NBA - Wednesday, June 17, 2009 4:53 - 17 Comments

Is Oden A Bust?

Many  journalists are starting to consider the possibility that Greg Oden, the injury-laden number one overall pick of ‘07, is a bust.  Names like Michael Olowokandi and Kwame Brown are regularly mentioned when explaining how bad Greg Oden “looks” while he’s laboring up and down the court.  To add insult to injury, Oden’s rookie season was overshadowed by the play of rookies Derrick Rose and Oj Mayo.

At a glance, his rookie statistics are less than stellar.  Oden averaged only 8.9 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks.  Of the 61 games he played this season, he averaged 3.9 fouls per game and accumulated 5 or more fouls 21 times.  Not bad, considering Oden only played 21:30 minutes per game.  If he were to play 40 minute per game with the same foul rate, he would accumulate an astonishing 7.2 fouls per game.

So, is Oden a bust? Or did he actually have a better season than traditional statistics indicate? Continue…