Sep 30, 2009
We Found a New Greg Oden
By Austin Burton
When people ask me for a Greg Oden story, I usually tell them the one from the ?07 Rookie Photo Shoot. That was the year Oden was supposed to make his NBA debut before microfracture knee surgery delayed his rookie season for another calendar turn. At the time, we were still putting together our cover feature on Oden for Dime #35, and I was going to help get some extra quotes.
?Do you love basketball?? I asked Oden. His answer was something along the lines of, ?Yeah. I mean, I?ve been playing since I was a kid.? It wasn?t so much what he said, but how he said it ? he sounded like somebody who was trying to convince themselves of something they know isn?t true.
I bring that up because, when I spoke to Greg Oden this past weekend ? one of the first times I?d spoken to him for more than a couple of minutes since that Rookie Shoot ? it was the first time I?d gotten the impression that he actually does love what he?s doing. A few days before he was to report to Blazers training camp, all Oden wanted to talk about was how he?d been improving his body and his game over the summer, and how he?s ready to erase any bad memories of last season from his mind.
The Greg Oden I talked to is a guy who?s motivated and excited to be playing basketball. That ? more than his size or raw talent ? will be primarily what makes him an impact player at this level for years to come. Here?s an excerpt from that interview, the rest of which you?ll see in an upcoming issue of the magazine:
Dime: What have you been up to this summer?
Greg Oden: All summer I stayed in Columbus (Ohio), except for a few times when I went to Vegas, and then I went to Phoenix to workout with Jerryd Bayless. But I spent the rest of the time working out with the Buckeyes basketball team, playing in the open gym at Ohio State, and (ex-UNLV coach) Billy Bayno came down every week to work with me.
Dime: What was the competition like?
GO: It was pretty good. Other than this year?s Ohio State guys, you had guys come through who are in the NBA or play overseas that went to Ohio State, and guys who are just from Columbus. Brian Grant came down for about three weeks and worked with me, too. Like, Billy Bayno would take me through some moves, and Brian would show me how they work, give me a visual of what it looks like. He was real good at getting his shots off against bigger guys, so if I?m already a bigger guy, having these moves will make me even better.
