Ceiling of this team playing now, everyone prime

[dygaction]

This was Blazers 08-09 team. Ceiling of this team playing now, everyone prime and healthy. Oden at 2010 level (11/8.5/0.9a/2.3b)

PG: Brandon Roy - he played SG but should be great for today as PG
SG: Rudy Fernandez
SF: Nicolas Batum
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge
C: Greg Oden

Bench: Steve Blake/Travis Outlaw/Channing Frye

[pancakes3]

WCF and losing to Nugs in 6.

[Tim Lehrbach]

Amazing regular season team, even playing an antiquated style.

DOA against today's legitimate contenders in the postseason.

Oden had potential but was nowhere near ready for playoff Jokic. He, Przybilla, and Aldridge likely all get cooked. The backcourt matchup would be fun.

The Clippers might waste this team too. Long, strong wings are exactly what you need to slow Roy. Peak Iguodala was the best Roy defender, but even these versions of Kawhi and George could hold their own. Steve Blake was always a tough competitor, but guarding Harden and/or Westbrook just isn't going to work.

Celtics and Bucks with their vast forward superiority are also rough to contemplate.

OKC and Minnesota would be incredibly fun series, IMO.

Batum and Rudy were good but young role players who aren't going to bridge gaps in the top-level talent.

I say all this as the biggest Roy homer you'll find. He was going to be a legit HOF number one, I swear. Aldridge and Oden could have become a great two and three. But none of it was ever observed, except the eventual emergence of LMA. Roy was robbed of that peak and only actually ever reached the level of post-prime Kobe. Oden provided entertaining cameos but wasn't a serious NBA player. We can't just assume they work out or work together. As is, there's neither the elite talent nor the proven supporting cast to threaten in the playoffs.

[Red Robot]

I loved this team and I think they had absolutely top tier potential in their era. In today's league, and with what we actually observed, they'd probably be just good but not great. Roy and Rudy were pretty poor defenders already, while Aldrige (at the 4) and Oden would be worse defensive fits today. On offense, the main stars in Roy and Aldridge both have versatile skillsets that would be good in the present league, but aren't quite as well-suited as they were for their own playing days.

If we're talking ceilings, I think it's still pretty high. Maybe they find great schemes on both sides of the ball and make it work. The more likely outcome is that they're a middling playoff team who could win a series but not seriously threaten the best teams.

If you extrapolate Oden's limited play to his theoretical all-NBA prime the outlook improves. It doesn't really solve the team's limitations, but in combination with the rest of the roster that would be a lot for anyone to deal with.

[dygaction]

I loved this team and I think they had absolutely top tier potential in their era. In today's league, and with what we actually observed, they'd probably be just good but not great. Roy and Rudy were pretty poor defenders already, while Aldrige (at the 4) and Oden would be worse defensive fits today. On offense, the main stars in Roy and Aldridge both have versatile skillsets that would be good in the present league, but aren't quite as well-suited as they were for their own playing days.

If we're talking ceilings, I think it's still pretty high. Maybe they find great schemes on both sides of the ball and make it work. The more likely outcome is that they're a middling playoff team who could win a series but not seriously threaten the best teams.

If you extrapolate Oden's limited play to his theoretical all-NBA prime the outlook improves. It doesn't really solve the team's limitations, but in combination with the rest of the roster that would be a lot for anyone to deal with.

I wanted to extrapolate Oden's theoretical potential, but that was GOAT level making Durant #2 overall pick..

[Tim Lehrbach]

I wanted to extrapolate Oden's theoretical potential, but that was GOAT level making Durant #2 overall pick..

Right. That's the thing, isn't it? Not only was Roy on a trajectory to superstardom, but Oden was theoretically an all-time great center in the making too.

Or so it's fun to imagine.

What we actually got was an Oden whose flashes of greatness were never more than intermittent. He would routinely look like a Mutombo-level defensive anchor one quarter and commit three fouls the next. His offensive game was likewise feast or famine, or, in basketball terms, powerful dunk or clumsy turnover (with the occasional nifty jump hook, I'll give him!). His conditioning was poor because he could never put together a long enough stretch of training or games to be in any kind of NBA shape.

Oden had a long way to go before he was starring for a team with legit championship aspirations. His hypothetical peak of Shaq-but-makes-free-throws is a mirage. If we instead take the Oden we saw and assume no improvement, but give him longevity and more consistency, we still get a high-level contributor: say, Hibbert's equal defensively and DeAndre Jordan with range to 15 feet offensively? (I suck at comparisons, but those two jumped to mind.) That's a perennial all-star. It also still feels like a stretch because longevity and consistency were probably always going to elude Oden. He struggled not only with injuries but with alcohol. He committed an act of DV, which would have been a far bigger deal if he had not already faded from the collective consciousness of the NBA world. His psychological makeup did not present as a resilient professional adult, nor as a positive presence to a basketball team.

I hate to pick on the guy. I've never been so excited for my team to draft a prospect. And he did show flashes of that insane potential. But his career is a reminder that there are no guarantees anybody, no matter how gifted, finds success at the highest levels.