The Season in Review: Greg Oden

but Greg’s numbers are comparable to Howard’s rookie year if taken to 32 min avg. I’m really excited to see where Greg is in a year or two. If he just steadily improves, continuing to do what he did this season, the sky is the limit for this team.

I hope he’s able to regain some explosiveness. More important, though, is for him to learn to stop committing stupid fouls. Please learn to defend the pick and roll without bumping a guard as he trys to cut him off— Greg, just go block the shot at the rim— you aren’t quick enough to cut off Aaron Brooks. If Nate is telling him to do this, someone please get Nate to stop.

Watching Oden on offense in the playoffs was pretty tough. He looked so awkward and clumsy. The player at Ohio State was raw, but he was much less awkward. I’m concerned about that. Greg needs to work on his post game a ton this summer.

Overall though, Greg’s offense was more or less as expected— or even better, due to the excellent offensive rebounding. His defense was a substantial disappointment though (suffers here from high expectations, since he was billed as an immediate impact guy on that end of the floor)— he rarely felt like a game changing presence (though he did have his moments) and the great shotblocker I expected never materialized.

This is a crucial summer for Greg. He needs to be in the gym a ton. I think we’ll know fairly early next season whether or not he’s regained more athleticism post-microfracture. Even if he doesn’t get any more back, he can still be a very good NBA center if he can manage to stay on the floor. Fingers crossed for that.

Couldn’t keep my eyes off him. Whenever he had to go out of the game I was upset. I am glad he finally saw the court this year even though his minutes were limited. Would be completely content to see Greg do just one thing and that is learn to move his feet, and limit his fouls. Everything else, like offense and rebounding will naturally improve just by him staying on the court. A couple back to the basket moves are gravy and will come all on their own…

Even though this team does need to run more plays for GO next year. I don’t want teams to slack off him because they know he wont be getting the ball. Got to get the big fellow involved more.

that Oden would make the all-star team and be rookie of the year. These were the reports coming out of camp but we only saw the reason why someone would make theses claims in glimpses during the season.

I believe that he can be a dominant force. As bad as he was at times he still commanded so much attention and gave the Blazers an impact player. I find myself watching him the whole time he is on the court.

His jump hook looks awkward but he can still get it off when he learns how to get himself free. I imagine him being able to make that with consistency

The sky is the limit for Greg but it will be up to him to determine how high the sky is for him. (oh, and the other players could look to give him the rock more)

I think a slightly slimmed down with 90-95% of his old explosiveness is going to be a sight next year. I think the combination of the two things I listed, plus basketball continuity over the summer will alleviate most of Greg’s problems, namely, foul rate, basketball endurance, general awkwardness and rust. He’s still going to be raw on the offensive end, but he’ll be our legitimate starting center next season.

I think 12, 10, 1.5 is the baseline for next season. I think he’ll struggle a little bit early as he gets (re)used to playing against full sized NBA guys after the summer of just training, but I don’t think it’ll take long before we think it’s odd when Greg gets in foul trouble and isn’t putting up a double double.

I remain mystified that even some folks who should know better (like Charles Barkley) can’t see what this guy is going to turn into. He’s a 21-year-old monster-in-the-making. All the ingredients are there. All GO needs is time and training.

Having said all that, I DO hope that GO takes full advantage of this off-season to work on his game and his conditioning. Going home for awhile seems the right move to clear his head and recharge his batteries. But I hope GO doesn’t linger back in Ohio.

BTW, I agree with the Courtside guys that Steve Johnson might be an ideal guy to work with GO. He certainly impressed me during the recent Blazers broadcast when he demonstrated post moves to Michael Holton. Johnson lives locally, and as a player he was strong in the areas GO needs work. Plus he seems to have a compatible temperment. (By contrast, Alonzo Mourning—another potential coach who’s been mentioned—seems to me to be too intense to gel with GO.)

The problem with GO is there will be a need to keep a second center around that can start for extended time.

I don’t think Greg is ever going to be a 78 games a year guy. He just doesn’t have the health to do it. He can be a great asset at 30 minutes a game, but never a 40 minute guy.

The question I think is his contract. When his rookie deal expires how much will he cost? If it is low enough I can see Greg being a valuable piece, if it’s too high he’s going to be that guy that kills you when he is hurt.

He needs to work on mobility and defensive awareness, he’s not a sick athlete he’s going to have to make the best of what he’s got. Other than that if he can rebound and dunk the ball he is a good center. I like P-zilla for his rebounding and defense, but he would kill to dunk as much as Oden.

What most peolple are responding to is his ungraceful form of play without only a minute flash here and there. Yes, yes and yes on all the injury, rookie, blah, blah reasons stuff, but in the end he didn’t “look” good out there, even though his numbers were serviceable. It’s hard to imagine the improvement everyone seems to think is inevitable without an improvement of how they “look” on the floor.

and you play the slowest paced offense in the league, and shoot a ton o’ jumpshots, you might want to hold on to him.

Obviously, like the rest of us, I hope he works on his footwork. In the post, he looks off balance 77% of the time.

But really, I hope we don’t rely on dumping it into the post and watching Greg play, it’s just not his game, never has been. The team needs to work on ways to throw lobs to Greg, get the ball to him on the P n’ R and watch for him as he cuts across the lane. We can’t continue to plop him on the block and watch him throw up that off balance jump hook.

Slow down on the bulk-up! There is a reason that NBA players don’t use steroids,( not saying that he did ) but his body changed, he slowed down and lost a great deal of quickness, which was a big part of the foul problem. The switches on defence that left him at the top of the key covering a gaurd were hard to watch. I’m not sure if that was on Nate, but that was a foul every time.

which surprised me a little because I’m often pessimistic. But his results weren’t super far off from my predictions. He fouled more often than I thought he would. But overall, I was ecstatic about how well the team did when Greg was able to play significant minutes. The Oden affect was pretty hard to deny and bodes well for the future.

But Greg’s passion for the game has always been suspect to me and he’s done nothing so far to allay my fears.

He needs to do what it takes this off season to finally get in cardio-vascular shape. It’s obvious he likes to build up his muscles but he needs to do more than that.

Work hard this summer Greg. We need you in full body and mind to help lead our team to the promised land …. our second championship.

like it was said above, I think J Quick really inflated what I should of expected. Also, the hype, first-pick status, the longing for him to play after his absence last year were part of it too.

I kept going back and forth on this. I really wanted him to succeed. People who just say anyone who wasn’t pleased with Oden this year is just a hater really kill me, because I wanted it just as bad as anyone else.

If I had to lean one way or another, I’d say that while I was hoping for dominance and really was disappointed in that category, it was a successful season. I wouldn’t have said that if it wasn’t for those charts that were posted on BE after we lost to the Rockets that showed how positively GO affected this team. I can’t wait for next year.

I think it’s reasonable to expect 25 points, 20 rebounds, 15 assists, and 10 blocks a night. One thing I’m really proud of Oden this year, is that he did not foul out of many games if any.

One thing I don’t get is how Dave said Oden’s rebounding rate is better than Joel’s and Howard’s but their number is higher than Oden’s.

I was only disappointed that he couldn’t/wouldn’t stop fouling guards on switches…JUST GIVE UP THE JUMPER AND CONTEST!!!

But other than that I was happy. If/when he gets the fouling under control it will become VERY obvious as there will be a 10 game stretch where he gets 5+ blocks from teams continuing to attack him for the foul. After that you’ll see a decrease, he’ll be like a shut-down corner stopping points in the paint from even being attempted!

I have also never seen such a physically dominant rebounder, a guy who has size + length + desire. He would own half the paint boxing out 2 men, but be too tired to sprint down court. He really could be something special, and to some extent already is.

I think too much gets made about his offense. I doubt he will ever be a technically sound scorer like Yao, and I’m not sure the shots will be there for him. Just look for him in the pick and roll and lob passes over a cheating defense and I’m happy. It would be great to see post moves start to develop, but I think getting his FT% up is more important to the team right now. Just let Aldridge and Roy carry the load with the occasional Rudy and Blake point explosion.

Oden really needs to work on ball security. His terribly weak grip for a big man led to a lot of fumbles and turnovers.

Oden:
Conditioning… Not gonna lie, I was excited when Oden spent his year off lifting weights the entire time, but it looks like Oden might be better off playing with a smaller frame. He looks better at 275lbs than at 295lbs and certainly better than the 315lbs that he was at in Training Camp.
Lateral Quickness: Everyone knows that Greg had a problem reacting late on dribble penetration which caused him to rack up a lot of blocking fouls. He does need to work on his defensive positioning so that those blocking fouls become charges.
Post Moves: This isn’t necessary for next season, but if Oden is to become the players that we hope for him to be, he needs to work on his post moves and touch around the rim.

The Team:
Perimeter Defense:
While Oden is slow getting into position, a lot of his blocking fouls could be avoided if guards played solid defense on the perimeter. So many times our PG’s could fight through picks leaving Oden defending an opposing PG 22’ from the basket. We need perimeter players to step up their defense to limit the times Oden is defending guards.
Use Oden in the PNR:
I understand that Oden is young and it is important to develop a post game, but it is also important to develop confidence. The team fed Oden the ball in the post despite Oden never really being a back to the basket guy. It is no wonder that he was called for several travels and had problems getting stripped.
Oden is an athletic freak. We should use him like Orlando uses Howard. Throw the ball up near the rim and let the big man go get it and throw it down! Oden looks much better when he gets the ball rolling to the basket as opposed to when he is established on the block. At his size, few people will try drawing fouls when Oden is chugging down the lane with a full head of steam.

GO instead of trying to be a 20&10 guy try to be a 10&20guy!

he would be able to keep his arms up if he slimmed those bad boys down a little, sheesh. I think dropping a few pounds would work wonders for his foot work and overall stamina along with his explosiveness which seemed to become an issue later in the season when he sarted getting rejected by the rim. If he could get that mobility and explosiveness back without dropping the weight I would probably break my neck trying to do a backflip or somthing stupid out of pure happyness.

Oden won’t be bent over by the refs anymore

but am plesently suprised I’m not furious about not getting what I expected.

He’ll be fine. It’ll just take some time.

I didn’t really get to watch any games this year, so fill me in

Lopez is a bit younger, has much less injury history, knows how to say out of foul trouble, has a well-developed post game and a pretty good mid-range jump shot. He’s also a very good shotblocker (was significantly better than Oden this year). The two players had somewhat similar per-minute stats, but Lopez played way more minutes and they achieved those stats in different ways, obviously.

In college, Oden was by far the better athlete and the more dominant player, but Lopez is way ahead in terms of offensive skill. Oden’s the much better rebounder and the more powerful player though.

If I could guarantee Oden would regain his pre-micro athleticism, it would be a no-brainer to keep Oden… but that seems far from guaranteed.

I’m guessing most people here would keep, Oden, and in the end I think I would also. However, I think New Jersey would rather have Lopez— taking on Oden would be a big gamble when you already have the player who (IMO) should have been rookie of the year.

Discuss.

Once again, this is why I always open B Edge B4 the morning paper.

before his Golden State injury. In 10 of those 12 games Greg shot over 60% FG. He averaged 24 minutes, 12 points, 4 offensive and 5 defensive rebounds, 1 block and 2 turnovers. jksnake covered this period slightly differently above but I see it as a clear indication of starting to become dominant. Yes his subsequent injury kept him from regaining this dominance except in short spells but I believe the prognosis to return to this next year and more is reasonable.

Greg cannot be compared to most other players at his position for the simple reason that most were not starting as young as Greg or as inexperienced. Only Dwight Howard seems to fit my recall and Greg’s numbers are certainly comparable to Dwight’s at the same age (Dwight’s 3rd year) and better than Dwight’s rookie year.

But it is not all about numbers. It is about heart and KP is a master in evaluating this factor. Greg has done nothing this year to dissuade me from that trust.

He is not likely to be an all-star next year and does not need to be. It is B-Roy’s team and the accolades for other players will come when the Blazers at least play in the finals. Greg is a key cog in an amazing machine. He will be there.

Oden had the work ethic of Bayless.

He did what I expected to this season, considering his micro surgery. The only thing I really want to see him change is how hard he seems to be on himself. If he can get to the point where he is back to enjoying the game, and comfortable in his skin, I think he will blossom. In fact, if he is not playing in an All-Star game within the next two or three seasons, I will be suprised.

I was happy with Greg Oden’s rookie season. A 7/10 type of happiness.

Expectations — I did expect more from him, I thought he’d be around a double double and more of a defensive presence … but his per minute numbers show he has the double double capability if he can just stay on the floor, and the defensive potential is clearly there. So I’m fairly happy with his performance despite it being below my preseason expectations.

Improvements — I think the most important area for Greg to work on this summer is his defense.

I think this Blazers team is a major contender for the title if Oden can become as good as Przybilla defensively, because his rebounding is phenomenal and his offensive game is already quite good. Oden is not a go-to scorer, or a low post scorer, just yet but if you give him 30+ minutes he’ll bag 13-15ppg and shoot a very high percentage. He’s a monster around the rim, has great hands, and requires a lot of defensive attention. The offensive upgrade from Przybilla to Oden is a massive one, even without Oden showing any development next season on that end of the floor.

Now, to the more negative side of why I think the defense is Oden’s biggest priority. I was unimpressed with Oden’s defensive contributions. I thought he was weak on the pick and rolls defense, was flat footed too often on rotations, he picked a number of idiotic fouls (arms not straight up, silly bumps on guards, trying for steals, trying to block the ball while it’s in the hand of the opponent instead of after the release) and I thought all these weak areas made Oden a poor defender overall. He did have his good points, he was very good as a post defender and a good one-on-one defender.

But that gap, between where he is, and where Joel Przybilla is … it’s simply massive. I think the on court off court stats show it best, when they say the Blazers were 10 points better defensively per 100 possessions when Joel was on the court versus Oden.

So, what I want to see most from Oden is defensive improvement. I think if he shows that improvement, he’ll easily average 12 points and 10 boards a night while being a major defensive influence on a game. I think that’s enough to make Portland a top contender right away. I think that Oden, with the defensive improvement, is a top 5 center in the NBA (only behind Dwight, Duncan and Yao).

I think Oden’s defense is the single biggest impact he could offer next season.

The Following Summer — Then Greg should work on developing his low post game.

The Rebounding — The board work was simply phenomenal. It was a joy to watch him clean glass. Both how prolific he was at grabbing caroms, and brilliant he was at keeping the opposition of the glass. It’s a great feeling to have a guy who’s going to be a top 5 rebounder in the NBA for the next dozen years. I was hugely impressed with his rebounding.