From SLAM.
http://slamonline.com/online/nba/200...e-a-sixth-man/
For reasons only known to him, the undeniably awesome John Canzano went on an endless rant this weekend about Greg Oden being a starter in Portland. Oden, the top pick in the 2007 draft, is having himself a decent season on a winning team thus far, but according to the fiery columnist, he should be coming off the bench.
Portland’s starter at the center position should apparently be Joel “Ghostface” Przybilla. And the reason this isn’t so, according to Canzano anyway, is because management wants their prized rookie to be a starter. From The Oregonian:
Oden has been handed his starting position, he’s been babied, and is held to a different set of standards than the rest of the team. This isn’t the blueprint for raising a hard-nosed player. He uses Paul Allen’s private bedroom on the team jet, a luxury afforded to no other player.
I’m not ready to say he’s a bust. He’s not. But it’s time to go to Przybilla. Oden is a long way from reaching the age at which we can make a sound judgment, but moving him to the bench is looooong overdue. And he’s the only player on the roster being handed anything, which makes me wonder if the directive is coming from up the management chain.
Oden, for his part, says he agrees with the assessment that Przybilla is playing better than him, and should therefore be starting. Thing is, though, unless Oden goes down with an injury again, there’s no way he’s being taken out of the starting lineup. That’s not favoritism from the front-office; it’s common sense.
No one is watching the Blazers play to see how Joel is doing, and with the two bigs’ production being similar, it only makes sense to give the guy who you’re counting on for the future the brunt of the minutes available. Perhaps Paul Allen could let Canzano snooze in his private chambers from time to time to calm him down.
Canzano is ridiculous sometimes. He's a good columnist, but he just wants to stir things up to create controversy. It's obvious that Oden should start and it's obvious that he should be afforded priviledges if he wants them. That's just the way it is.
If he's suppose to be our franchise center then why shouldn't he start? I think him starting is good he doesn't need to be a apart of our offense but with him starting he can get a feel for brandon, lma, and steve and they can start working him into it.. he's been doing a fine job as of late imo.
The only reason to start Przybilla over Oden is if Nate wanted to be able to regulate Oden's minutes better.
Other than that, it doesn't make much sense even if Przybilla is currently playing better. Oden doesn't bring much off the bench that Pryzbilla wouldn't anyway. Right now the two are pretty much interchangeable, so that's actually a good thing. With all things close to equal, you start the #1 pick that has the talent to be a major force in the league and hope he grows into that role more and more each game.
Greg Oden should be a ball boy or a security guard.
I like it. Brings up this to me. Mangoo is the Spews 2nd maybe 3rd best player depending on what homer you talk to BUT they all agree he deserved the 6th man award last year. CRAZY! Bring back the real 6th man award. A real bench player.
Oden should start off the bench. Reason being: He can be more aggressive and not worry about foul trouble when most people have collected a foul or two. Secondly, Pryzbilla is better than Oden for the time being. Until Oden shows he can manage foul trouble, he might as well start off the bench.
What, it can't be both?That’s not favoritism from the front-office; it’s common sense.
Didn't Oden in an interview say Przybilla is playing better than him and should start?
Read the article....
ttlong faints at the second coming of Darko Milicic.
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