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BDL on Greg Oden

Kelly Dwyer talked about Greg Oden in his center rankings recently. He's always doing good stuff, and this is almost exactly what I've been saying.

11. Greg Oden, Portland Trail Blazers: (last year: 11th)
A broken wrist. Microfracture surgery. A sprained foot, hurt when Andrew Bynum grabbed him from behind and forced him to stay on the floor instead of allowing him to jump at the rim. A chipped kneecap, struck by Corey Maggette on accident. A fractured left patella tendon, hurt as he landed awkwardly after contesting a shot against Houston. These are quite a few injuries, for someone who has been playing on the NCAA or NBA level since 2006.

But they're different injuries. Freak injuries. Not like Yao Ming or Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Bill Walton turning their feet into dust with repeated stress fractures. These are just things that have gone incredibly wrong.

So, I'd like to rank Oden higher. I really would. And while some might want to see him paired with Yao Ming around the same spot, it needs to be shouted that Greg Oden is not Yao Ming. He hasn't had the same repeated injuries in the same spot. He's injury-prone, yes, but only in the most literal sense of the phrase. If Oden stays healthy and can limit his fouls? He's top five. Maybe top three.

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More evidence that Nicolas Batum is the best

I've mentioned before that my brother and I disagree as to who has more value, Batum or Fernandez. We haven't talked about it much this season, so maybe Stephen is starting to figure out that it is clearly Batum. If not, he might feel that way after watching this video. One of the things I like best about this is that in almost every block he's either tapping it out front to a teammate or smacking it off the backboard so that a teammate can grab the rebound and turn around with the ball. I think on one of them the other team gets the offensive board and makes a put back. But his teammates already know that if they take off with him they can get the ball back, and the players that don't know yet are certainly learning quickly. I love it.

Thanks to Casey Holdahl for putting this up.

I warned people he was coming

Greg Oden had another nice night this evening. I watched the T-wolves game Sunday and listened to the win over Chicago tonight. In each game he continued to have a huge influence on the defensive end, getting blocked shots and rebounds AND changing the way his opponents attacked the hoop. But in each game it has been more impressive that his offense is coming along. Oden is starting to build a consistency and confidence that are really nice. His arsenal looks pretty good right now: put backs, alley oops, jump hooks, and plenty of free throws (which he makes). I'm excited to see what he does as the season continues.

I just wanted to include his season stats so far. Take a look. Not bad, considering mpg.

Episode 2...a year later

Stephen and I finally recorded a second episode of our "new" podcast.



Here it is if you want to open it in a different window.