3 Game Average: 17 points, 12.3 rebounds, 4 blocks, 21/34 FG, 9/14 FT, 27.3 minutes
Jonathan Givony
Helping his team to a Big Ten tournament championship in a mostly extremely impressive three day stretch, Greg Oden showed all of his strengths and weaknesses as an NBA draft prospect. And while he didnt dominate in the last game against Wisconsin, it was easy to notice the progress hes been making over the past few months.
At the collegiate level, Oden is a man amongst boys, plain and simple. He has an NBA body, outstanding length, and the type of athletic ability that most 7-footers can only dream of. This was felt throughout the tournament in the work he did defensively in the paint and on the glass, where he dominated in certain stretches and really changed the game for his team.
Oden is extremely quick off his feet and possesses a phenomenal second bounce after his initial vertical explosion. This helped him pull down 16 offensive rebounds in the three game stretch, many of which were converted directly into made baskets through tip-ins or ferocious put-back dunks. He has outstanding touch on his put-back attempts, just being able to stick his hand in gracefully in a perfectly timed maneuver to tap in a loose ball into the basket, sometimes using the glass. Although ESPN and other highlight reel compilers got plenty of mileage out of the thunderous put-back he had coming out of absolute nowhere against Purdue late in the 2nd half, one particular play he made stood out even more above the rest in this tournament. Mid-way through the first half in the second game, Oden was stuck on the left side of the rim as an errant shot ricocheted off the right side of the glass. Without hesitating, Oden reached over from damn near the other side of the paint and used his amazing wingspan to tip the ball up and into the basket, almost effortlessly. Its these kinds of plays that automatically put Oden into an exclusive class of talent as far as his combination of physical attributes and instincts go.
His terrific leaping ability, combined with his timing, also helped him block 12 total shots, although you never got the sense that he was risking his position on defense of for rebounds by rotating over aimlessly. Numerous times throughout the weekend you could see strange things happening around Odens territory in the paint that you normally dont expect from opposing players. Three or four consecutive pump fakes, traveling calls, awkward misses off the top of the glass in transition, and plenty of frustrated 3-point heaves as teams just abandoned the notion of slashing towards the paint altogether. These are things that dont show up in the box-score, but are a direct result of his presence as a tremendous intimidating force inside. As a defensive rebounder, he looked very active as well, going over the top of his man and often out his area to corral rebounds constantly with his big and very soft hands.
Offensively, Oden showed some nice things, particularly in the quarterfinals against Michigan, where he scored 22 points. He converted his jump-hooks at a very good rate, often throwing them high off the glass with his right hand using a very nice touch, sometimes from as far as 6-8 feet out. He also showed a devastating drop-step move, which put him point blank right at the rim in a situation that he will always convert at 100%. On another occasion, against Purdue, again setting up from the right baseline, he faked a move to his left shoulder and then spun quickly to his right towards the middle of the paint into a left-handed jump-hook from very close range, which he converted. The whole sequence couldnt have taken more than a second at most to execute. These are exactly the kind of advanced moves that get you incredibly excited about his upside on this end of the floor.
In terms of weaknesses, Oden could certainly have done a better job in man to man (as opposed to team) defense going up against the 6-7 Carl Landry. The crafty senior post man took him out to the perimeter on a couple of occasions and capitalized on Odens reluctance to come out and guard him by draining a number of long mid-range jumpers. He still struggles when pulled out to defend the pick and roll, not sliding his feet well enough to hedge the screen and get back in a timely fashion. Landry also wasnt shy about establishing deep position inside and scoring on him with his terrific base and excellent touch, finishing with 24 points on 9-16 shooting. Oden relies excessively on his shot-blocking tools in this area, giving up too much space in letting smaller post players get right where they want to, which for a player of Landrys caliber (let alone a real NBA big man), is just not going to work. In the Wisconsin game, he was almost completely neutralized in the first half, going scoreless after being saddled with foul problems before recovering nicely in the decisive second half.
Offensively, while he showed some great flashes, there are still too many long stretches in which he is almost completely silent, not calling for the ball despite his obvious natural advantages over the weak frontcourts the Big Ten has to offer, and struggling to create offense for himself on a consistent basis when he does get the ball. He had quite a few awkward and mechanical moves with his back to the basket where he just bulldozed his smaller and weaker man over using his brute strength to somehow throw the ball in the rim or get to the free throw line, but its hard to see these types of moves translating over effectively to the NBA. He still needs to work on his counters to expand his arsenal of tricks with which he can finish with, but at age 18, hes not doing poorly for himself at this point.
All in all, Oden is proving that the tremendous amount of hype he had coming out of high school was not unfounded, although hes not the devastating offensive force that fellow #1 pick candidate Kevin Durant is at this point in his career. Its fairly clear though that with his amazing physical attributes and outstanding intangibles, he will develop into a fantastic NBA player down the road, although just how good is still up for discussion.
At the collegiate level, Oden is a man amongst boys, plain and simple. He has an NBA body, outstanding length, and the type of athletic ability that most 7-footers can only dream of. This was felt throughout the tournament in the work he did defensively in the paint and on the glass, where he dominated in certain stretches and really changed the game for his team.
Oden is extremely quick off his feet and possesses a phenomenal second bounce after his initial vertical explosion. This helped him pull down 16 offensive rebounds in the three game stretch, many of which were converted directly into made baskets through tip-ins or ferocious put-back dunks. He has outstanding touch on his put-back attempts, just being able to stick his hand in gracefully in a perfectly timed maneuver to tap in a loose ball into the basket, sometimes using the glass. Although ESPN and other highlight reel compilers got plenty of mileage out of the thunderous put-back he had coming out of absolute nowhere against Purdue late in the 2nd half, one particular play he made stood out even more above the rest in this tournament. Mid-way through the first half in the second game, Oden was stuck on the left side of the rim as an errant shot ricocheted off the right side of the glass. Without hesitating, Oden reached over from damn near the other side of the paint and used his amazing wingspan to tip the ball up and into the basket, almost effortlessly. Its these kinds of plays that automatically put Oden into an exclusive class of talent as far as his combination of physical attributes and instincts go.
His terrific leaping ability, combined with his timing, also helped him block 12 total shots, although you never got the sense that he was risking his position on defense of for rebounds by rotating over aimlessly. Numerous times throughout the weekend you could see strange things happening around Odens territory in the paint that you normally dont expect from opposing players. Three or four consecutive pump fakes, traveling calls, awkward misses off the top of the glass in transition, and plenty of frustrated 3-point heaves as teams just abandoned the notion of slashing towards the paint altogether. These are things that dont show up in the box-score, but are a direct result of his presence as a tremendous intimidating force inside. As a defensive rebounder, he looked very active as well, going over the top of his man and often out his area to corral rebounds constantly with his big and very soft hands.
Offensively, Oden showed some nice things, particularly in the quarterfinals against Michigan, where he scored 22 points. He converted his jump-hooks at a very good rate, often throwing them high off the glass with his right hand using a very nice touch, sometimes from as far as 6-8 feet out. He also showed a devastating drop-step move, which put him point blank right at the rim in a situation that he will always convert at 100%. On another occasion, against Purdue, again setting up from the right baseline, he faked a move to his left shoulder and then spun quickly to his right towards the middle of the paint into a left-handed jump-hook from very close range, which he converted. The whole sequence couldnt have taken more than a second at most to execute. These are exactly the kind of advanced moves that get you incredibly excited about his upside on this end of the floor.
In terms of weaknesses, Oden could certainly have done a better job in man to man (as opposed to team) defense going up against the 6-7 Carl Landry. The crafty senior post man took him out to the perimeter on a couple of occasions and capitalized on Odens reluctance to come out and guard him by draining a number of long mid-range jumpers. He still struggles when pulled out to defend the pick and roll, not sliding his feet well enough to hedge the screen and get back in a timely fashion. Landry also wasnt shy about establishing deep position inside and scoring on him with his terrific base and excellent touch, finishing with 24 points on 9-16 shooting. Oden relies excessively on his shot-blocking tools in this area, giving up too much space in letting smaller post players get right where they want to, which for a player of Landrys caliber (let alone a real NBA big man), is just not going to work. In the Wisconsin game, he was almost completely neutralized in the first half, going scoreless after being saddled with foul problems before recovering nicely in the decisive second half.
Offensively, while he showed some great flashes, there are still too many long stretches in which he is almost completely silent, not calling for the ball despite his obvious natural advantages over the weak frontcourts the Big Ten has to offer, and struggling to create offense for himself on a consistent basis when he does get the ball. He had quite a few awkward and mechanical moves with his back to the basket where he just bulldozed his smaller and weaker man over using his brute strength to somehow throw the ball in the rim or get to the free throw line, but its hard to see these types of moves translating over effectively to the NBA. He still needs to work on his counters to expand his arsenal of tricks with which he can finish with, but at age 18, hes not doing poorly for himself at this point.
All in all, Oden is proving that the tremendous amount of hype he had coming out of high school was not unfounded, although hes not the devastating offensive force that fellow #1 pick candidate Kevin Durant is at this point in his career. Its fairly clear though that with his amazing physical attributes and outstanding intangibles, he will develop into a fantastic NBA player down the road, although just how good is still up for discussion.