Greg Oden

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.

Continue reading "Celtics v. Blazers Preview Extravaganza"

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

Continue reading "Thanksgiving Send Off Spectacular"

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.

Continue reading "Welcome Distractions Courtesy of Spain"

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.

Continue reading "First Draft"

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.

Continue reading "Bonus post: NBA Draft Musings"

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"