Kevin Love Should Have A Better Rookie Season Than Greg Oden

Now, I've written plenty of comments on articles relating to Greg Oden and even an article itself for Blazers fans who have high expectations for Oden. Yes, he's a talent and yes quite possibly Oden was the better choice than picking Durant at number 1. Only time will tell.

Now that Oden is finally healthy. It's going to take him some time to get adjusted to the NBA's pace. He'll be able to have some solid games but against the quicker teams that are able to double him and force him to handle the ball that could cause troubles for Oden. The NBA season as well is much different than the preseason where starters don't play much if at all.

Now here's why I believe that Kevin Love will have the better season. First of all Kevin Love is 6'10 270 so he has a bigger body and is able to withstand contact better. Love hasn't been injured, so the jump to the NBA isn't going to be as problematic because Love isn't coming back from major surgery either. Love has the better offensive skillset than Oden. Love also forces teams to play him from the perimeter as well because he's got an excellent outside jumper.

So, for Blazers fans don't be surprised to see that Love outshines Oden this year. The time off is definitely going to effect Oden, his lack of offensive skills will also hurt him, but do expect him to be a solid rebounder. Just don't expect Oden to win rookie of the year because it's not going to happen.

Once Oden becomes more comfortable in the league expect him to do much better. Once could still argue that Love has a better upside than Oden well at least on the offensive side. Love will have some issues defensively since he's not the most athletic big man in the league, but he can hold his own on the boards.

On a sidenote I can understand why some Blazers fans can absolutely not admit that Love will have the better season. The reason is because he didn't go to the University of Oregon. Which was the fault of Ernie for not recruiting him hard enough. The assumption by Kent that since he was from Lake Oswego, Oregon he would want to stay in the state, Kent's assumptions were clearly wrong and of course everyone knows the rest he signed on to play at UCLA.