[Buckskin86]

The Oden Impact
by Dave on May 7, 2008

The one guy we haven?t talked about in our Player-by-Player assessment of the team is, of course, Greg Oden. It wasn?t appropriate to include him in the season recap but since we?re now transitioning properly into summer and anticipating the season to come it?s time to chat about his impact. Long story short?it?s going to be significant.

Oden?s calling card to this point in his career has been his defense, but he?ll also make a huge difference in the Blazers? offense. While Oden?s post game isn?t polished yet (and will likely take a while to become NBA-ready) his sheer athleticism makes him a legitimate threat already. One of the reasons we had some difficulty with decision-making and attacking in the halfcourt offense this year was that opponents basically cheated off of the post. I love Joel Przybilla and what he did for us this year. We would not have been nearly the same team without him. But his presence in the offense allowed the defense considerable leeway to pinch and gamble against our better scorers. Many of our sets were just aching for somebody in the middle to catch and score. Joel wasn?t that man. He has trouble catching passes with the slightest imperfections. If he does catch the ball he has trouble doing anything productive with it in any kind of traffic. He doesn?t score or pass naturally. Even when he finds himself free Joel is unable to finish above the rim unless he?s already cutting towards the basket. Count the number of times Joel got passed to and couldn?t finish, then add all of the times his teammates looked the other direction. That ends up being a lot of possessions. All of that goes away with Oden on the floor. He has good, big hands that are only going to get better with practice. One of his best qualities is his fluidity. Watching him with the ball is like watching a much smaller man. Plus he?s huge and he?s not going to get bumped off of his line easily. He already has the rudiments of passing down and he?s showed some court vision last summer?more than some rookies I?ve seen anyway. I anticipate he?ll be at least a competent passer if not a downright good one. And Greg doesn?t have any trouble finishing above the rim. As a matter of fact he can get his forearms above the cylinder on a flat-footed jump and darn near get his elbows up there with a step and a half. Even if he doesn?t end up scoring big numbers at first he?s going to draw attention which will immediately create more open shots for everyone else. One of the key flaws in the Blazer offense this year was spending a bunch of time to create a mediocre shot. If the defense was dedicated we had trouble getting free. Once Oden gets rolling offensively it?s hard to see how we?re not going to get someone free. And with our new-found perimeter prowess that?s liable to be scary for the opposition.

The Oden?Impact - Blazer's Edge