that is exactly right on. We also have a week spot on our schedule that should really help Greg “appear” as though he is developing faster than he may be.

Greg will be a lot quicker and better this time next year and is coming along fine

is this fanpost productive or counter-productive for Oden’s cause? :P

It’s only when the expectations drop away that you can look at the effort and the results and see what has been there all along.

Have you noticed that nobody on the Blazers draws more fouls than Oden? He doesn’t always get to the line on them, since many of them are either before the shot, just trying to keep him off the post or off the boards.

People underestimate the effect of drawing fouls. It gets us into the penalty. It changes opposing team rotations. It can even force defensive changes which lead to mismatches for other players.

Oden must have drawn 3-4 fouls last night.

If we can just get our other players to start learning how to feed him when he flashes WIDE open in the paint, we can get at least 2-3 baskets from him each game.

I have gone from wincing when he got the ball in the post, to yelling at the tv to feed him the ball when we are jacking up jumpers. He really has shown some nice progress.

If you were Greg and playing for the OK[insert your word] team?

Are his commercials on Comcast Sports Net for the car dealership where his voice gets really high

you’re totally right. the funny thing is, now that he is below the radar and still improving and becoming more confident and consistent each game, those expectations will return. how will he handle them the 2nd time around?

Anyone see the elevation he got on that dunk in the GS game, his head was very near the rim and he was flat-footed!

He’ll be just fine, offensively he’s already what I expected, probably more actually. Oden has also been a MONSTER on the boards for us. All he needs to do now is learn. Learn to stay straight up, learn the ins and outs of shot blocking in the pros and most importantly LEARN his defensive rotations to the point where they’re instinct.

If he was any other rookie center, we’d be very happy with what he’s shown us. The early indications are that he may not be an all time great (although he certainly still has a shot to reach that level), but at a minimum he’s going to be a very solid player in this league.

Javale McGee that’s for sure!

j/k

I completely agree. The last few weeks have been incredibly encouraging, I think far too many fans expected him to be a finished product after one year of college and major surgery. If anything, he’s ahead of where I thought he would be at this point in the year.

That was a pretty obvious flaw of his game early on, now it has almost completely disappeared. He might miss the hook, but at least he gets it up and doesn’t turn it over.

If he brings the power moves, it’s gonna be dunk city.

My one pet peeve about the post (warning grammar police):

From dictionary.com:

Usage Note: Snuck is an Americanism first introduced in the 19th century as a nonstandard regional variant of sneaked. Widespread use of snuck has become more common with every generation. It is now used by educated speakers in all regions. Formal written English is more conservative than other varieties, of course, and here snuck still meets with much resistance. Many writers and editors have a lingering unease about the form, particularly if they recall its nonstandard origins. And 67 percent of the Usage Panel disapproved of snuck in our 1988 survey. Nevertheless, an examination of recent sources shows that snuck is sneaking up on sneaked. Snuck was almost 20 percent more common in newspaper articles published in 1995 than it was in 1985. Snuck also appears in the work of many respected columnists and authors: “He ran up huge hotel bills and then snuck out without paying” (George Stade). “He had snuck away from camp with a cabinmate” (Anne Tyler). “I ducked down behind the paperbacks and snuck out” (Garrison Keillor).

I agree he’s becoming more solid. However, he’s spent most of the last half-dozen games on the bench in foul trouble. Against non-elite frontcourts, he seems to be finding himself for sure.

Blazers ball. Jumper goes up and hits the back iron, sending it high into the air. Oden is in the vicinity as are two Warriors. All three jump for the rebound and the ball caroms and ends up in a no man’s land near the baseline 13 feet away from the hoop. Both Warriors end up closest to the ball, but Oden takes the initiative and flashes around to grab the loose ball. He then dices his way through both Warriors with fast and fluid footwork en route to a close range bucket.

I rewound (can you really “rewind” DVR? I don’t even know what you’d call that…) and watched in sheer delight 3 times. This kid will be a gamer.

Amare Stoudemire took a year after the surgery to become close to his old self. so I look at this season for him as a extended summer league and exhibition. on top of that he is 20. Dwight Howard had to take his lumps a few years to. he way I look at it I am seeing the slow birth of a star. just like Chicago natives saw the birth of M.J. (that didn’t happen over night). all Shaquille O’Neal could do his first couple of seasons was brake a back board , grab a few loose boards and foul. I say put the stopper back in the barrel and let this vintage of grapes age to a fine wine.

Hello: he’s freaking GREG ODEN!! There’s a REASON they called it the “Greg Oden Draft.” We’re still only seeing the tip of the iceberg; there’s plenty yet to come. GO is EXACTLY what the Blazers have needed. All the rust, nerves, poor conditioning, and rookie adjusting shouldn’t have been sufficient to obscure that. That is, if you used your eyes and a little imagination.

BTW, having Przy on hand to mentor and back up GO is a dream. The last team I rooted for that had two legitimate, defensive-minded 7-foot centers (the Golden State Warriors back in ’75, I believe it was) won a championship. And the combo of GO and Przy is considerably better than George Johnson & Clifford Ray.

game last night when Rudy missed the 3, Greg got the offensive board above his head and finished without bringing the ball back down. (see DMKPDX vid in fanshots) Very nice improvement. Plus, he is getting deeper post position and starting to use his left hand more.

What can I say? I agree with everything within this post. I have only one unmentioned concern that really isn’t a concern. With the development of Oden, we have seen more and more of the total package, in slowly more and more flashes. As a Blazer fan I’m happy about this. But one thing I’d like to see at some point, is a little more proof that Oden has “got it” mentally. Seemed to me early in this season, and relatively recently that Oden underachieved in big games. The TNT televised “Shaq” matchups, I want to see a pressure packed, big game, against a challenging rival with a perhaps a dominating center that Oden is going against and I want to see Oden handle it. Then I think I can relax and say, he’s got the whole package it’s just a matter of time. Slowly Oden is physically playing better, and that is leading to a better attitude, steadily improving attitude, on the court and off the court. Perhaps that’s the only flash I need to see before the season ends. Am I reapplying pressure to Oden? Yes. Now I want him to prove to me he can handle it.

Greg seems to be playing A LOT better against teams the second time he sees them. Couple of reasons I think for this:

1. He feels more comfortable about what type of defense he is going to see (floppers, bangers, straight up, fronts, etc.)

2. Once his “mind” is able to shut off because he knows what he is going to get, he is able to just let his body take over and his physical abilities dominate

3. As the season progresses he is getting more used to making quick decisions and just going (instead of trying to think. BTW Legler on ESPN made some great comments about this the other day after the Bulls game). Also B-Roy is quoted as saying a couple times, that Greg’s mind controls his play and once he gets used to making quick decisions, physically he will really start to dominate

Time people, he just needs time.