The center situation

Village Idiot · Post #1 » by **Village Idiot** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:29 pm

I was looking at the stats for the five games since Greg came back.

PPG: 21.6
RPG: 20.2
BPG: 3.8
FG%: 69
FT%: 74

Interestingly Przybilla has improved since Oden came back. Even his fouls are way down.

jakjup216 · Post #2 » by **jakjup216** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:43 pm

Joel is my dude!! after the 1st game i was like.. Oden should come off the bench for the foreseeable future.. to me at least

The Emcee · Post #3 » by **The Emcee** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:49 pm

It probably has a little to do with job retention. If Przybilla doesn't perform, there is 0 chance he gets to keep starting. Granted, whatever he does there is little chance he'll keep starting in the long run.

a_sensei · Post #4 » by **a_sensei** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:52 pm

The big thing for Joel is that he can be super aggressive. He doesn't have to worry about fouls. It just makes it that much easier when there is less pressure. 20 and 20 is pretty sweet.

Post #5 » by **Billy** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:00 pm

a_sensei wrote:The big thing for Joel is that he can be super aggressive. He doesn't have to worry about fouls. It just makes it that much easier when there is less pressure. 20 and 20 is pretty sweet.

I think that's huge. If Joel can go out and play hard every night, and not worry about fouling out we'll get amazing production out of him. I can live with him fouling out in 15 minutes if he's getting me a couple blocks and a bunch of rebounds.

Village Idiot · Post #6 » by **Village Idiot** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:08 pm

I forgot to add Diogu's 7 minutes at center in the Chicago blow-out. Add his numbers and its:

23 ppg
20,4 rpg
70 FG%
73 FT%

The Emcee · Post #7 » by **The Emcee** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:14 pm

I love how FG% is only 3 pts lower than FT% :lol:

PDXKnight · Post #8 » by **PDXKnight** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:27 pm

I understand that some fans would call this complete homerism but if Greg and Joel can stay healthy, could this be one of the best center combinations ever?

Brandon-Clyde · Post #9 » by **Brandon-Clyde** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:03 pm

Oden2 wrote:I understand that some fans would call this complete homerism but if Greg and Joel can stay healthy, could this be one of the best center combinations ever?

There will be some who say that .The thing is we have to admit it is not yet there but if Oden continues to get better fewer and fewer will be able to argue the point,I have said all along that even if Oden starts playing 36mpg and putting up Dwight Howard numbers having Pryzbilla to fill in when Oden is out would be an amazing advantage over every other team

quackquack · Post #10 » by **quackquack** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:07 pm

What would be truly awesome is if we played them both at the same time. :lol:

Imagine this lineup
5: Pryz
4: Oden
3: LMA
2: Batum/Outlaw
1: Roy

Sure we'd get killed on the break, but it'd be worth it.

Post #11 » by **BlackMamba** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:10 pm

i don't understand why people want to trade joel.

JD45 · Post #12 » by **JD45** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:11 pm

Oden2 wrote:I understand that some fans would call this complete homerism but if Greg and Joel can stay healthy, could this be one of the best center combinations ever?

Still would not be close to as dominant as Wilt Chamberlain and whoever played his backup. And not as dominant as Shaq and whoever.

a_sensei · Post #13 » by **a_sensei** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 pm

BlackMamba wrote:i don't understand why people want to trade joel.

I think those people are few and far between, but sometimes vocal.

Soulyss · Post #14 » by **Soulyss** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:41 pm

I don't think anyone is suggesting we trade Joel anymore.. he's the best backup center in the league (he would start for 50% of the teams right now) and Oden allows him to be very aggressive.. Plus he's a great man and help defender, which Oden can learn from.

So long as he doesn't try and teach Oden how to shoot free-throws, we should be set. :lol:

Zyme · Post #15 » by **Zyme** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:49 pm

quackquack wrote:What would be truly awesome is if we played them both at the same time.

Imagine this lineup
5: Pryz
4: Oden
3: LMA
2: Batum/Outlaw
1: Roy

Sure we'd get killed on the break, but it'd be worth it.

Play a 2-3, or a 2-2-1, or matchup zone with both down low. Batum on the VGP side and LMA on the oden side, and Roy/Blake guarding the PG. That would be deadly against banging teams like the Jazz.

Milkdud · Post #16 » by **Milkdud** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:48 pm

a_sensei wrote:The big thing for Joel is that he can be super aggressive. He doesn't have to worry about fouls. It just makes it that much easier when there is less pressure. 20 and 20 is pretty sweet.

You hit the nail on the head with that statement. Having legit center depth allows Joel to play with more freedom (less burden might be a better way to look at it).

Kind of a random thought but. Does the addition of Oden and the idea of getting scoring out of the center position perhaps change how and when the blazers look to get Joel the ball? I dunno if I'm out there on this but it seems to me that on offense Joel isn't really doing anything different but his teammates are actually feeding him the ball when he puts himself in position to score. (Either by filling the lane when someone drives, or getting very deep post position).

Zyme · Post #17 » by **Zyme** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:56 pm

I think that our centers have been getting very opportunistic point. The defenses are so worried about our sniping ability (43%) from the arc that they have to pull out, giving our bigs room to work. Also this will hurt the opposing defensive rebounding and help our offensive rebounding, giving them easy put backs. Either way, having two centers that can rebound (esepecially a beast and scoring threat like Greg) can give us a huge advantage.