Greg Oden Makes Portland A Contender
With Portland’s 122-98 beat down of Chicago last night, the Blazers are looking more and more like the team many predicted they’d be this year: a squad that will vie for the Western Conference Finals and possibly beyond.
Do you know who puts this team over the hump? Gregory Wayne Oden Jr.
Signing Andre Miller this off-season and returning Martell Webster from an injury that limited him to five minutes last year are both integral parts of Portland’s success. But their ultimate desire rests in the hands of the big man from Buckeye country. When Oden is playing with confidence – and reassuring the City of Roses they didn’t make the Bowie mistake twice – he is the final piece to the Blazers puzzle.
Brandon Roy has catapulted himself into elite status in the NBA and LaMarcus Aldridge is quietly becoming one of the game’s best young forwards. If West Coast basketball is past your bedtime and you haven’t watched Portland lately, it’s easy to overlook the rest of Portland’s roster past these two. I’ll assure you, the Blazers are solid at every position.
Joel Przybilla might be the best backup center in the NBA – laugh if you will, but it’s true – and having Miller as your backup point guard is one of the best go-to luxuries in the League. Miller is still one of the best in the business and when he gets it going, can orchestrate the Blazer offense much more efficiently than their current starter, Steve Blake. Although, they will have to make up for the loss of Travis Outlaw, who was lost to a stress fracture in his foot in mid-November.
The early exit of Outlaw may prove to be a much bigger obstacle as the playoffs near. Besides Roy, Outlaw is the only other proven clutch performer in the 4th quarter. Look for either Rudy Fernandez or Webster to pick up the slack during Outlaw’s disappearance – which could be all season.
During the Bulls game last night, the Blazers scored across the board. All 11 players that made it into the game were able to mark the scoring column. Oden and Aldridge each added in a double-double 24 points apiece with 12 and 13 rebounds respectively. What’s even better about this performance was that Oden was 7-8 from the field and 10-12 from the charity stripe. Which brings me back to my main point: Oden.
When Portland was struggling last season in the playoffs against Houston, Oden was only able to muster five points and 4.3 boards in 16 minutes a game. He was able to manage 4.5 fouls in that same time. The end result was an early exit from the playoffs to the lower-seeded Rockets.
The major knocks on Oden thus far, beyond his man-of-glass reputation, are fouling due to incorrect post defense and his confidence level. Oden is fouling at a high rate – he’s averaging four fouls a game this season – and is being caught on the wrong end of help side swings. If Oden can keep his fouls down, it will enable him to stay in the game long enough to positively effect it.
He has a defensive prowess that GMs salivate over and if he can become the offensive post target that Portland hopes he will – and that he was against Chicago – he will make a lot of people in Rip City forget about that Texas kid who plays for the Thunder.
More importantly, he will be the missing piece behind a serious playoff run for the Blazers. Portland is an explosive scoring team and is one of the League’s best at running the half-court offense – something Oden can thrive in.
If Oden can play with the same consistency that he showed against the Bulls, then Portland is a top-three team in the League. Right now, I have the Hawks and Lakers ahead of Portland, with Orlando, Denver and Phoenix close behind.
I’m still not convinced that Cleveland has the personnel, beyond LBJ and Mo Williams, or the right mindset to bring it every night. Boston is showing its age for the first time, which was evident against Indiana, Orlando and an overtime victory against the Knicks at the buzzer.
Currently, the Blazers are sitting at 11-5 and atop the Northwest division, leading the Denver Nuggets by a half game. If Oden continues to build his confidence level and offense night in and night out, it’s going to be a tight race to decide both division and conference champions.
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November 24th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Detroit Dave says:
As a reply to the title of this story:
NO HE DOES NOT.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Steve A says:
The blazers have a number of flaws:
Explosive scoring? They are 20-something in the nba in scoring.
Roy is the only guy that can get easy baskets (Oden may be there one day, but not this year)
They are a jump shooting team, and they really aren’t that good at shooting.
Lack toughness. Watch them against a team like Denver, day/night difference.
Roy is great, but he can blend in at times which keeps him from being at a Dwade level.
They can make a run to the west finals, but they aren’t championship caliber this year.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Reno Hightower says:
^Then you know nothing about basketball moron.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:15 am
jlee9 says:
I like how this post comes a few after one where Derrick Rose bangs something ugly on Oden’s old man head. No, Oden does not make the Blazers a contender. He is getting better though, shedding a bit of that bust status,
November 24th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Dagomar says:
You have Phoenix over Boston and Cleveland? You have the Hawks second only to the Lakers based on just over 10 games? Okay . . . .
November 24th, 2009 at 11:34 am
kevin k says:
Hey, give Oden some credit. Derrick Rose is one of the most athletic players in the league. At least Oden went up for the block although he failed pretty damn bad. 95% of the players would have just watched or ducked to avoid getting posterized. If Oden had knees, he would have swatted that shit.
When it’s all said and done, Oden will have more chips than Rose.
Also this is one of the worst article I have ever read that I actually agreed on. I lost count on how many times you wrote and mention about confidence level, offense consistency, and foul trouble… which the whole world knows already about Oden’s confidence level, offense consistency, and foul trouble. If only Oden had the confidence level, offense consistency, and had learned to avoid foul trouble…
November 24th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Aron Phillips says:
@jlee9
Haha. Also you see Joakim Noah throw down on him too? Those dunks aside though, Oden’s progress is HUGE news for the Blazers. If he can become No. 1 pick status, then the Blazers will be dangerous for many, many years.
November 24th, 2009 at 11:50 am
KnicksFan84 says:
The Oden/Trail Blazer Hate is unbelievable. These dudes got a nice squad. Realistically, this team should have made a run at Vince Carter in the worst way. They have NICE SF’s but haven’t really developed any of them into what should have been at least 1 true All-Star at that position. Even PG, if Bayless was the truth ( i know he’s still a baby) there would be no need for blake or miller signing.
So ultimately, once again the smart move is the following:
Trade whatever you can to get:
Mike Conley
Rudy Gay
November 24th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
KnicksFan84 says:
Continued:
Trading for those two guys gives you a starting lineup of:
PG Conley
SG Roy
SF Gay
PF Aldridge
C Oden
I’d go to battle with that lineup all day every day
November 24th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Blazermark says:
Jealous much everyone?? Believe me, the Blazers are coming to take it all and very very soon. We have all the pieces now they just have to gel. And Oden did get dunked on a couple of times last night, but he manhandled all of the Bulls all night. So Fuck off if you think a couple of dunks are going to make or break a big man, you must not know the game at all!
November 24th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Thype says:
I agree that Oden is looking solid as hell. If you watched any of the other Blazer games one would notice that when Oden is in, the Blazers are tough as hell in the middle, they really are. They are clearly a better team with him on the floor. However, Portland is still a jump shooting team and for this reason cannot be truly considered as a contender until BOTH Oden and Lamarcus can establish a low post presence and demand double teams night in and night out thus giving those shooters wide open looks.
Portland’s biggest problem right now is they become stagnant if they don’t have open shots, they suffer several scoring droughts in virtually every game.
I guess that’s the point of the article at the end of the day, IFs on top of IFs, but right now I do not see Oden doing what he did to the Bulls consistently and until he can Portland is a tier two or three team. (I’m a Blazer homer by the way, but that’s the way I see it)
November 24th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Blazermark says:
Hey Steve A, we are very close to Denver, I think we are way better. But I guess you are riding Denver’s lap right now so you got to talk nice about your daddy. Last time I looked, the Blazers are ahead of you all in the standings. And the whooped your all assess pretty good last year too. So….. You know.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
alexander berg says:
@Detroit Dave
Portland is defenatly a contender, unlike the the Pistons that can´t figure out how to make their rotation work. I thought they would be a good team this year though they lost ‘Sheed because they added Charlie and Ben, but so far they have played like a lottery team (it’s no excuse that Rip is hurt!).
November 24th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
PDX Cracka says:
Jack Jensen obviously watched the game and I’m guessing possibly has watched quite a few other Blazer games. I find it funny how alot of people can give their opinion on the Blazers without watching more than 2 of their games. It’d be like me saying the Hawks are blah, blah, blah and the only games I’ve seen are the ones they played against the Blazers.
Oden is emerging. Slowly but surely the guy is figuring the NBA game out! Think about it… He played one season in college, dominated high school and every other tourney he was involved in. Drafted to the NBA he gets hurt and is down for the count for literally 2 seasons (I don’t count last season because the guy was out of shape and a walking zombie with no confidence). This year is literally Oden’s first year actually playing in shape, mentally prepared and determined.
No one really has seen what he’s capable of but that one year at Ohio State… The dude is for real just give him the rest of this season to figure it out and plant his feet as a legit center.
Blazers won’t make the Western Conference Finals but in the next few years I’ll eat my hat if they don’t flirt with the Finals…
November 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
control says:
“Cleveland has the personnel, beyond LBJ and Mo Williams” You mean beyond LBJ? The only thing Mo Williams is special for is having probably one of the worse tattoos in the world. Fucking Jesus Dog. Other than that, he ain’t shit.
I hope Oden does amazing, guy is on my fantasy team. Other than that…don’t really care if he works out or turns into a bust.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Steve A says:
@11
I am a Blazer fan. But I am not blinding myself to the obvious faults of the team. The goal is to win a title, and I don’t think they can with the roster as is.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Spliff 2 My Lou says:
If you don’t put Boston in your top 3 teams then you don’t know Jack (pardon the pun). And I hate Boston but they’re stacked. Also you can never count out the Spurs.
Mike Conley is weak.
Blazers should try and rescue Caron Butler from DC. He could be the missing piece.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Don says:
So what? 2 guys threw down on Oden? Oden throws down on 3-4 guys every single game and nobody makes a big deal out of it. Why? Because he’s big and is supposed to throw down on people. I still say, so what?
Oden DOES make the Blazers a contender. Without question. Anyone who saw the dismantling of a very determined Chicago team last night couldn’t rightfully dispute that. Chicago is a fairly good team and they actually played a very good game. They shot well and only had 6 turnovers (it may have been 7) for the game. The still lost by 24 points.
The scary thing is that Portland still isn’t hitting their peak. As the 3rd youngest team in the NBA, they are only starting to see their potential.
There is no “bust” status in Oden. The only question now is how good will he become?
November 24th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Claw says:
When they brought up the dunks to Oden I did like his response, “I’m still thinking about that, it was great to win the game but I’ll be thinking about those for a while”.
Dude played like a beast after getting dunked on, Noah couldn’t grab a board and Oden dunked on him a couple of times but that’s not as fun since Noah looks like a taller Doug E Doug.
Don’t know about the Andre Miller experiment but he actually looks good in there when Roy is sitting, he was setting up his tmates and nice lob to Oden.
I’m a Suns fan and I don’t see them in the Top 5, they get exposed against the better frontlines.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Jersey Joe says:
“Also you can never count out the Spurs.”
Yes, you can. I never understood why so many folks picked the oldersters as a top tier team. The questions was could they stay healthy — well, they’ve ALL been injured.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Nelson says:
Wow, plenty of hate for Oden still around even though he finally healthy and in shape. The refs are starting to realize that they can’t continue to whistle Greg just for standing next to another player and the Blazers are adjusting to Andre Miller, soon they are going to start rolling teams. And I am going to say this: Greg Oden DOES make the Blazers contenders. The only people saying he isn’t haven’t watched a single Blazer game this year. He’s been dominant.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Big Island says:
Steve A is an idiot. Blending in is a bad thing now? I’d take Oden over Bynum simply because I don’t think Bynum is going to get much better while Oden is just figuring it out. Portland is nice.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Steve A says:
Blending in meaning disappearing. DUH
November 24th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
jliebfor3 says:
Greg Oden picks up a lot of fouls because LaMarcus Alridge doesn’t box out like he should. Yet, Oden is still super inconsistent. Many Blazer fans say things such as “he’s arrived” or this and that (not necessarily Jack), but until he proves he can do it day in and day out (similarly to Bynum), the Blazers are a one and done team.
November 24th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Chicagorilla says:
“Greg Oden DOES make the Blazers contenders. The only people saying he isn’t haven’t watched a single Blazer game this year. He’s been dominant.”
For some odd reason, when I read this comment. The inner voice sounded like Mark Jackson.
November 24th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Jenna Elfman says:
When you look at championship basketball teams, it is exceedingly rare to see teams that don’t have an uber-dominant player. The Pistons back in 04 (Sheed, Billups, Rip) showed that it was possible to win a championship without one, but they also showed in the following years that this sort of approach wasn’t conducive to building a team that consistently contends in a legitimate way for championships.
There is a defender, or two defenders, on most teams that can make Roy a very ordinary player. More notable than this though, is that most teams don’t go through the process of special preparations surrounding shutting him down. When a team walks into the Staple’s Center, they are appropriately besieged with questions about how they are going to stop Bryant. There is a good reason you rarely hear that same question asked about Roy. Confusingly, the blazers continue to structure themselves around him as if he is going to be a Kobe Bryant, but the main possibility they have to win a championship still probably lays in drafting or trading for a tenacious and uber-dominant player, and then somehow squeezing all the salaries in there and convincing Roy to accept a smaller role. He has shown this season with Miller that he is hesitant to do anything but dominate the ball, so I’m not sure that’s really a likely option either. He’d make a solid Pippen to some else’s Jordan, but I think there are legitimate doubts over whether that is even a possibility anymore, now that they have paid him (and especially Aldridge!) so much that they will have trouble paying the final piece of their championship puzzle whenever it does come along. Ultimately, this team looks one superstar away from a championship, but that is an increasingly high hurdle to leap after the financial moves they have made this year.
Don’t forget to check out my new sitcom “Accidentally on Purpose” Mondays at 830 on CBS.
Jenna Elfman
November 24th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
JamesinVA says:
Thank you Dime for FINALLY giving some well deserved props to Oden. I laugh at those that are still hating. Why do they keep talkin sh*t bout Oden? I swear so many people just want him to do bad for what reason?
You guys should all check out this youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FreeOden52
Whoever made that page puts up videos of refs calling fouls on Oden that are RIDICULOUS calls. The dude has arep for getting a lot of fouls, but LOOK AT THE TYPE OF FOULS HE GETS CALLED FOR!
Oden IS a huge building block in helping portland to hopefully win a championships. That is the truth.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Stephon says:
B/S article. You can mention those IF’s for many other players as well. C-Webb was clutch in Sactown. If Ben Wallace had some more offensive moves in Detroit. If Dwight has an mid range J. If Jason Kidd was 25 yrs old. If the refs in the Trailblazer vs. Lakers series in 2001 did fair refing. Many ifs. And that is the difference in this world between good, better and best.
B.S. article. I’m very disappointed in ODEN during last yr’s playoffs. NO IMPACT. Too easy to pick out things that you mentioned here. Foul Trouble, Wrongside help D and confidence. What bugs me is his work ethic. He was out for one full yr. he comes back last yr and there was no work on his upperbody. From what i recall his injury was a lower body injury. 1 full yr to get tanked. He comes back like somebody who sat on his ass and played all the Grand Theft Auto series plus every single side mission, and did not hit the weights. Absolutely no upperbody improvement. what has he been doing for the whole yr? He can be a total beast if he put in work.
I dun like kobe nor lebron but these guys put in work. Lebron was lifting like a madman since gr.10 when i read about him on hoopstv and slam. Kobe put in work even during the all-star weekend festivities, jus so he can get better while others are partying.
What i m sayin is NO. He is not the missing piece because there are wayy too many intangibles to be improved upon.
Portland is gettin much better tho and Oden is a factor.
But i don’t see him becoming what the portland GM’s envisions in ODEN. dats my 2 cents.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
YOMOMMA says:
Great article Jack Jensen… It is true, when Oden is effective on both sides, the Blazers are a completely different team. A title contender. So what if he got dunked on by Rose & Noah? Everyone gets dunked on. If it takes 2 dunks over him every night for him to get 24pts 12rebs & 2blocks each night then so be it. Thats something we can all live with.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
tangman says:
Stephon, Oden actually came back too big…McMillan didn’t want him to put on that much muscle. Read this article
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3115030
November 24th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Stephon says:
Tangman,
thanks for the post. logical for him to stay off bulk with the surgery. He should be a bit more toned than he is now wihtout bulking himself. anyhow i hope he improves much more and contribute to a bigger scale when it comes playoff time this yr.
Portland is definitely solid. This yr will be even more exciting. cannot wait till April again. I m calling Denver.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
GABRIEL BROGDEN says:
GO gonna get the hate in waves.
Like Lebron gets it.
Why?
Hype and expectations surround young greatness.
But when ‘young greatness’ is, at the moment, only ‘young really good’ everybody wants to b**** and moan.
Anyways, hate to be PATHETIC LOSER on this one…but I totally agree with jliebfor3 #24. Lamarcus does NOT box out well. Still seems to be a problem for him. Reminds me of KENYON MARTINS TOMAHAWK TIP
Let’s see…on
April 16th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
*LA = LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE
BERN BROGDEN says:
GO and SERG actually WERE boxin’ out…it was LA who caught a bad angle and was plain useless.
All of Portland’s eyes were on Melo.
Outlaw eats pick.
GO picks up the ‘roller.’
Melo jacks shot with Outlaw’s hand in his face.
GO boxes out.
SERG boxes out.
–}}} Instead of BOXING OUT, LA tries to get position for the rebound.
KMART’s at the left elbow, waiting, timing, anticipating…
KLABOOM
You can see it for yourself right here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L07gTJOm6kA&feature=player_embedded
or here:
http://dimemag.com/2009/04/kenyon-martin-raining-down-the-love/
November 24th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
bfears says:
wow. portland is good but oden will never be the player everyone predicted him to be out of college.
November 25th, 2009 at 5:37 am
pdxpuma says:
Props on jumping on the GO Bandwagon.
Nice to see he’s currently leading the leauge in FG%: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/statistics, #3 In Blocks and a PER of 22.82
Watching Tuesdays matchup against Chicago, I noticed something and wonder if anyone else did too? Remember when Noah posterized Oden? After that moment, I saw an entirely new demeanor in Greg, fierce and wanting revenge, as if Noah lit the fuse of confidence in him and he was ready to explode.
That is the fire we’ve all been waiting too see, however, I think the best is still yet to come.
After playing with some grit in the last 3 games and matching his career best, I can only see things getting better as the refs begin to respect his play as this confidence grows with each minuet of play.
I think what has impressed me the most is he’s been playing with a higher IQ, taking advantage of easy baskets and passing to the open man when he’s double/triple teamed, leading to some big plays. It’s nice to see him a major threat on both sides of the floor. When he excels at his job, so does everyone else.
This is going to make for a very exciting season.