tlongII
10-24-2008, 10:39 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf?/base/sports/122481691716220.xml&coll=7
A $500 reward offered for getting one past Greg Oden can help the Blazers
The $500 bounty placed on the head of Trail Blazers rookie Greg Oden is significant, and relevant, and maddening, but before all that, understand a few things about those who placed it there.
They don't want to kill him.
They don't want to injure him.
They want to dunk on him.
Oden should be the only one especially fired up about the contract put on his head by other NBA players.
I informed Blazers coach Nate McMillan a few hours before tipoff on Thursday about a Los Angeles Times report that Clippers guard Ricky Davis offered three teammates (Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan and Al Thornton) five one-hundred dollar bills for flushing one on Oden's dome.
Said McMillan: "If they need that as motivation, go ahead."
Keep in mind, Davis is the same player who, in 2006 with Minnesota, referred to McMillan's losing Blazers as "a bunch of cockroaches." Also, the bounty came after Davis learned that Sacramento's Kevin Martin was paid $1,000 by teammate Mikki Moore for a two-handed dunk on Oden a couple of nights earlier.
Ever have the feeling they're gunning for you?
Yeah.
Oden should.
McMillan said that he's never heard of an NBA player having a bounty placed on his head. But he remembers players being concerned about being injured by physical players such as Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman.
"That wasn't about money," McMillan said.
Now, is anyone really surprised that the top player picked in the 2007 NBA Draft has a price on his head? Is anyone shocked that the player bantered about as if he were the next Bill Russell would find himself in the cross hairs? Is anyone disturbed that the cool guy getting all the karaoke attention, the one performing with Justin Timberlake and greeted by 5,000 fans when he was drafted, is being targeted?
Oh, also, is anyone paying attention to the other Blazers?
No bounty on Brandon Roy, see. No price on LaMarcus Aldridge's head. Nobody talking about kicking in $500 for a dunk on Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake or anyone else. And I only bring this up to demonstrate that Oden already has measurable value to the Blazers.
Let him be the focus.
As long as teams are talking about Oden, and shooting for Oden, and trying to back-slap each other silly at the thought of embarrassing him, doesn't Portland then have other NBA teams right where it wants them?
There's been a bounty on Oden since he was 13, basically. That happens when you're extremely tall, and skilled. He's been targeted, and attacked, and gunned at. Maybe it didn't involve a cash prize then, but pride was at stake, and he only ended up as the centerpiece at Ohio State and in Portland because he excelled with all that attention focused his way.
The NFL is investigating whether Baltimore Ravens players placed a bounty on certain Pittsburgh Steelers players. And the league has a right to be concerned because the object there apparently was to injure a player to the point where he had to leave the game. And in that, we have a dangerous development, and an ethical breach that could result in a diminished product.
That's not what's happening with Oden.
Which is why the NBA shouldn't pay this any attention.
The real sociological experiment here is the one involving Davis. This is a player who has never won a championship at any level of organized basketball -- including high school. He spent one year in college (Iowa), and is now with his seventh NBA team in 11 seasons.
Davis has played in 11 playoff games in his professional career, and his teams have not won a single playoff series. And if you're looking for his career accomplishments, a fourth-place finish in the 2000 Slam Dunk competition is as interesting as it gets.
This is the sheriff in the Clippers locker room?
The Blazers host Davis and the Clippers on Dec. 12 at the Rose Garden Arena. No bounty necessary.
Until then, stay classy, Ricky.
A $500 reward offered for getting one past Greg Oden can help the Blazers
The $500 bounty placed on the head of Trail Blazers rookie Greg Oden is significant, and relevant, and maddening, but before all that, understand a few things about those who placed it there.
They don't want to kill him.
They don't want to injure him.
They want to dunk on him.
Oden should be the only one especially fired up about the contract put on his head by other NBA players.
I informed Blazers coach Nate McMillan a few hours before tipoff on Thursday about a Los Angeles Times report that Clippers guard Ricky Davis offered three teammates (Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan and Al Thornton) five one-hundred dollar bills for flushing one on Oden's dome.
Said McMillan: "If they need that as motivation, go ahead."
Keep in mind, Davis is the same player who, in 2006 with Minnesota, referred to McMillan's losing Blazers as "a bunch of cockroaches." Also, the bounty came after Davis learned that Sacramento's Kevin Martin was paid $1,000 by teammate Mikki Moore for a two-handed dunk on Oden a couple of nights earlier.
Ever have the feeling they're gunning for you?
Yeah.
Oden should.
McMillan said that he's never heard of an NBA player having a bounty placed on his head. But he remembers players being concerned about being injured by physical players such as Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman.
"That wasn't about money," McMillan said.
Now, is anyone really surprised that the top player picked in the 2007 NBA Draft has a price on his head? Is anyone shocked that the player bantered about as if he were the next Bill Russell would find himself in the cross hairs? Is anyone disturbed that the cool guy getting all the karaoke attention, the one performing with Justin Timberlake and greeted by 5,000 fans when he was drafted, is being targeted?
Oh, also, is anyone paying attention to the other Blazers?
No bounty on Brandon Roy, see. No price on LaMarcus Aldridge's head. Nobody talking about kicking in $500 for a dunk on Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, Steve Blake or anyone else. And I only bring this up to demonstrate that Oden already has measurable value to the Blazers.
Let him be the focus.
As long as teams are talking about Oden, and shooting for Oden, and trying to back-slap each other silly at the thought of embarrassing him, doesn't Portland then have other NBA teams right where it wants them?
There's been a bounty on Oden since he was 13, basically. That happens when you're extremely tall, and skilled. He's been targeted, and attacked, and gunned at. Maybe it didn't involve a cash prize then, but pride was at stake, and he only ended up as the centerpiece at Ohio State and in Portland because he excelled with all that attention focused his way.
The NFL is investigating whether Baltimore Ravens players placed a bounty on certain Pittsburgh Steelers players. And the league has a right to be concerned because the object there apparently was to injure a player to the point where he had to leave the game. And in that, we have a dangerous development, and an ethical breach that could result in a diminished product.
That's not what's happening with Oden.
Which is why the NBA shouldn't pay this any attention.
The real sociological experiment here is the one involving Davis. This is a player who has never won a championship at any level of organized basketball -- including high school. He spent one year in college (Iowa), and is now with his seventh NBA team in 11 seasons.
Davis has played in 11 playoff games in his professional career, and his teams have not won a single playoff series. And if you're looking for his career accomplishments, a fourth-place finish in the 2000 Slam Dunk competition is as interesting as it gets.
This is the sheriff in the Clippers locker room?
The Blazers host Davis and the Clippers on Dec. 12 at the Rose Garden Arena. No bounty necessary.
Until then, stay classy, Ricky.