http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=124648085393215300 I forgot about Brian Grant. He is still better than most of the scrubs we bring in to workout with Greg. This is important: "Offensively, we’ve worked on counter moves, (such as) his go-to jump hook over the left shoulder. We’ve tried to get him as many repetitions as we can, and we’re adding counter moves, (such as) the spin back to the left hand. Also, an up-and-under move, where you’re trying to get (a defender) to go for the shot fake, and then use a step-through move back to his left hand.”
Nice article. If you want Oden to practice on a big, pesky defender, it's hard to beat Brian Grant. I was curious as to why a guy worth as many millions as Grant was bothering to be a practice dummy in Ohio for an NBA sophomore. I hadn't realized he had Parkinsons: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4174877 Kind of easier to understand his motivation now.
This article certainly hits on many of the things we have all discussed: "He’s in good shape’ Bayno has spent much time on offensive footwork and balance, an Oden weakness during his rookie season. “A lot of times, once he gets into a move, Greg’s feet are too close together,” Bayno says. “It’s easy to push him off-balance. We want to make sure he has a wide base, and on his step-through stuff, we want him to be on balance. With footwork, it’s mostly balance. Big guys get in trouble when they get their feet too close together. It’s about being able to take hits and finish and make shots. Having Brian’s 260-pound body on Greg has really helped with that.”
Hate to be a downer.. but we heard all this same stuff last off-season. You simply can't put any stock into reports coming from Blazer employees.
lol -- the diff tho hank the tank, is that this is his 2nd year, and finally most likely really healed up from MF surgery
Greg has always worked hard. I don't understand why people would ever question him. Sometimes I think he did some of the wrong things because he wasn't being supervised by the team very well, like when he bulked up really huge, but he had the right intentions.
I hope you are right.. but what I saw this last season was more serious than just a guy coming off injury and out of shape. I saw an uncoordinated center with almost Zero post moves. Expecting a lot of growth from Oden over the summer is asking too much. He needs to be looked at like any other project big man at this point.
Yeah I think he was more focused on actually running at this time of the year, and not basketball moves. No comparison.
I was surprised to read a little while ago that Oden just started doing squats recently, which he hadn't done all of last year since the surgery. That should put things into perspective as to what he went through last year. It's pretty easy to figure out why he didn't have any explosiveness or coordination. He had no legs last year, something that is kind of important in basketball... An offseason of actual training, as opposed to rehab, will do wonders for every aspect of his game. I'd at least give him a chance.
Dude, what are you talking about? A little over a year ago, the reports coming out were that he was finally able to get back on the court and participate in some of the offensive sets with the Blazers. One, in particular, even made a point to say link You really think a report about him "even dunking" is similar to this newest report?
