Blake and Batum. (Win Scores hates low rebound, low True Shooting % guys like LMA, Frye, and Trout-- but I'm not sure how it feels about Sergio).