In February, I compared Joakim Noah to Anderson Vareajo. In today's column, Bill Simmons called Noah a "Rich Man's Vareajo."
As I watched the Championship Game, and listened to Billy Packer and Jim Nantz go on and on about Greg Oden playing 35 minutes, I started to wonder about what injury he was overcoming. After he played the first eight minutes of the second half, Packer could not contain himself and mentioned over and over how much heart Oden had playing all those minutes.
Are you kidding? This is the "Next Greatest Center in the History of Basketball." The man who is supposed to be the next Bill Russel, Tim Duncan or Patrick Ewing. There are timeouts every four minutes. Plus, each coach gets six timeouts. With all those stoppages, players should be able to play forty minutes if necessary.
Oden had his best game of the year and had to play against several different Gators. I get it. But, really, should it be that surprising that the future of basketball can play 35 minutes? And, if it is that surprising or even noteworthy, is he really the Future?
Did anyone catch how Packer went from suggesting that, at 6'9 with long arms, Brewer was "almost seven-feet" to simply calling him a seven-footer at later stages of the game? He just started to give away three inches.
Packer's other classic lines included his confusing Ohio State and Florida when talking about Donovan's startegy to keep Florida from getting to the free throw line as frequently as the Gators did against UCLA and Oregon. Huh? Donovan was working against his own team? Does CBS even care anymore? It's been 33 years: retire him already.
And, seriously, did Packer suggest Oden should be the MOP in a losing effort? Does he watch the games? Sure, Oden had a good, maybe even great game in the Finals, but (1) they lost; (2) Conley is the Buckeyes MVP; and (3) Corey Brewer's shooting and defense was the difference in both games (he outscored the rest of his team combined in the 1st half of the UCLA game while shutting down a First Team All-American).
Monday, April 02, 2007
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8 comments:
Prior to your comparison to Anderson, I always thought of him as another Marcus Camby -- tall, very skinny, runs the floor, great defender, doesn't get many offensive looks other than off fast breaks and second-chances. Relative to Camby, Noah has a few more offensive skills, but might not be as much of a high riser. Noah's leadership skills seem to be considerably greater than Camby's. Anderson's leadership skills and energy are very similar to Noah's, but I think Noah has better court sense, is better at avoiding fouls, and just generally has a more polished game.
Brian, I don't know what your take on this is, but in some ways I had trouble evaluating Brewer and Horford. Clearly, they're excellent players, but on a team like Florida where no one player is featured, its difficult to tell if a given player is doing well because he's doing well, or if he's doing well because the defense is concerned about two or three other guys at the same time. What would Corey Brewer look like if he played for, say, West Virginia? You can only be the most outstanding player with 13 and 8 if your team is REALLY balanced. But what if it wasn't? What if opposing teams only had one Florida big man to body up?
Marcus Camby is an interesting take. Noah is a better passer. But, I think Camby is better in other facets. Noah is better than ANderson because of his passing, but, really, I think his value to an NBA team is his ability to offensive rebound, provide energy, switch on defense, etc. We'll see.
As for Brewer and Horford, I really like them. I think they'll be great pros. I think either one could have been a First Team AA on another team. Brewer can create his own shot, knock down threes, finish at the basket and defend all five positions at the college level. If he played at Texas and was given the same freedom as Durant, I think he would have put up similar-type numbers. I think if you put Horford on Carolina instead of Hansborough, Carolina plays for the championship. Horford has a nice looking shot, very good atheticism, good footwork and big shoulders. I really like him.
Brian, I noticed the same obvious mistakes during the game by Packer. Thankfully I don't watch much college basketball, so I didn't know it was such a chronic thing. I was completely confused when I heard that Conley was being 'guarded by a 7-footer' :-)
How does Billy Packer last? I Google "I Like Billy Packer" and it comes up, "Did you mean 'I want a lobotomy?'"
Nobody can stand the guy.
Brian, I completely agree with your point about how the announcers, especially Packer, were making way too big a deal about Oden playing more than 15 minutes. Heart of a champion? Give me a break. It's an insult to the rest of his team who played just as hard as he did. Truthfully, I thought Richard was the guy with the most heart last night. On defense, he did a great job of beating up on Oden physically which then resulted in Oden having no legs at the end of the game. It wasn't because he played nearly the entire game, but rather it was because he was being bumped and pushed for the all 38 minutes he was on the court. Good strategy by Donovan.
Did anyone else notice during the Ohio State-Georgetown game that Packer frequently refered to Ohio's David Lightey as "whitey".It confused the hell out of me, and i don't think Lightey appreciates it either!
I just found out that my blog comes up as the third google hit for the search "inarticulate Joakim Noah."
Good times.
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