Greg Oden

ng an All-star center helps in the playoffs more than having an All-star guard.  And secondly, Greg Oden isn't an All-star center yet.  Brandon Roy is one of the top ten players in the league.  He played hard during the playoffs.  He carried the team to the fourth seed when everyone was just hoping to see the postseason.  But, without a strong low post presence, a first-round beating is about all the Blazers can hope for.  The Rockets shredded the Blazers with Yao Ming and Luis Scola playing a simple high/low game.  Lamarcus Aldridge is the perfect high, but Oden is still a year or two away from being a dominant low.  Which takes me to the second part of why Portland absolutely has to make this trade if given the chance,

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Congratulations Portland Trail Blazers on a great season. You overachieved, brought the city to hysteria not seen since the early 90s and created a solid foundation on which to work on. Now get over it.

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First, check out this, it's super hilarious and well written.  Now, on to the good stuff... 

We're less than four hours away from the Blazers and Celtics tipping off in Boston (catch it on ESPN if you don't want to listen to Mike Rice gush over Channing Frye and you love Van Gundy/Jackson as much as I do), so I figured I'd provide a few nuggets of wisdom about what might be the keys to the game for both sides.  Now before you all collectively groan in disgust, let me reassure you that what follows may actually prove insightful, unlike most other "key to tonight's match-up" pieces that simply say score, defend and rebound better than your opponent.  There are a few things that I'm looking for as indicators of successful play by both sides which go much deeper than the usual mundane crap, so bear with me.

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game is played and how a certain player plays their game.  That's why I'm so excited to go see Greg Oden and the Blazers tonight, hopefully it will let me gauge how well he is moving and h

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nd of the Blazers unsung star.
 
He has graciously changed roles repeatedly with the Greg Oden saga continually reaching new highs and lows.  It all started with Przybilla taking that infamous boat ride when he signed a new contract with the Trail Blazers a few summers ago to him being all but forgotten when Portland drafted Oden.  Przybilla is now averaging over six points a game for only the third time in his career and is performing his new role as the other part of Portland's two-headed monster at center.

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n front of the NBA’s uber quick guards, however he will have the added bonus of having either Greg Oden or Joel Przybilla to send back their fair share of shots and give opponents something else to think about as they blow by Rudy other than “don’t trip.”  Add into that the defensive tutoring Fernandez will receive from Nate McMillan, and in a very short amount of time, Rudy should be making contributions to the Blazers and getting quality minutes during the process.

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Well, well, the day is finally here.  Tonight, I (along with many other rabid basketball fans) will have my eyes and ears glued to my TV set to find out who will go number 1 overall what crazy-ass (Benny, you were an English major, do I need to hyphenate "crazy-ass"?) deal Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard will swing during this year's NBA Draft.

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her piece of mildly bad news is that the Blazers haven't had the opportunity to play as a unit with Greg Oden, who will be central to the Blazers' game plan for years to come, meaning that they have no way of knowing what their team needs are at this point.

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on without one of the two central players on their roster, center and 2007 number one overall pick, Greg Oden.  Because they're playing as an incomplete unit without a player who is going to greatly impact the game on both ends of the floor, it's all but impossible to accurately evaluate the team's needs.  Who knows how the Blazers will play individually and as a team with Oden on the floor? It's not that everything we see the Blazers do this year is useless as a measuring stick more the future, but evaluations of the performance of the team and individual players this season must be taken with a grain of salt.

Continue reading "The Oden Dilemma"