Economist and “Mathletics” author Wayne Winston, on his blog: “Again we are so sorry to see Greg Oden suffer another season ending knee injury. The Blazers should be ok without him, however. The key to the Blazers success are the minutes with [Steve] Blake, [Andre] Miller and [Brandon] Roy on the court. Whether Oden is in or out the Blazers play 21 points better than average with these three guys in. The rest of the time the Blazers play only one point better than average.” Worth pointing out, the Blazers started that lineup for a stretch of games when they played weak opponents, although Winston’s numbers account for oppostion.

That nugget in there about playing 21 points better with the 3 guard lineup is interesting. I wonder what the 3 guard lineup can do without Oden in the lineup though…