OK, did anyone watch the rookie/sophmore game? Yeah Durant 'broke records', but it wasn't exactly the NBA Finals out there. Basically Durant showed a great ability to:
A) Hit open shots
B) Drive around defenders who were already planning for the after party
Durant is looking to become a good player, maybe even more. But, and this is where people need to get things straight, Greg Oden is OUR guy. I don't care if you were cold calling KP in the middle of the night before that draft to whisper "Durant, pick Durant" into his sleepy ear, we made our choice. Its time to FAN UP!
Funny thing is at the time everybody seemed to fall into line and next thing you know people are predicting that he'll average something like 20-15-3-3 right off the bat. Now Durant is having a great sophmore season (statistically) while Oden is having a rough rookie campaign and suddenly we totally blew it. Anyone remember Durant's rookie season, also known as the year of 5 for 19? He's shown tremendous growth from last season to this season, but you know what else? Greg has shown tremendous growth thoughout this season as well, he just started a little rougher for reasons that have been discussed ad-nauseum.
Oden bumped knees w/ Flopghetti and has a small chip/fracture. He practiced THE next day after this injury and has several more off for rest/treatment. The worst thing to come out of this injury may prove to be the Craig Sager interview that took place at this EXHIBITION game. Compared to Bynum this is probably nothing, just one of the results of playing around the basket all game.
Now in closing I'd like to state that this is not a 'Durant sucks!' post. I just feel a need to put yesterdays performance (very fitting word) into perspective, as well as Greg's injury. Durant is a heck of a player, and we have yet to see his best in all liklihood, but Oden is our guy. Has everyone forgotten how much better we are at rebounding this season and what that has done for our offense? Oden is a huge part of that, and has had a a much larger impact than another perimeter shooter/scorer would have for us.
