Kind of a weird tangent, but when I was in MI a couple days ago, I went to Ohio for a day to go to the Toledo zoo with my nephew. Sitting next to us at a lunch table was a gigantic young man in an Ohio State shirt. We began talking about basketball and Oden, and he said that he lifted weights a few times earlier this summer with Oden. Anyway, he told me about some of the conversations they had, most were very bland, but the one thing that was interesting was this: According to this guy, Oden said his goal was to be 5% faster up and down, and 20% faster side to side by the start of next season. I have no idea if this is true, but I believed him. take from it what you will.
Whether he truly worked out with Greg or not, the two goals sound like exactly the kind of thing he should be thinking about/working on.
Hmm, how do you even check for that? Anyways, his lateral 'quickness' last season really hampered him. Good news.
What most Oden doubters out there don't even understand is what we saw of G.O last year was him with virtually no legs. After doing some serious squats and lower body workouts this summer Greg is gonna be the monster we've all been waiting to see... BAKE IT
Can't wait to see come October how much work G.O. has actually put in. I think a much more fit Greg is going to make a big difference.
Along with improving his stamina and lateral quickness, I really hope he gets his weight down into the 250's.
I don't think Oden will be a monster next year. I think he will be quite improved, have better stamina, a better feel for defense, more quickness and explosiveness and therefore be a much better looking player, but when I hear monster I think of Dwight Howard, and I don't think he'll be there yet. If he scores 14 ppg and grabs 10 rebs and gets 2 blks, and looks more fluid doing it (not perfectly fluid, mind you. Dwight doesn't even look fluid all the time yet) I will be very satisfied with his progress.
He also needs a hook shot. The thing is, he doesn't really need a bunch of fancy post moves, because he's big and strong enough to get that little flat hook off against almost anyone. All he needs to do is make it.
I think your 14 - 10 - 2 numbers are a pretty low bar. I would be suprised if a healthy Oden DIDN'T surpass those numbers. Last season Oden averaged 9 - 7 - 1 in 21mpg. His per 36 numbers were 15 - 12 - 2. So, if Oden, as you say, is "improve, have better stamina... more quickness and explosiveness...", why are you projecting such low per game numbers? Do you think he is going to average 25mpg? If Oden is a better player and improves his per 36 numbers to 19 - 14 - 3, but only plays 30mpg, his per game averages would be around: 16 - 12 - 2+
