Basketball & NBA 15 May 2007 10:54 pm
In Oden We Trust
The draft in June is coming up quickly and many say it is one of the deepest in history, but many also know that the number one pick will almost certainly be Greg Oden of Ohio State. And, quite frankly, I cannot even describe what kind of publicity his arrival in the NBA will draw to league. It is not only because of Oden’s unlimited potential, but also because of the league’s lack of true centers. I think that Oden is the future of the center position and the NBA in general. He is one of the only players in recent years to emerge from high school with the potential to become a pure center in college and in the pros.
Now, let’s not get too excited and say that he will become as physically dominant as the Shaquille O’Neal or will turn out to be as smooth as Tim Duncan, but let me tell you this: GREG ODEN IS SPECIAL. We all know about his monstrous body (he weighs more than 280 lb. and stands at 7-0) and many doubt that he is only 23 years old, but the strength in Oden’s g
ame lies in his defensive presence. It has been a long time since I have seen a player dominate games on the defensive end through constant shot-blocking and physical intimidation. When playing against Oden, players attack the rim hard in the beginning of the game, but are turned back. Because of this, they stop driving down the lane and when they do, they spend half of their time just looking to see where Oden is on the floor. This aura of intimidation is a surprising resemblance of what I also saw in Hakeem Olajuwan a decade earlier.
Now, if Oden can improve in his back-to-the-basket game and improve in getting open on the block, he will become unstoppable. He will be both a scoring threat and defensive presence in the NBA next season and I strongly believe that he could quickly become a great 20-10-3 guy (in points, rebounds, and blocks). The Ohio State product truly is the next big thing and he holds the future of the NBA in his enormous hands right now.
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on 17 May 2007 at 10:41 am 1.Basketball Fundamentals said …
I agree that Greg Oden may be next Bill Russell and that NBA will benefit a lot from his coming to the league. I hope Celtics will draft him and build a winning team around a dominant defensive center once again.
on 17 May 2007 at 4:26 pm 2.Luka said …
I don’t know if he will become someone like Bill Russell (after all, he is a legend)…we’ll have to see if this pressure will weigh Oden down.