Life in transit

Monday, November 15, 2010

Kevin Love is a beast

Read this , watch the clip, and enjoy Kevin Love. Here's one quote just to entice you.

For me, rebounding is all a mindset. My dad told me back in the day that there is no such thing as a selfish rebound because it’s a team stat. If you have to fight one of your own teammates for a rebound, do it—as long as you get it. Also, I studied the greats. Dennis Rodman had it figured out: he knew that most shots are going to come to the other side of the rim. So that’s how I position myself. And Bill Russell always used to say that 80 percent of rebounds are below the rim. I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to jump and touch the top of the square every time. I use my body for positioning, and I work relentlessly underneath the rim. You don’t have to be the most athletic guy in the world to get a bunch of rebounds, so I just try and take what my dad said to heart, what Rodman said to heart, and most importantly what Bill Russell said to heart. He’s got 11 championship rings so I think he knows what he’s talking about.

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

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.