Portland Fans Still Delusional RE: Oden vs. Durant

I haven't seen much of the Blazers in the regular season, but I get the feeling that we haven't seen the best of Oden in this playoff series. Simply put, Yao has been too much to figure out for the rookie.

Also, it apparently takes centers and PFs more time to adjust to NBA rules. Even a smart veteran like Scola took a season to figure it out, so I give Oden at least two years to do so.

One thing I do wonder about is his conditioning. He hasn't played a lot of minutes because of his foul troubles, but at the end of games, the guy is huffing and puffing like he's been on the court for 40+ minutes. I'm wondering if this is something that will be solved through more playing time.

 

What are you talking about? You need only one scorer? Ask the Spurs how they're doing against the Mavs, they only have Parker

And FYI the Thunder have good players on their roster aside from Durant, namely Green and Westbrook. Kristic is a player I'd like to have on our roster as well. Obviously you don't watch Thunder games because you don't know what you're talking about.

Durant would fit well with LMA and Roy, it's actually Oden who wouldn't fit. I don't think a team besides the Spurs were able to win a ring with two dominant big men, and in their case Robinson was already past his prime.

Roy, Durant and LMA would have been KG/PP/RA v2.


P.S. Why is this in the GARM?

 

What's been troubling to me is the dude's athletecism. He makes Yao Ming look like Tony Parker lol. I'm not sure if conditioning has anything to do with it, but its looking like he just has average to above average athletecism for his size. That's not good at all, because the Blazers already have a good defensive C with average athletecism-Pryzibilla. Unless Oden develops at a phenomenal rate the next two years the Blazers just wasted a chance of a lifetime lol.

 

I agree, he's shown spurts but he hasn't really impressed. But I think a lot of that has to do with Yao as well. This is the best defensive performance by Yao I've ever seen. Our big fella has simply been a beast around the basket.

 

Oden, if he pans out, will be a better fit than Durant because Portland needs a low-post presence, and LMA is not.

Few teams have won rings with 3 perimeter-oriented players and absolutely zero low-post scoring ability.

 

It's unfortunate for Portland that Oden hasn't worked out so far, but he's still learning, and will be learning for the next couple of seasons. I think he could be a very solid player if he can keep focused and work hard.

At the time, everyone was saying "you can't go wrong with either player, but a dominant big man is hard to come by...." I think most GMs in Portland's situation would have picked Oden.

Seattle/OKC got lucky more than anything.

Also, Durant is a stud. Whoever said otherwise is wrong.

 

wrong forum.

 

I was just thinking last night how impossible to guard they would be. Right now what keeps Portland mildly exploitable--and I say mildly because they already are a very potent and efficient offense around Roy and Aldridge, is their 3 spot can be cheated off from, with Durant there, forget it. They would then just need to find some defensive and glue types in the 1 & 5. Blake and Pryz are not bad while they look for better. And they have trade pieces among Bayless/Rodriguez and Outlaw/Batum/Webster plus a great cap situation 2 years from now. They have a great future as is, with Durant, they would be THE team of the future.

 

Boston's best players were perimeter oriented. All the Bulls champions this was true as well. Ditto Detroit. (and you can bring up KG/Sheed/Grant--but then I'll point to the guy below)

Also, Aldridge is a low post scorer. One of the more gifted young one in the league.

 

Doesn't seem like Portland is loving the Oden Pick to me:
http://boards.espn.go.com/boards/mb/mb?sport=nba&id=por&tid=4653329&lid=21

 

Oden sucks right now but he's still only 21-years-old and an obvious work-in-progress. Honestly, I don't necessarily think Portland even regrets the pick. It was a logical move.

It's proven that dominant centers are harder to find than scoring wing players. Take the 2002 Draft for example: for a while I wanted Caron Butler over Yao. I was skeptical about Yao -- I figured it's boom or bust with the possibility of an in-between-ness of being a Rik Smits type. Meanwhile, I knew Butler was going to be a 20+ PPG player and likely an All-Star. Eventually, I had to convince myself that the NBA will see plenty of players like Butler in the future while a unique talent like Yao comes along about once every 10 years.

That being said, I went through the same dilemma before the the 2007 Draft when thinking who Portland should choose. While Oden's freshman season at OSU was impressive, I just didn't see that Dwight Howard type of athleticism or potential to be as dominate, like most were advertising. That was pretty much the only scenario I could have used to justify taking Oden over Durant. I kind of saw Durant's destiny as future megastar coming the more and more I watched him.

I will say that one rule I subscribe to is: "Do not use what Player A does to judge Player B". I have used this argument to defend Kevin Love, for example. I think this case is much more extreme, though. I would feel a lot better about this if Oden had proven he has at least some ability to stay healthy and play multiple full seasons. I just don't see that (yet). So in the meantime, of course he'll continue to invoke flashbacks of Sam Bowie. Although, much like most of you I am confident Oden will get it together, work on his game and become more than just a 20-25 MPG energy/defense guy with only one post move.

Oden is EXACTLY what the Blazers are missing right now. What they need is a legitimate 20-10 post player. Aldridge is a good player but he doesn't play like a traditional PF. His game involves too many set mid-range shots, turnarounds and fadeways. He eventually might reach that 20-10 mark but I have a hard time considering him a legit post player. He plays too much like a tweener.

Image how lethal they could be if Oden ever pans out. They would have one of the best wing players in the league (Roy), a legit 20-10 post player (Oden) to work it inside, a tweener scoring machine with size/athleticism (Aldridge) all surrounded by great shooters. That's a championship level team.

 

Its like saying Carmelo Anthony would not have made the Pistons better because they already had Tayshaun prince so they drafted Darko Milicic because they needed a center

 

I don't think it's quite that extreme given that Oden is not only better right now but also at both's respective stages in their careers. Oden is already rebounding at a near elite rate as far as per-48's and what not goes. The defense is there he just [obviously] needs to stay healthy, out of foul trouble and continue to develop his post game. I would rate Oden's ceiling as much higher than I ever considered Darko's after seeing Darko get his first real "break" in Orlando entering their rotation at age 20.

 

I think Portland might be the one team you can still make an argument for not taking Durant on. Roy plays the same position as him, and I cannot for the life of me envision Roy and Durant on the court together. They both need the ball in their hands, neither one is a spot up pure shooter like Ray Allen in Boston. Third, when you add in Aldridge all three of them are finesse players and maybe only Roy would have the toughness to match any one of Boston's Big Three. Fourth, Boston supplemented their perimeter players with tons of beef, plus a guy in Rondo we are now finding out is an All-star in his own right.

The right move would have been to draft Durant, play him off the bench his rookie year, then trade Roy away the next offseason for some interior help because Durant looks like a top 5 player versus a guy like Roy who may always be on the outside looking in.

But finally, the last argument: Roy is so beloved in Portland due to his hometown roots and UWashington ties that the fans there would probably take Roy competitiveness over Durant championships. So what are you going to do? The answer without any better foresight: draft the big man and pray that he develops a post move or two.

Fortunately that hasn't happened, and Oden is now a nice-"looking" center that has zero post moves that don't involve traveling and picks up lifetime achievement fouls every other time down the court from his attempts to muscle everyone that comes within arm's reach.

 

You can't blame them for taking Oden (at least, I don't). We, of all people, should know that having two wingman fighting for shots is NOT a good thing. Artest and McGrady ring a bell?

The Blazers had a damn good wingman already in Brandon Roy. They also had a talented, athletic, young SF in Travis Outlaw. They had a solid young PF in LaMarcus Aldridge. The only other things they needed were a Center and a Point Guard. Greg Oden was, at worst, the second best player at the time and he filled a need. It was an easy choice, and a good choice, for Portland honestly.

Now, obviously, Oden's career to-date hasn't panned out the way they had expected, but from what I've seen, he's pretty much on par with what you would expect from a young Center. He shows flashes of being really good (like Game 1 of this series, when he grew a set and played tough), but he also makes some dumb, bonehead plays. He's going to be a good center, though. Maybe not as good as Dwight Howard, but he'll be a good one.

 

So Durant looks more like a top 5 player than Roy, a shooting guard who can also play point guard and has averaged 28 points per game against Artest, Battier and the vaunted Houston defense in this series?? After leading a group of 24 year olds to the playoffs????? I know Roy's underrated but come on. By the way Roy isnt beloved in portland for his UW ties. Its actually the opposite. They love him despite him attending UW which is their hated rival. As far as Oden, he was the right pick because Durant would have not added anything to the Blazers cant get out of Martell if he develops as projected. Roy, LA, Oden/Webster/Outlaw is more than enough offense to skip out on a dominant center to pick up another swingman. The only question mark with Oden is if he will be healthy. This is a guy who ran faster than Aaron Brooks at the combine. He was an athletic freak until the microfracture which he still hasnt recovered from. This isnt the same Oden we saw in Ohio State and Summer League. I just hope he can get through the summer and next season healthy.

 

Couldn't Portland move Roy to the PG position if they had Durant as the SG?

Kinda like what RA does with Brooks/Lowry when they're both on the court.

 

Even if Durant/Roy/Aldridge wouldnt work, you have amazing trade bait for something that would. It was the smart move at the time, but it probably cost them a dynasty...again.

 

he can only dunk!! i have never seen him attempt a shot or spin move or anything, nothing but dunks.