Oden to undergo knee surgery

Oden is young, He has a better chance of recovering fully from MF surgery than anyone who has had it up to this point.

I know you think I'm making too much of a deal about durant's size, but If I'm a coach playing against durant, I beat his ass 40 minutes a night. Not saying he cant play, he's phenomenal. But at his size right now, getting physical with him will sap what strength/endurance he does have and will decrease his production. He drives to the basket, he gets hammered. Not dirty play by any means, but I'm putting him on his ass every time I get the chance. And a season full of that will result in contusions, bruises, jams and sprains and other nagging injuries that will shorten his season. Trust me, at 6' 7" and 185 lbs on a good day, I know exactly what will happen to him.

As far as the hand checking rule, yeah he'll be okay out on the perimeter, but again you lose the advantage of having such a long frame on the court when hes that far from the basket. Its counterproductive to have someone who averages 11 boards & 2 blocks a game in college just "hanging out" on the perimeter. Playing him the way that you guys want, he'll be a scorer, and nothing more. Which takes me back to my main point of contention, that hes needs some bulk to REMAIN dominant. Without it, youll just have another 6' 10 or so shooter with no interior presence. See Jonathan Bender. Everybody knew he was nice, 7 foot SF with 3 point range, crazy hops, good quickness, yada yada yada. Shouldve been easy money superstar, right? But he only weighed 210 lbs., and got his ass handed too him by the likes of Al Harrington (another Jersey boy ), who had the same as skills but not as refined, but had the NBA body to fall back on.

How bout former lottery pick Nikoloz Tskitishvili? Radmanovic? Sonics fans should know all about them. The list of OMFGBBQ Super-Versatile forwards who are bonafied superstars in the making is a mile long, and the ones that truly make it after the first few years of "wow, he's so amazing" i.e. Nowitzski (sp?) and Garnett, are the ones that accept the roles that the NBA gives their body sizes and and dominant in their truly natural position.

The difference between Tskitishivili and Radmanovic is that neither really showed anything other than potential before they came to the NBA. They weren't exactly dominating in Europe as Durant has done in college.

Point taken, but no matter how you slice it, the NBA is a horse of an entirely different color. No matter what a players college credentials, you have no idea of his worth in the league. Plenty of players drafted in the second round coming from JuCo and Div I Mid-Major conference who are doing just fine, and even more lottery picks from the bigger schools who ended up being worthless. Pervis Ellis, anyone? How bout Felipe Lopez, who Sports Illustrated called the best High School Player, ever?

Durant dominated for this year, but for all we know he couldve had a sophmore slump at texas next year? Maybe that slump comes this year, when he's not 5-8 inches taller than the perimeter players he got to shoot over last year.

Not that he was playing against scrubs, far from it, but this year will be the first real test of his talent he'll ever face. When he cant really on his obvious physical gifts to get by. When he's not far and away the best athlete on the floor on any given night. They barely ran an offense when he was at Texas. It was basically, Kevin, go make something happen for our team. And his teammates were trained, and trained well, to keep their mouths closed and feed him the basketball. And to be honest, I expect more assists per from a person that had the ball as much as he did, considering the point forward status that he had. An avg of one assist per game is atrocious for some who has the ball that much.

Not saying he wont be a star, he already is. But I'm just not ready to buy on his super stardom yet.

See Jonathan Bender. Everybody knew he was nice, 7 foot SF with 3 point range, crazy hops, good quickness, yada yada yada. Shouldve been easy money superstar, right? But he only weighed 210 lbs., and got his ass handed too him by the likes of Al Harrington (another Jersey boy ), who had the same as skills but not as refined, but had the NBA body to fall back on.

Well, Bender had injuries that really derailed his career. (Which may be your argument on Durant?) He was far better than Harrington when healthy, he just couldn't get on the floor healthy.

If Bender was healthy I think we would be putting him in at least the second or third-tier of "great" players today. He really developed over his years despite the injuries. At least Rashard Lewis quality I would say, but with defense.

Well, Bender had injuries that really derailed his career. (Which may be your argument on Durant?) He was far better than Harrington when healthy, he just couldn't get on the floor healthy.

You understood me PERFECTLY.

Bender is different, he had serious knee problems in High School. As far as I know, Durant has had nothing near as significant.

lets just compare oden to bender then, could have been great but will always be injured

I have a question regarding Odens injury:
If he doesn't play a single game during this season, will he still be classed as a rookie when the 08-09 season starts? Or will he be a sophomore like the rest of his class?

He will be a rookie in 08/09 season if he doesn't play this coming season....similar to what happened to Nick Collison & Speedy Claxton I believe....

That's usually the way it works.

This sucks for the Blazers and the league in general and the Bowie comparisons are inevitable since Portland is involved but hopefully that talk is premature and Oden's NBA career will be delayed, not derailed. I don't think the Blazers will regret picking Oden just yet, though they might feel a bit wistful when the Sonics come to town.

Point taken, but no matter how you slice it, the NBA is a horse of an entirely different color. No matter what a players college credentials, you have no idea of his worth in the league. Plenty of players drafted in the second round coming from JuCo and Div I Mid-Major conference who are doing just fine, and even more lottery picks from the bigger schools who ended up being worthless. Pervis Ellis, anyone? How bout Felipe Lopez, who Sports Illustrated called the best High School Player, ever?

Durant dominated for this year, but for all we know he couldve had a sophmore slump at texas next year? Maybe that slump comes this year, when he's not 5-8 inches taller than the perimeter players he got to shoot over last year.

Not that he was playing against scrubs, far from it, but this year will be the first real test of his talent he'll ever face. When he cant really on his obvious physical gifts to get by. When he's not far and away the best athlete on the floor on any given night. They barely ran an offense when he was at Texas. It was basically, Kevin, go make something happen for our team. And his teammates were trained, and trained well, to keep their mouths closed and feed him the basketball. And to be honest, I expect more assists per from a person that had the ball as much as he did, considering the point forward status that he had. An avg of one assist per game is atrocious for some who has the ball that much.

Not saying he wont be a star, he already is. But I'm just not ready to buy on his super stardom yet.

He never had point forward status. He would never bring the ball up the court and when he did get the ball, he was going to shoot rather than set someone up. I don't recall a play where Kevin initiated the offence and it didn't finish with him shooting. They had no other scoring weapons except AJ Abrams who pretty much stunk it up this year and never saw a shot he didn't like. DJ is a pretty good scorer, but his role was get Kevin the ball and that only. He would always defer to Kevin or AJ unless a play broke down or the shot clock was winding down. There were only about 6 games through the whole season where Rick Barnes actually had DJ in a scoring role. Then there's Damion James, who I think has scored every single point in his life off an offensive rebound.

Anyway, since he was far and away the best scorer on the team and Rick Barnes thought the best offence was "Give Kevin the ball", he never really needed to pass. He had his way with every player he faced bar Daniel Hackett and Dante Cunningham. If he got the ball, chances were he is going to shoot it.

Secondly, Rick Barnes doesn't know how to run an offence, so when Kevin got the ball everyone stood and watched. If you're the best scorer in college basketball, you're teammates (bar 1 (DJ) - AJ was pretty terrible last year) are all sub par offensive talents and you get the ball, are you looking to pass? Even if you were going to, there's no point because no one is moving, cutting or whatever. AJ is standing in the corner with no angle to get the ball to him and even if you did he gonna shoot it from there, no matter who's on him. There's no off ball screen going on or anything.

There wasn't really an environment for Kevin to pick up assists. He isn't anything special in the passing department though, I'd just say he's average. Had Rick Barnes actually ran a god damn offence, he probably would have averaged around 3-4 assists. Then again, he wouldn't have scored as much in a more structured offence.

Thats another area where he will run into problems, in not running a true offense, he is behind the curve in play execution and on the fly recognition. The first thing you get in a basketball training camp is a playbook. You're expected to know that playbook in about a week. Most teams have 5 basic plays, with COUNTLESS variations. That will probably be his biggest hurdle mentally, learning to play off of others and actually executing offensive sets. I hate sending players to the league early because of this, most of them havent learned to truly play basketball yet, they are super talanted but with no experience and no concept of the value of execution - it takes them years to develop. Physically they are grown ass men, but mentally they're, well, 19 year olds, lol.

Nothing against 19 year olds.

He never had point forward status. He would never bring the ball up the court and when he did get the ball, he was going to shoot rather than set someone up. I don't recall a play where Kevin initiated the offence and it didn't finish with him shooting. They had no other scoring weapons except AJ Abrams who pretty much stunk it up this year and never saw a shot he didn't like. DJ is a pretty good scorer, but his role was get Kevin the ball and that only. He would always defer to Kevin or AJ unless a play broke down or the shot clock was winding down. There were only about 6 games through the whole season where Rick Barnes actually had DJ in a scoring role. Then there's Damion James, who I think has scored every single point in his life off an offensive rebound.

Anyway, since he was far and away the best scorer on the team and Rick Barnes thought the best offence was "Give Kevin the ball", he never really needed to pass. He had his way with every player he faced bar Daniel Hackett and Dante Cunningham. If he got the ball, chances were he is going to shoot it.

Secondly, Rick Barnes doesn't know how to run an offence, so when Kevin got the ball everyone stood and watched. If you're the best scorer in college basketball, you're teammates (bar 1 (DJ) - AJ was pretty terrible last year) are all sub par offensive talents and you get the ball, are you looking to pass? Even if you were going to, there's no point because no one is moving, cutting or whatever. AJ is standing in the corner with no angle to get the ball to him and even if you did he gonna shoot it from there, no matter who's on him. There's no off ball screen going on or anything.

There wasn't really an environment for Kevin to pick up assists. He isn't anything special in the passing department though, I'd just say he's average. Had Rick Barnes actually ran a god damn offence, he probably would have averaged around 3-4 assists. Then again, he wouldn't have scored as much in a more structured offence.

Why does this situation remind me so much of Kobe and the Lakers?

I live in Portland. When we heard news of Oden being out a year, the entire city went into a depression. We were built up so much, and then beat down so quickly.

This city hasn't been this excited about sports in my lifetime. It was pretty incredible to see. Everyone, not just sports fans, were talking about Oden, Roy, and Aldridge. We were excited, hopeful, and finally happy. We were going to be patient, we found a coach we liked, players we could respect, and a GM we loved. We expected a championship within a few short years.

And then all of a sudden...

The city, nay, the state, fell dead. People were visibly saddened by the news. No one here said anything about Bowie. We knew this is different. For two days, all that was said was, "Did you hear about Oden?" which was followed by "I don't want to talk about it."

Now, we are almost feigning excitement. We want to believe that we will compete, but in the back our heads, .... a big collective....... "fuck...."

It just adds another year to the rebuilding. Could be good, we can get another draft pick, and get rid of Martell Webster, and Travis Outlaw, because they will never be good, and get a star small forward. So, eventually, Blazer fans will start to rebuild their own hope... again.

bballvip, maybe this will help Oden. Look at Amare. When he was rehabbing, he refined his jumper and now he is a much more well rounded offensive player.

And lets be honest, the Blazers were never going to compete in the west this season. Oden will be back next season, and he's still only 19 or 20 years old.

Keep it in perspective brother.

And think about all the nice guards in next years draft!!!!

It isn't the end of the world. Amare Stoudemire must certainly give the Blazers fans hope. He isn't a guy who relies on his pure athleticism and running the court like a deer so even if he does lose a yard of pace it still won't heavily affect his game because he is such a good talent.

honestly its probably for the best for portland, it sucks that it happened but now, like its already been said, they are going to land a top pick to pair with oden.

then again if this turns into oden always being injured than clearly it sucks for the blazers as it would mean they wasted a number 1

Well, Bender had injuries that really derailed his career. (Which may be your argument on Durant?) He was far better than Harrington when healthy, he just couldn't get on the floor healthy.

If Bender was healthy I think we would be putting him in at least the second or third-tier of "great" players today. He really developed over his years despite the injuries. At least Rashard Lewis quality I would say, but with defense.

No, Jonathan never really showed any improvement ever. He was always an outstanding leaper, and a decent outside shooter, but he was nowhere near Rashard Lewis type talent. If Jon had gone to college he would have been exposed for who he really was, and wouldn't have been a first round pick. (That is if he was able to stay healthy in college)

Jon was a great horse player and nothing more.

Oden's surgery last season on his shooting hand turned out to be a blessing, as he worked hard and improved his dexterity and became a bigger threat when shooting with his left hand.

Maybe this injury could also lead to some development from Greg Oden.

No, Jonathan never really showed any improvement

It's not like he's Marquis Daniels, Bender looked a lot better in 2004 than he did in 2000.

Jon was a great horse player and nothing more.

Ouch...

In college he would have dominated IMO, playing him at the 3, there wasnt a forward in the country who could compete with the athleticism he had for his size.

He was lazy and thats the reason he didnt improve.

Jon was a great horse player and nothing more.

I would like to believe that as well if I was a Pacer fan

You guys really wish benji had said that, don't you?

It's not like he's Marquis Daniels, Bender looked a lot better in 2004 than he did in 2000.

Except that Marquis is very good at playing within an offense and is one of the best scramble scorers in the NBA. Quis is also a pretty good perimiter defender.

Jon didn't look much better in 2004 then he did in 2000, that was the year we all really realized he wasn't going to turn in to anything. He made the same mistakes he always made. Always looked clueless, same as always.

He was lazy and thats the reason he didnt improve.

Jon wasn't lazy at all. He was working hard every summer to try and improve. Injuries were the number 1 killer of his career, and the fact that he wasn't any good was number 2.

Am I the only one that thinks that an Aldridge/Frye/Pryzbilla trio of big men in heavy rotation is a decent one? Greg Oden is a major loss, but it's not like the Blazers completely banked on Oden and traded away all of their assets for him and expected him to be a 20-10 player right away.

I for one think that the Blazers are still a pretty talented, youthful and deep team. If the right players make the right improvements this year, I'm confident that they can sneak into the playoffs this season.

Except that Marquis is very good at playing within an offense and is one of the best scramble scorers in the NBA.

I have no idea what this means, nor does Google.