The Oden fix

As time goes on, he’ll learn the nuances of the game and the refereeing. Just play him like we will use him later on. He’s been babied (sp?) enough.

They are pretty tough on rookies. Oden will get better, and the refs will start letting him get away with a little more in the future. It’s just hard to see Greg look so depressed.

the NBA is a tough place.

Young big man comes in with a rep, most smart NBA players will go right at him, and fouls are usually the result. as he learns the NBA game, he will get smarter, i think very highly of him as a player and as a person already, the rest will come, but it may take a season or two.

which would make him all of 22 years old. sounds good to me :)

Now it’s mainly down to learning the players and the refs, I think. That’ll take some time; rookie bigs typically do struggle with foul trouble. Sure, GO is also getting the rookie treatment; the refs have to learn to understand and respect YOUR game when you break in. But I’d say that’s a minor factor in all the fouls GO has been picking up.

Re/ learning the refs, here’s an off-base analogy: from grade school ball(!). I’m sure that a lot of BE readers will be able to relate to this one:

I picked up fouls in bunches(actually my whole team did) when I first started playing games with referees. After awhile, we realized that according to the grade school refs, any time you reached around a dribbler to knock the ball loose, that was a foul. It didn’t matter whether or not you made contact with the dribbler’s hand or body. The call was always the same: foul. (Maybe the logic was that, the quality of grade school dribbling being what it is, no one would ever score a basket if the defense were allowed to poke at players’ dribble!) But anyway, after a game or two, we adjusted.

No doubt GO adjusted to that kind of officiating quirk in AAU ball, again in high school, and again at Ohio State. Now he’s in the NBA, and he’s having to realize what’s considered a foul at that level and conversely what you can get away with. He’s having to break old defensive habits—like reaching down to block shots—in order to adjust. At the same time, he’s learning the differences between how individual refs and officiating crews call games. Plus he’s having to adjust to the generally higher level of speed, strength, size, and quickness of his opponents—as well as learning their individual strengths & weaknesses. One other adjustment GO is having to make: adjusting to the changes in his body since he played last. GO has lost some speed and lateral movement (though he’s getting better by the week), so his body isn’t always reacting as quickly as he’s used to.

GO will make all these adjustments; he’s a smart and talented basketball player. But he’s also a 20-year-old rookie, and there’s some things in life you can’t get around. One of those is the growing pains of becoming an NBA player.

I agree completely. A rookie big man, w/skills, but a lack of experience. Is going to have a huge adjustment period. Add micro-fracture surgery to the equation, and what we are seeing today is amazing! When this kid finds his NBA legs, the rest of the league better look out!!!!!

Bynum looked a bit lost tonight.

Is also the Blazers constant switching on Pick and Rolls. Every time I watch this team, I see Blake trying his hardest to guard a 4/5, and LMA or Oden out on the ball-handler. That is a great way for Oden to pick up fouls, along with any big man. They never switch back or anything. It is honestly kind of depressing.

would have been in favor of employing from the start of the year. but we’re two far along to change now, and he is getting his legs now, so ill think we’ll be fine sooner then later. but i agree, it would have maximised his playing time and sped up his conditioning, and possibly improved his learning curve. but at the cost of how many games?