Oden extras
Posted by Jason Quick May 26, 2007 13:30PM
Categories: Draft lottery
I had a wonderful visit with Greg Oden this week, part of which will be
relayed through a feature in Sunday's editions of The Oregonian.
First off, the kid is great. If the Blazers do indeed draft him with the top
pick, people in this town will fall in love with him. He is hilarious. Smart.
Polite. Interesting. And real. The word that keeps popping into my head with
him is "pure". From a chemistry standpoint, he would be a great fit to the
Blazers locker room.
And from talking to Ohio State coach Thad Matta, we have yet to see the real
Greg Oden on the basketball court. He was dominant for much of last season
even though he couldn't catch entry passes or rebound with both hands because
of his wrist injury. But after Matta worked him out after the season, he said
he was amazing.
A couple of things that didn't get into the story.
The talk of Oden's camp pushing the Blazerrs to draft Ohio State point guard
Mike Conley, Jr. is real, but it probably won't happen. The Blazers have made
some initial offers to Atlanta regarding the third pick, but the Hawks want
either Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge in return for the third pick, and
that simply isn't going to happen.
If the Hawks don't take Conley, Jr. with the third pick, look for the Blazers
to turn to Milwaukee at No. 6 to possibly see if they can swing a deal.
I asked Oden how important it is for him to continue playing with Conley Jr.
- the two have been on the same team since 4th grade, during which they have
never lost a home game - and his reaction wasn't as emphatic as you might
think.
"It would be really nice to be able to play with him, with how many years we
have been together,'' Oden said. "Especially with the winning streak we have
together. I mean, really, we don't lose. If we both come here, it's almost a
guarantee we aren't going to lose.
"But honestly, I think he has lived in my shadow. I mean, people don't really
know - maybe the people who know basketball do - but he is the driving force
of the teams we played on. But people have kind of put him in my shadow, and
I don't know, maybe he wants to be his own person. That's what I think. I
mean, he would never say that to any media or anything, but I think so.''
I asked Oden what number he would want to wear on the Blazers. He said his
favorite number is 2, and he wanted to wear No. 22 at Ohio State, but the
number was retired in honor of Jim Jackson. So he wore No. 20. In Portland,
No. 20 is retired for Maurice Lucas.
Oden said he has worn No. 50 in the past, but that is taken by Zach Randolph.
And No. 2 is currently occupied by Dan Dickau, of which I'm sure an
arrangement could be made to switch.
"It's just a number to me,'' Oden said. "If somebody already has it, I can
just get another number.''
I also asked him about his age - he turns 20 on Jan. 22. I told him he looks
like he is 35, which got a chuckle out of him.
"It's because of my beard. Sometimes I get lazy, and I just don't cut it,''
Oden said. "Plus, my barber is the only lady I trust to cut my hair, and she
lives in Indianapolis. So when I was in Columbus, I was like ... I don't know
about this. See, because I've got those little Shane Battier things on the
top of my head (grooves), and she is the only one who knows how to cut it
just right, so it doesn't show.''
I asked him his impressions of Portland after his two-day stay.
"When we were driving to Nike (from downtown Portland), we were on the
highway and you look over and see all these mountains and houses ... it's
just beautiful. I asked the driver if you can really drive through the town
and get to the other side, because you can't see anything but trees. So to
me, it looked like a regular town with a lot of trees. But it's nice, very
beautiful. Very beautiful. Oh, and we saw the volcano (Mt. St. Helens). It
looked like a big cloud. It was huge.''
At any rate, he is a great kid. His reminds me of Shaquille O'Neal with his
playfulness and his array of interests. He will be a fascinating subject in
this town, a guy people will really relate to and feel a connection with.
I will be filing reports this week from Orlando and the NBA pre-draft camp.
At some point during the week, the Blazers will name their new assistant
general manager (a hint: he has been mentioned in this blog before), but the
Blazers are NOT expected to meet with either Oden or Kevin Durant in Orlando.
The Blazers are allowed only two workouts or meetings with prospects, and
general manager Kevin Pritchard said he wants both of those visits to be on
his "home turf" here in Portland.
The tentative schedule right now is to have either Oden or Durant in Portland
on June 5 for two days, followed by the other player on June 6 for two days.
Talk about red-letter days.
---Quick
http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/05/oden_extras.html
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