FanPost

More Oden highlights

If you're like me, you need an occasional Greg Oden fix to remind yourself why being a Blazer fan is the most fun you can have with your clothes on (not that clothing is at all times required):

This selection of highlights, IMHO, is the best so far, of those readily available on the web; because it shows the "good Oden" -- the clearly dominant Greg from early last season -- that we so rarely get to see in highlights.

It really passes the eye test this time, in that he just looks physically superior to all his opponents, without any of the slowness or clumsiness he had when he first came back from microfracture surgery and was way overweight.

I personally got a very different feeling from it than, say, his rookie mix, and I wanted to see if others got hit the same way by it. If anything, to me he looks even better than the Ohio State Greg, all told (though he is still getting back some of the raw explosiveness he had then).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qd-m1Ju24g

Having said that, even this selection doesn't really do him justice, because it showed mostly dunks; and mostly neglected his much improved post game. But just look at it, basketball fans, and tell me this guy doesn't look scary!


And for the record, I still say Oden over Durant. Having never posted on this topic, and given the time of year, I hope I can be forgiven for beating a dead horse.

If Greg can stay healthy he is a no brainer as a piece of a championship team, one that is going to separate you from other would be contenders, who cannot put anything like him on the floor (except Orlando and maybe Houston. I don't think Bynum is in the class of a healthy Oden. But even if he is, and I just blindly hate the L*kers, at least you are feeling good about the matchup.).

He is ideal for the playoffs format, precisely because it doesn't matter how much teams adjust over a seven game series. Would be contenders are still going to run headlong into the harsh reality of his physical superiority. There will be no way to disguise their vulnerability inside, over the long haul. And if someone else, by chance, has a "superstar" center, at least we can match them effortlessly.

Kevin Durant, on the other hand is "just another superstar"; that almost every contender is going to have one of. In a seven game series you are going to have a little easier time plotting a strategy to neutralize him. And if he isn't scoring for some reason, he is not going to absolutely bury you with the rest of his game, regardless.

Conversely, you just can't neutralize an athletic, seven foot strong man who shuts down the paint, alters all your shots, grabs all the rebounds, and dunks every ball that ends up within his reach around the basket. Strategy, and X's and O's have almost nothing to do with it.

Enjoy the clip if you haven't seen it.