Greg Bowie out 2-4 weeks.

[Q, West Coast Style]

Then after that, I wonder what the over/under is on number of games or minutes he lasts until he's in street clothes again?

[Neely8]

I for one am shocked!!

Maybe during this 2-4 weeks he can go down to the playground and play some pickup games. Dumbass....

[Dinsdale]

Maybe during this 2-4 weeks he can go down to the playground and play some pickup games. Dumbass....

I'll adress this now...

Gee, Squeeley... you give one account of what happened, and everyone at the gym who actually witnessed it gives another...

Hmmm... tough call on who to believe. I'll go with "dude stood all-but-stationary and tossed the ball to some kids while signing autographs, while waiting for his buddies to get done working out."


But anyhoo...

How do you lose a game, and still come out a big winner?

By having Little Greggy's coming out party, that's how.

24 minutes (off the bench)
11 points off 3-3 FG shooting
5-6 at the stripe
11 boards
0 turnovers
4 blocks (3 really, but the refs seemed to have forgotten about that "goaltending" rule on both ends -- Crysomemore Chandler had a couple of egregious offenses, as well)


Be very fucking afraid, NBA.


How did the gimpy Kevin Durant do, anyhow?

It was a rhetorical question -- he failed to even live up the the horrific FG shooting that so far seems to be the trademark of his early career, and continued with his dedication to be the worst rebounding 6'9" guy in the NBA, while throwing up an asst/TO ratio of less than 1.

Seems like a nice kid, and he'll be a servicable pro, and maybe even borderline star. But he wasn't even the second best option in the 2007 draft. Horford is, and will probably continue to be a much better player.

BTW - not sure if I mentioned it here, but I sure the fuck screamed it from the mountaintops in my daily life... Godfather Horford got fucking screwed in the ROY voting. They really need to stop letting uninformed idiots who don't even follow the NBA vote for ROY and MVP and whatsuch. The ROY was a freaking no-brainer, yet the guys with no brains still screwed it up. Maybe not as bad as the douche who voted for Bargnani, citing "because he helped his team to a 9 game improvement," when the guy who took every other vote LED his team to a 10 game improvement, but it was idiocy and hype at its worst nonetheless.


But in closing...


You guys not named Luther (sup Luth) are fucked.

[Rack Fu]

24 minutes (off the bench)
11 points off 3-3 FG shooting
5-6 at the stripe
11 boards
0 turnovers
4 blocks (3 really, but the refs seemed to have forgotten about that "goaltending" rule on both ends -- Crysomemore Chandler had a couple of egregious offenses, as well)


Be very fucking afraid, NBA.

Let's see if the kid can play more than 3 games in a row before anyone needs to be afraid. I wouldn't start erecting a wing in Springfield just yet with those numbers. Let's be realistic here, he's just barely ahead of me and you from a career stats perspective.

My personal opinion is that Oden will be a career bust because he just isn't going to be healthy... ever. All the ability in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if his wheels are always busted.

[Dinsdale]

Let's see if the kid can play more than 3 games in a row before anyone needs to be afraid. I wouldn't start erecting a wing in Springfield just yet with those numbers. Let's be realistic here, he's just barely ahead of me and you from a career stats perspective.

Realistic?

What, are you high?

Realism has no place in sports fanaticism.

The team I've lived and died by since I was old enough to walk and talk went from 22 straight playoff appearances to the toilet in the blink of an eye, and now Blazermania is back, and another championship banner is inevitable...

And you want me to be realistic?

Get the fuck outta here. These Rose-City-colored glasses ain't coming off anytime soon, bro.

But your basic points are certainly sound.

If you didn't see the game... what he did was give us a little glimpse into the dominant player he has the potential to be.

They probably didn't show it on Sportcenter/highlights, but I can recall twice during the game a Hornet making a move to the hoop, looking up and seeing the monster coming, and having a change of heart mid-move... resulting in traveling being called. That stuff doesn't show up in the box score, but certainly has an impact on the game.

My personal opinion is that Oden will be a career bust because he just isn't going to be healthy... ever. All the ability in the world won't amount to a hill of beans if his wheels are always busted.

Dude, you must be distracted or something...

I'll assume it was an oversight that you left the "sin, Shaq" off the end of that.

Or "sin, Hakeem."

Or "sin, Bill Walton."

Or any other dominant big man you'd care to name (although Kareem had quite a few 82 game seasons in his long career... but not playing any defense saves wear and tear on the body).



This isn't really what you're rolling with here, is it?

[Dinsdale]

But don't get me wrong... this whole resurgence seems a little too good to be true, and us fans know there has to be some catch, some something must be wrong with this too-good-to-be-true scenario...

And then we remember that the guy who's going to lead us to the Promised Land is a Hucking Fusky.

[WolverineSteve]

ESPN mag article.



First impressions matter more in basketball than in any other sport, and they can be savored only in person. Players can't hide behind pads or helmets, so we can stare at them, evaluate every move they make: running, jumping, walking, even ogling the cheerleaders. We can see every ripple and tattoo. If they're lazy, we can tell. If they have a lousy attitude, we can tell. If their teammates dislike them, we can tell. It's the most naked sport, if that makes sense.

And if we happen to be watching a potential franchise center, we can tell right away. I remember watching young David Robinson stroll out of the tunnel at the Boston Garden as everyone made the same sound: "Whoa." Young Hakeem possessed so much raw athletic ability, he could barely harness it; watching him play hoops was like watching a 15-year-old driving a Formula One race car. Young Dikembe altered every shot within 12 feet, and eight blocks per game seemed realistic. Young Shaq had the highest ceiling of all: I specifically recall leaving the Garden thinking, It's all over; nobody has a chance against that guy.

ODEN DIDN'T SEEM ANY MORE INTIMIDATING THAN LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE.

Yes, you always remember the underwhelming and overwhelming moments of first impressions, especially with franchise bigs. The "merely whelming" moments, though, fade away. I remember seeing the aforementioned four newbies for the first time, but I caught Ewing as a rookie and remember nothing. He whelmed me. Same for Yao, Sampson and Zo. On the other hand, young Shawn Bradley left me more than underwhelmed. Actually, I thought,
Oh no, Philly is screwed!

So I couldn't wait to attend a Clippers-Blazers preseason game a few weeks ago. I needed my first impression of Greg Oden.

I needed to fit him on my Whelm Scale. He ended up landing "under." Oden ran with— there's no other way to say it—a noticeable limp. His body sank within itself, like the token tall guy in college who decides it's better to slump than to listen to tall jokes for the next four years. He jogged every time there was an opportunity to jog. Physically, he didn't seem any more intimidating than his teammate LaMarcus Aldridge. Everything about his body language said, "I'm not healthy or confident in my body yet."

Sure, he could dunk in traffic, challenge a few shots, sink an ugly jump hook or two. But everything came in quick bursts. His game lacked a certain fluidity that great centers usually have. It's the same quality that bothered me about the guy in college: Maybe all the parts were there, but the whole rarely matched them.

Here's where you should (rightly) point out that Oden was returning from microfracture surgery and battling inevitable confidence issues. And here's where I agree. It's too early to say definitively, This is where we stand. I just know what I saw, and here's what I saw: a 20-year-old guy who walked and ran like he was 35. Of course, you could have said the same about him in Columbus, but back then, at least he would randomly unleash an occasional superfreak moment: a hellacious dunk, a Russell-like block, whatever. Not anymore. His current ceiling looks more like Erick Dampier on a really good day.

Six days later, Oden sprained his foot on opening night and spawned another wave of Sam Bowie chatter. I'd just e-mailed my editors the day before to tell them I was writing about Oden. When they asked why, I sent them a rough draft of the previous three paragraphs and added that, if I had one non-Celtics NBA wish for the coming season, it would be for me to be wrong.

And not just because Oden pushes a fun Blazers team to another level. The league needs him. He could be a wonderful, thoughtful personality along the lines of Bill Bradley, Kevin McHale, Charles Barkley, Magic Johnson and Bill Walton—an original, someone who defies every unfair stereotype of NBA players.

Oden told Portland GM Kevin Pritchard, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," after finding out he needed knee surgery. He played piano for JT at the ESPYs. He messes with reporters during interviews by seeing how many questions he can answer in a monotone. He's such a nice person, I guarantee he will never throw a punch in a game. He never takes himself seriously. He's legitimately funny and self-aware, wise beyond his years, intuitive almost to a fault.

When The Oregonian's Jason Quick casually mentioned to Oden that he'd been a little underwhelmed by his preseason, Oden took it so personally that Quick cringed for the rest of the conversation. Oden never yelled at Quick nor defended himself, but his feelings were genuinely hurt. The reporter eventually walked away feeling terrible and wrote a terrific piece about it. Do we ever hear stories like that about professional athletes anymore? I've been writing columns for 20 years, dating back to college, and this is the first one I've ever worried about the subject reading.

THIS IS THE FIRST COLUMN I EVER WORRIED ABOUT THE SUBJECT READING.

I can't remember a more fascinating big guy. Shaq was contrived. Robinson was a saint. Ewing was forced. Hakeem was bland. Kareem was a ninny. Wilt was self-absorbed. Russell was angry and defiant. Oden presents the first chance for us to connect with a big guy on a semispiritual level. He's the lovable goofball who could have been your college roommate or next-door neighbor, the kid who went big time and took us with him. I want him to make it for the simple fact that I love basketball and we need more players like him. We just do.

Unfortunately, he has rarely seemed like a franchise center in anything more than hype. I was concerned during his high school years when it was revealed that one leg was shorter than the other. Hmmm. I was concerned during his Ohio State season, when everyone kept making excuses for him despite mounting evidence that THE NEXT GREAT CENTER GREG ODEN just couldn't dominate night to night. I was concerned after watching him walk down a hallway after the 2007 ESPYs, when he reminded me of Fred Sanford. I was concerned after the sudden announcement that he needed major surgery.

Hey, if someone's body isn't quite meant to survive 1,000 to 1,200 NBA games—well, in my opinion, you can tell right away. Bill Walton always ran like a guy with bad feet. Why? His feet couldn't handle an NBA season. They haunted him, betrayed him and ultimately murdered his career. Structurally, he had a problem that couldn't be solved.

By contrast, young Hakeem moved like a seven-foot soccer player—impossibly light on his feet, jarringly quicker than everyone else—and you couldn't watch him without thinking, This is where basketball is going.

So it makes sense that Hakeem played nearly 800 more games than Walton did. Watch them running on NBA TV, and it will still be no surprise.

That's the thing about first impressions: Maybe they don't say everything, but you can't ignore them. I would've bet my life that Hakeem was going to become a great player, barring injury, in 1984. I don't feel even remotely the same about Greg Oden. We know he's a wonderful person, and a skilled player, but it remains unclear whether his body was meant to play basketball for a living.

From what I've seen so far, the answer is no. Just know that I've never wanted to be more wrong about anything.

[Q, West Coast Style]

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[The Seer]

No big deal, they're as deep and talented as the Lakers...

[Dinsdale]

ESPN mag article.

How'd that work out for the Pistons-btw?

PWN3D!, is how it worked out. Pistons couldn't even get near the basket with Oldman in there.

LaMarcus sure put a schoolin' on The Shed, too.

[WolverineSteve]

December is when Blazerfan does his best talking. We'll all await the spring fade. But yeah your boys dominated that regular season game, you must be the better team .

[Dinsdale]

Yeah, I suppose if we throw out things like... oh, say like "facts," you make a solid point.

Just because the Blazers have a better record against a tougher schedule with the fewest home games of any team, and won the head to head matchup (8 of the last 11 in Detroit-btw), score more points per game while giving up less points per game...

it doesn't mean they're the better team.


JON... give Steve his password back, man.