see Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's old trainer. He has already turned Wade's career around after a couple injury riddled seasons and he recently got Mcgrady back on the right track, and McGrady absolutely raves about the guy. http://www.attackathletics.com/inde...ack-client-to-see-results&catid=1:latest-news These guys work miracles. Oden needs to reach out to these guys. An off-season with these guys and 1on1 work with Olajuwon would be killer.
If that's what Greg wants to do then he should do it ... anything he can do at this point to help himself stay healthy is a major positive in my opinion.
Who knows if Greg even knows who he is. I'd bet on that he doesn't. I think this could be very beneficial for him, but probably never comes to fruition, which is kind of a shame. These guys seem to be the best of the best. They were Jordan's preferred trainers after all.
Is this the same group that worked with Amare? It sounds a lot like the same approach in terms of building the core, or other groups of muscles to change the impact on certain areas of the body. As I was typing the first part of this post I decided to Google the Amare thing and I found the SI article by Ian Thomsen LINK. A few quotes from the article back on September 18, 2007 I think this is something that the Blazer staff did to some degree, but I don't know if they were as "science-based" in their approach. I have heard a lot of people talk about Oden's walk. It was an issue with Amare as well, but they changed it.
May be to.... Treat him like "icing on the cake". In other words, do NOT build around him and make him the main guy. You build around Roy and LMA and bring Oden in as firepower off of the bench, like Outlaw. Oden is too injury prone and unproven to make him a franchise player. I now agree with Roy's initial impressions - we should have stayed with last year's starting team and brought Miller & Oden off of the bench. Last year's team won 54 games and just got a bad match-up in the 1st round of the playoffs - it happens. There was nothing wrong with that lineup, except getting Webs integrated with Batum's injury. Had they focused on that a little more during training camp, the performance would have been better. The decision to integrate Oden and Miller into the starting lineup has disrupted chemistry and may have even made Oden's injury more certain, with all of the pressure and focus placed strictly on his game. PER for Roy, Blake, LMA, and Joel have also gone down this year as a result. When Oden does come back, I hope they take a more gradual approach to integrating him, so that he can have a successful and LONG career.
In addition, the Blazers need to plan to not have Oden for major portions of each season. One way is to keep Joel- at any cost- for his defense. Another may be to do what it takes to draft a center who can help fill in.
If you actually look at this situation, it is very similar to Amare's situation. But not as bad. Amare actually had ligmament damage. He has came back and played strong after 2 knee surgeries. But he went that extra mile. Greg may have to do that.
No. You Play Oden when he's ready as much as you can. Just have to take more precautions (knee braces) in the future when he's playing.
Big Z of Cleveland had major foot problems before he came back and played ok for many years. But for a long time he was the big guy who was always hurt. When he finally came back he wasn't as mobile, but he wasn't hurt all the time.
Ilgauskas' game isn't built on athleticism, and it never was. He's had a 15' "jump" shot for years. Without it, he wouldn't see the court, because it's the only thing he does really well for his size. He's a nice player, but I really hope Oden becomes more than Big Z in terms of impacting a game.
I wasn't comparing their games. I was just pointing out that he came back and got and had what I would consdier a successful career, eventually breaking the cavs record for games played in. With Oden, half the battle is making sure he is out on the floor to contribute. The talent and physicality isn't in question.
I've thought about that too. Guys like Ilgauskus, Sabonis, Grant Hill, Ron Harper and others came back from several years of debilitating injuries. There are also guys like Ralph Sampson, Pervis "out of service" Ellison, & our very own Sam Bowie that were just always injurred. Who knows what lies ahead for Greg. He could shake these injuries off and have a productive career, or he could continue getting hurt and be out of the league in 3 years.
