Alot of it is just fundamentals, and Greg really hasn’t been playing that long, and hasn’t had great teachers of the game. Three or four years at Ohio State, and he isn’t doing this. A guy his size, could be retarded, and completely dominate high school ball. If I remember, he did get alot of fouls in college… He just needs to be taught, and he needs some time. As frustrating as it is for us to watch, it has to be killing him. But I think he will get there. Until this season, Greg has never played against players, this fast, talented, and smart. They are going to take advantage of him, until he can level the playing field.

Makes it sound like some sort of drinking game for him – do a shot every time Oden is called for a foul.
At least Oden doesn’t mention Joe The Plumber.

But doesn’t get called.

It’s the NBA. He’ll be fouling less next season by default.

I understand that working out and practicing are not the same as being in game condition. But I would have thought that Greg would be in pretty decent shape by now.

I haven’t heard a thing about his knee bothering him. I can understand if he is not trusting it 100%, as having torn up both of mine, I realize the mental reservation is often the most difficult to overcome. But the conditioning thing should be something the team could be workling on. Maybe it’s just a case that you really have to play a lot of minutes in order to be in the necessary shape.

I am wondering what sort of individual coaching he is getting. Still, I plan on being patient. Sooner or later we are going to see a 32 minute, 21 point, 19 rebound, 6 block night out of Greg.

Miss the fifth foul where he elbowed Billups in the throat and knocked the Birdman’s head off his shoulders clear into Melo’s lap. VERRRRY convenient.

Was it just last year or was it a couple years back when it seemed like the Prizzly was bear hugging any player that got into the lane? He was picking up such quick fouls that even tho he was our only quality center (can’t remember if this was with Magloirable or last year when Frye played the 5 at times), he didn’t get much burn. It looked like he was fouling just to get off the court. Was that conditioning? At any rate, Oden’s fouling now looks a lot like that, although he’s reaching and bumping with the body instead of bear hugging. I don’t know why Przy was playing like that, but he shook it off. I think Oden will too. While GO may be the victim of rookie reffing, most of his fouls look obvious and unnecessary.

nice post. +1

I watch him very closely as well and see him using his hands a lot. Anyone notice how effective the defense was when Prz and LMA had the hands stretched up? It caused a miss and a turnover I believe. Thats what EVERYONE needs to do. It creates a wall that is VERY hard to shoot over and puts pressure on the offense.

 +1….Nate needs to get a fix on reality

And get some help developing this guy…Nate is in over his head with all this young talent to tutor…This is what you have when you draft so many young players….The fundamentals are missing because this is what is normally taught in college….The choice is; wait 6 years for this guy to get it (using minutes played as a time table measurement) or get him a big man coach and start drilling the fundamentals…things like positioning, help defense, outlet passes, blocking out and several other fundamentals…..
    I think that patience is something you have to have with this team….but I question what timetable KP and staff are shooting for….I would think that this, being a business, you have to do everything within your means, to get this team to new levels…..right now, they look to be in position to be fighting it out for for the eight spot…..and they are starting to show what level they are at…..progress is slowing (by default), in other words…
 
  It’s not all on Oden’s shoulders, but his development is way behind what I think they would like……Do not like the attitude towards getting this guy where he needs to be….Need to quit babying him along and get a more aggressive approach to his development…..what we have now is another 6 fouls for Przy….(I know this is a bit harsh/blunt, and many will view differently, but what else is happening?)

This team was not built for this year.

Greg has had only 4 years of high school (wasnt he injured) 1 year of college (wasnt he injured) and 2 years of professional (wasnt he injured) exposure. mr oden is no different than martell and travis…he has to learn to play the game..we see mistakes that high school basket ball coaches would bench most people for,,but thats just it he’s not most people…sit back and take the thorns with the roses I declare…I m in dallas so i dont see us as often as i would like but..just be patient… and if you think we arent cocky and confident because gregs in the middle you are mistaken..just him being in uniform probably has given us at least 4 wins.. just sayin

Roy has six years of ball after his freshman year of college and is still improving – dramatically. Pryz has been in the league six or seven years and is still noticeably improving each year.

Oden has about 25 games since his freshman year plus major surgery.

Samuel Dalembert -76’s would be a good addition and Philly could use some of the $29,000,000.00 expiring contracts the TB have to offer. He isn’t fitting in under the new coach and playing time is going down. Joel can’t keep playing 35 to 40 minutes per game. Dalembert is not perfect, but sometimes a new team and a better town, Philly would BOO Santa Claus. Merry Christmas
Scott

He is lacking in basketball smarts and physical conditioning. Combine that with the depressed funk he appears to be in and the result is what we are seeing.

Like Travis, it looks like it will take him a long time to learn the game.

No offense, but I get so tired of hearing the excuse that “he is coming off major surgery ONLY 15 months ago”. His cartilage injury was supposedly small. Everyone points out how long it took Amare to come back from his micro-fracture surgery. But the problem there was he tried to come back too soon, and re-aggravated the injury. The Blazers did not do that with Oden. They took great pains not to bring him back too soon. There’s little doubt that the injury is hampering him somewhat, but I doubt not nearly to the degree that most would like to believe it is.

I think his biggest drawback right now is his lack of BBIQ. He really does so many stupid things.

He is showing some offense, is a willing defender, and a great rebounder.

I like his passing ability and general court awareness.

It will take awhile for him to put it all together. He has to start by not lowering his hands. Half the time, it’s all ball, and they call it anyway. Freaking refs.

Maybe it’s the knee. But whatever it is, he’s really slow.

is inexperience. Whenever I see him play, he rarely seems to be in the right position except when rebounding. He tries to block shots too soon, he gets caught too far out on the perimeter and he looks completely lost on offense. He’ll go to set a pick and then sort of stop halfway in between until Roy or Blake motions him to get out of the way.

I think his inexperience leads to hesitation (overthinking) and that makes him look slower than he really is. The more games he plays, the more experience he’ll get and the better he’ll play. Unfortunately, his inexperience is going to cost the Blazers three or four wins this season. I think it cost them the Dallas game last night, but it’s hard to tell.

He needs to learn to keep his hands straight up when he plays to avoid the ticky-tack fouls that seem to plague him. It doesn’t help that the refs give him rookie status and call fouls accordingly.

He also seems to be trying to live up to his number one draft pick billing. He should realize that he just needs to be fourth or fifth banana on the team after Roy, Aldridge, Rudy and maybe Outlaw. He should take a page out of Przybilla’s book: play tough defense, rebound every shot and clean up garbage around the basket. Don’t worry about channeling your inner Dr. J or Chamberlain. The offense will come with time and Roy and Aldridge deserve most of the shots anyhow.