ellobo wrote:I was never an Oden believer. He seemed to me like a really good traditional rim protecting, post defending, rebounding center, with not a whole lot of offensive game. Oden had a decent jump hook, especially with the right hand, but that's about all he had away from the rim. He had some offensive skill, so he wasn't a non-scorer, but not a guy I ever expected you could pound the ball into in the low post, or who could face up slower big men as the focus of an offense.
In other words, I never saw him at the overall level of scoring centers like Shaq, Olajuwon, Robinson, Ewing, Duncan, Moses, etc, or even down to Robert Parish/Alonzo Mourning level. He might have been as good or better than some of those guys defensively and/or on the boards, but not as an overall two way player.
He was a good defender, but he was fouling machine. He averaged 6.6 fouls per 36 and 10.1 per 100 possessions and never played more than 24 minutes per game. That's Norvel Pelle territory, although Pelle blocked almost twice as many shots per 100 (6.0 to 3.5). By comparison Jaren Jackson Jr. through last year was 4.9 and 6.5 and was limited to 27.4mpg. So Oden could reduce his fouling by over a third and still probably have it limit his playing time. Compared to say Ewing, he committed twice as many fouls per 100, while blocking slightly fewer shots, and getting slightly fewer steals and defensive rebounds.
Oden definitely had a lot of potential, but I think it gets overblown into legendary proportions that I just don't think are accurate.
It's not a popular opinion, but I agree.
I always thought he'd put up peak Rudy Gobert type numbers at his peak. Excellent defender and rebounder, raw on offense. He did average 11ppg in 23mpg in his last good season, so maybe I'm wrong, I just never saw it.
