Wow. Greg proved after his surgery and all last year that he is an amazingly hard worker. He rehabbed daily, and hard. That can't have been easy. The Blazers put him on a weight program and he got huge -- too huge by some accounts. That didn't happen because he isn't driven. I think the single most important thing Greg needs to do right now is go home, decompress, get away from basketball for a little while, and clear his head. If taking a class or two in the summer helps accomplish that -- go for it. Once he's back to his old self, he can start to focus on conditioning and footwork. I've spent a summer taking a few classes and working out, and there is plenty of time to do both. Of course it is possible that Greg will party and dog it all summer, but I've never seen one single indication to think that he might. Anything is possible, but I'm not going to worry about something that appears so unlikely.
He was in excellent shape, just not basketball shape because he couldn't play basketball while recovering from the surgery. He couldn't do exercise that required his knees to bear his weight. He could only do upper body weight training and aerobic exercise in a pool. According to the team, he put enormous effort into both of those. But there's no way he could be in great basketball shape being unable to do proper aerobic exercise on his legs.
Yeah, it isn't like Greg came into camp with a beer belly. He came into camp with a massive amount of muscle (supervised by the team) added on with a year off from playing basketball.
Yes I am sure he does. But I would remind folks that Aldridge goes home to Texas every summer, and it hasn't seemed to put a damper on his improvement that I can tell. What matters is how hard the player works on their game, and that they work on the right part. Coming into camp in shape is typically a learning process, although some guys on the team seem to cruise in year after year, and fail Nates physical.(Outlaw...).
why is the assumption that if oden is going to summer school at ohio state that he won't be working out much and when he does he'll be working out alone? i'm sure oden is going to have access to all the ohio state facilities and i'm sure it can be arranged for him to have people to workout with.
I'm talking just shape, not basketball shape. He was upwards of 40-50 LBs overweight if 265 is where the Blazers want him. He came into camp with a belly and didn't really look good at all. This is when my expectations went down for him this season. He may have been working hard, but I doubt his diet was what it should be. Anyone that knows anything about working out knows that nutrition is the most important thing.
Can you provide a photo verifying this? Because it certainly isn't my recollection. He came in heavier than McMillan wanted him but, according to reports, it was muscle mass not fat.
[video=youtube;QBH61DIdv3w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBH61DIdv3w[/video] Not the best shot but he definitely fills out that shirt, and it aint muscle. You can see it in his cheeks that he put on fat, and Greg himself has admitted it isn't all muscle. I try and find that clip also.
I think Nate and other forget how young GO is. Of course he wants to go home. He's probably home sick big time. I don't blame him for that. I understand Nate wanting him to stay too. He needs a lot of work to be where we want him to be next year. Nate will just have to make sure he has everything he needs at home on his schedule to improve.
I don't agree. He doesn't look fat at all in that video. Clearly bigger than at Ohio State, but there's nothing in that video that suggests it was fat rather than muscle. When he extends to snatch the ball out of the air and dunk it (around 1:25), you can see the form of his body through his shirt and it's lean, not paunchy.
If he stops rimchecking himself on dunks I'll be happy with his summer regardless of where he spends it.
I am sorry but he wasn't fat. I think this is Kevin Duckworth syndrome all over again, except this time, it isn't Kevin Duckworth, who was overweight a lot of his career. It's not even close.
He looks lean and muscular under that baggy shirt to me; but I don't have x-ray vision so there's not much to conclude.
Well we agree to disagree then. He's obviously muscular but he also packed on a lot of fat. Really not disputable imo. If he didn't pack on fat you'd be able to see his cheek bones much more clearly, like before his surgery.
Btw, it's damn near impossible to pack on 30-40 LBs of muscle in less than a year, especially when you consider how limited Oden was in his rehab. It's just not possible. Possible to pack on 30-40 LBs, but not 30-40 LBs of pure muscle.
I'm sure you were doing squats and power cleans though, or just any big lift involving your legs. Oden obviously couldn't do those. It was all upper body work, and if he put on 30-40 LBs of pure muscle in just his upper body in less than a year, then....., I can't even fathom that. That would be just amazing.
Well how much do you think he had to put on for Nate to worry it was to much? 10-20? No, more like 30-40. Just makes sense.
