OSU Rookies Hoping to Make Impact
Portland and Memphis will be Proving Ground for former Teammates
Aug 17, 2007
The entrance of college stars Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr. in the NBA has generated a lot of E&E: excitement and expectations. Excitement, however, is a lot easier to provide playoff-starved fans than fulfilling their lofty hopes of a frachise-turnaround.
It’s a shame that the two life-long friends and teammates were both drafted by teams that reside in the Western Conference. Oden and Conley will have frequent lessons from their established counterparts.
Oden will have his defensive prowess tested when matched up against players like Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Yao Ming, Nene’ Hilario and Al Jefferson. Oden was probably relieved to hear that Kevin Garnett was traded eastward and Elton Brand may very well miss the season.
Conley, meanwhile, will try defy the theory that a rookie point guard needs longer to adjust to the NBA than any other position player. He’ll do that while going head-to-head with Steve Nash, Devin Harris, Tony Parker, Mike Bibby, Deron Williams, Chris Paul and Baron Davis. Welcome to the NBA, kid.
While their individual challenges may be equally difficult, Conley and Oden find themselves on teams that are not only different in location, but in talent as well. Oden is the new face of Portland’s youth movement. While the Blazers have a lot of potential, the growing pains will be frequent and apparent as the season progresses. Second-year players Brandon Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge will attempt to give Oden the support he’ll need, but overall the Blazers will need to wait at least a year before seriously thinking about the playoffs in the Western Conference.
Conley Jr. can afford to set his sights on one of the final playoff spots with the Grizzlies. Pau Gasol, Randy Foye, Darko Milicic, Mike Miller, and Juan Carlos Navarro form a nucleus that could make a push in the West. Teams such as the Clippers, Timberwolves, Supersonics, Lakers and Warriors have either remained mediocre as they were or regressed several steps. Those teams’ inability to immediately improve may help the Grizzlies as much as their own personnel moves.
Whereas Oden wears the heavy mantle of being the “franchise player,” Conley will be merely be an important piece of the puzzle for Memphis. Luckily, both are used to their respective roles from their pre-NBA playing days. Oden seems to have responded well to the hype, and Conley has been getting rave reviews from his coaching staff in Memphis.
Both Oden and Conley are sure to make major impacts as rookies, but fans and critics shouldn’t bet on their teams improving drastically overnight. It isn’t to farfetched, however, to think that they could be the new faces of NBA excellence.
