Follow-up on Oden, Durant
Wednesday, November 26 | 5:42 p.m.
Received a couple comments on the blog about Greg Oden's plus/minus numbers. BlazersEdge.com linked to them and received a bunch of comments. . . .
I can understand the defensiveness of some fans; they're being fans, and you have to love 'em for it. Oden's plus/minus numbers certainly are not a definitive evaluation of his play. I mean, the guy is nine games into his career, for goodness' sake; there's a long way to go. But the numbers from the past two games are really, really disturbing. Oden has played a total of 33 minutes in those games, and the Blazers — who are very good and very deep — have been outscored by 40 points when he's on the floor. That is not good, even though it's not entirely Oden's fault.
By the way, these numbers require very little compiling on my part. They are available on the box scores posted by YahooSports.com. The good news about Oden: If he stays healthy, he is only going to get better.
As for Durant, we'll try to get to his plus/minus numbers in the near future. Meanwhile, we do know this: In two games since P.J. Carlesimo was fired, Durant is 20 of 35 from the floor and has scored 59 points. We also know this: For the season, he is shooting .463 from the field; his teammates . . . drumroll, please . . . are shooting .399. Yes, a group of NBA players is shooting .399 from the field. The league average, FYI, is .448
Man, the Thunder are awful. And while Durant clearly has some holes in his game (by the way, he's five days older than rookie Derrick Rose and almost 11 months younger than rookie O.J. Mayo), I'm not sure it's fair to criticize him for being a gunner. Who in the world should take shots for the Thunder? Earl Watson (.342 from the field)? Russell Westbrook (.333)? Jeff Green (.403)? Even their 7-foot center, Johan Petro, is shooting .400 from the field, which makes him less than half as accurate as Joel Przybilla. That is an terrible, terrible basketball team (as I write this, the Thunder trail the Cavaliers, 79-41).
by Dave Bell : 11/27/08 1:37am - Report Abuse
Things are slow here at work, hours away from the holiday weekend. So I'm thinking I can either spend time on Craig's List searching for a job that gives my life more meaning, or I can look up Kevin Durant's /- numbers. Care to guess which one I chose? Prepare for a rude awakening:Opponent Score W/Durant WO/Durant
Mil 87-98 -14 3
Hou 77-89 -1 -11
Min 88-85(W!) -2 5
Bos 83-96 -1 -12
Utah 97-104 -7 0
Atl 85-89 -9 5
Ind 99-107 -4 -4
NY 106-116 -13 3
Phi 85-110 -20 -5
Hou 89-100 -16 5
LAC 88-108 -24 5
NO 80-105 -24 -1
NO 97-109 -15 3
Pho 98-99 -1 0
Cle 82-117 -35 0
Totals -186 -5
Amazingly, Durant has yet to play a game this season in which the Robberbarons have outscored their opponents with him on the court. His teammates, on the other hand, would be 7-5-3 if those games were decided entirely by the score with him sitting. To be fair, they are 0-1, having lost to Orlando 92-109, in the one whole game played without him.
If Plus/Minus has value as a meaningful stat--and I'm still a little undecided on that issue--this does tend to support the idea that Durant is little more than a gunner. But the sample size is twice that of Oden's, and it is trending in the wrong direction. The past couple weeks, especially, is scary-ugly. It will be interesting to see what affect PJ's departure has on the team and Durant. I, for one, am more glad than ever that we drafted Oden. One thing I'm sure we can all agree on: that's one B-A-D team! At least you don't have to cover them anymore.