I shouldn't be, but I am mildly surprised at Joel's numbers so far this year. Many expected his productivity  - along with his minues - to drop because of Oden's presence. Neither has happened. Joel is a model of consistency. Everyone has an off night at times, but Joel doesn't have too many.

Joel's scoring pace increased from last year (4.8 to 6.1), and his rebounding (8.4 to 8.2) and blocks(1.3 to 1.2)  are virtually identical. His steal rate has increased and his turnover rate has decreased. These last have minimal impact because they are not Joel's forte. Increasing steals from 0.2 to 0.4 double the rate. Nice, but still not like going from 2 to 4 steals. Then we can't forget about his 75% FG accuracy so far. I expect that it might not be that high at the end of the season, but there is no reason to believe it couldn't stay in the 60-70% range. Joel's FT percentage has remained relatively high as compared to earlier seasons except last year. It looks like the FT work has paid off.

Joe'ls minutes have remained steady because Oden is still developing slowly, and now the center position is more clearly defined with Oden and Przybilla. Frye and Aldridge are no longer needed at center, "small ball" aside.

I wonder if other teams take Joel lightly. If I were scouting the Blazer's, I wouldn't overlook his defense (rebounding and shot blocking). He rotates well and gets down the court. While others get the highlights, Joel is my current MVP (in a metaphorical sense). Yes, and he does those things (like setting picks) that don't show up on the stat sheet.