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Oden: Busted Up But Not a Bust

We're all bummed by Greg's injuries and to a lesser extent his foul problems. The former are hopefully freak and not chronic, and he'll have paid his injury dues and have a number of mostly healthy seasons. The fouls he can improve with experience.

If he can stay on the court, he is one of the best big men in the league.

Last year, of players 6'9" and above playing more than 20 minutes per game and more than 20 games, Oden ranked quite high:

PER #5, behind Bosh, Duncan, Howard, ahead of Dirk, Pau, and Amare

Total Shot %: #1

Effective FG%: #3

Offensive Rebound %: #1 (30% more ORB/minute than Howard)

Defensive Rebound %: #9

Total Rebound %: #3 (behind Camby and Howard)

Block %: #1 (28% more blocks/minute than Howard)

Offensive Rating: #11, ahead of Amare, Dirk, Duncan, and Howard

Defensive Rating: #4, tied with Rasheed, ahead of Camby, Duncan, Noah

So last year, pretty darn good.

Oden has played the equivalent to one season: 82 games (unfortunately over 3 years). Here's how he stacks up against other current big men after their first (approximately) 82 games using PER:

Oden 19.5

Howard 17.2

Durant 15.8

Garnett 15.8

Bosh 15.1

So statistically, for the amount of time he's played on the court, he is playing better than Durant, Howard, Garnett, and Bosh were after an equivalent number of games in the league.

I'd say he's a keeper, and will go on to surpass Howard as the best center in the league. I get outraged at the "bust" label. He's been "busted up," but not a "bust."