I also liked this quote regarding Anthony Davis:
"I'm not very old, but I can't remember watching any college player better than Davis defensively except for Greg Oden and maybe Shane Battier."
71. Michael Gbinije, Duke (29)
Based on pure performance, Gbinije would rank higher than this, but he played less than ten percent of the Blue Devils' available minutes. His 113 offensive rating is the highest, save Khem Birch, outside the top 50 here, and his defense, though rarely praised in high school, was excellent. He transferred to Syracuse at the end of the season.
Well, if he had been an excellent defender he would have played more than 100 or so minutes on the season and would be fighting for a starting job this coming season. It will be interesting to see how he plays his next three years of eligibility. But not getting much run on a weak defensive team makes me think he's not a very good defender at this point.
Agreed. Just think of how good Al Horford and Joachim Noah have been in the NBA - both lower All-Star caliber players when healthy. And Oden clearly outplayed both of them in the 2007 title game, especially in the second half, when he dominated at both ends to lead Ohio State back from a big early deficit.
It's really sad and really tough luck for the Blazers, who may very well have been the team to beat in the West in recent seasons if the careers of Brandon Roy and Greg Oden had not been completely destroyed by injuries. Oden, a shot blocking maniac who would have had his fair share of garbage buckets plus a healthy Roy, who had a season at age 24 with a PER of just above 24 while scoring 22ppg and dishing out 5.5 assists would have been an incredible core to build around. Add in Aldridge's emergence as the offensive Yen to Oden's defensive Yang and that team could have been the best in the West.