Complete Fulfillment

Here is some sound advice and why anyone jumping on Greg Oden's case should take a flying leap.

Living here in Portland there are a ton of expectations on Greg Oden. People jump on the band wagon really quick and they jump off really quick only to jump on the dog pile. It is really annoying. People just need to give him time to get into the NBA. Tonight was really his second game. He is a number one pick who was the pick of the decade to most people. Then he was hurt for all of last year then in the first 2 minutes of his first game he gets hurt again. He came back to play for the first time in Miami a few days ago and played tonight in New Orleans. He is now coming off the bench which is great in my opinion. In the Miami game he looked OK but still not in sync.

Tonight he looked great. He was a major defensive presence - patrolling the paint. He looked good running the floor - which he had not to this point. He was aggressive on the offensive end even though he did not get his number called much. He had a monster dunk off an inbounds play that was good to see. The main thing in my mind is that he seemed to feel comfortable for the first time ever on the court in the NBA. He was into the game and there was no center on New Orleans that could keep up with him. Here is what we have to look forward to in the future - a sky high block - this was awesome.

I can't wait for this guy to join the Blazers next season. He is going to need some work but he is high energy. In the gold medal game last night he made some threes, some great passes, rebounded and this great dunk. He fouled out and Spain lost but you can tell that this guy will be an exciting add to an already great Blazers squad.

The Russian reaction is the best part.

I opened the paper this morning to see that Brandon Roy was to have knee surgery this morning. It was a flash back to Oden last year. The good new is that he is going to be fine. He sure gets beat up but this is good news for the Blazers at this point. Here is some video of Pritchard talking about the procedure.

Kevin Pritchard on Brandon Roy's knee surgery

I'm back - not that any of you missed me but anyways...

I am in the process in finishing up my MBA and I have switched jobs. I have never been consistent about writing in this because of not enough time to commit. Hopefully I have some time to write and enjoy this and another blog that I write. I was looking back at these posts and it has been a while. I bought an iPhone in December and the new one is slated to come out next month. Needless to say a lot has happened since I last was active on this. More to come soon - Blazers & the NBA draft and the iPhone.

So as most anyone who follows the NBA probably know - Greg Oden is out for the season. He got up of the couch a while back and his knee was hurting. Then after about a week he was running at the practice facility it hurt more and he told someone. There was some swelling and an MRI - then they scoped the knee. The papers were talking about this should not be bad and he will probably be out for six weeks. Then microfracture.... What? Microfracture? That is the worst news that could come out of exploratory surgery. The first thought with microfracture is that he might not come back. A friend sent me this page that shows all of the NBA players that have had the procedure and the results. There are some bad results but there are more good results. The key is not to come back to early and put in the work. Zack Randolph had his best year every last year 2 years after his microfracture but his first year back was a struggle.

All these bad thoughts come but then time to get back to reality. The damage was very minimal, it was clean, there was no flaking and the rest of the knee looked great. He is 19 and has loads of talent and work ethic. And by the way the Blazers have a better team than anyone gives them credit for. Sure - Oden was going to help but it was a good 50% of the season that he was in a steep, steep learning curve.

Last season the Blazers were better than anyone ever expected. That was with Roy, the Rookie of the Year and leader, out for over 20 games. Lamarcus Aldridge out at the start of the season. Joel Pryzbilla out for a good chuck then having a rough time getting back. Zack was there but he was Zack. The Blazers proved that they played well without Zack - if not better.

Certain people think the Blazers will still be bad but those are the people that probably didn't watch 5 games last year. John Hollinger over at ESPN has a mathematical formula that he says has the Blazers winning 26 games next year. Are you nuts? That is worse than last year. This team will still be in the running for the 8th spot most of the year. They will win about 35 games. As Prichard said yesterday, this gives the other players a chance to step up. And a report from Blazers practice was about how Roy and the team decided it was time to support Oden and for everyone to step up. The team could decide this because they have all been at the practice facility working out for about a month. They are there because Roy called everyone this summer. No coaches just a team that is hungry. Watch out folks the Blazers are coming. It may be a couple of years to fully get there but if you are counting them out you are a fool.

The first thing that Oden said to GM Prichard was - sorry (about 20 times). He will be back and prove to the world his talent. And he will only be about 21 when he does. The future is still very bright for the Blazers.

The Vegas Summer Leage has started and the Blazers are playing the Boston Celtics. I was excited because the games were suppose to be broadcast on NBA.com. BUT...the Blazers game is blacked out. It will be on NBA TV tomorrow but still a fairly bad move by the NBA. Oden did not get of to a hot start but will be fine in the next game. That guy has so much pressure and attention I can't even imagine. This year will be great. It should be interesting to see the rest of the moves the Blazers make before the season. Darius Miles please retire.