Rip City Revival: Big man's small step
Posted by Bruce Ely and Jason Quick August 06, 2008 01:10AM
Categories: Rip City Revival
An inside look at the Blazers pursuit of a second NBA title
Bruce Ely / The Oregonian
They are the youngest team in the NBA, and arguably the most promising collection of talent.
And that was before Greg Oden returns from microfracture surgery, and Rudy Fernandez arrives from Spain, and a relentless and determined rookie named Jerryd Bayless joins a group of budding stars in All-Star Brandon Roy, smooth big man LaMarcus Aldridge and super sixth man Travis Outlaw.
After nearly a decade during which words such as dog fighting, marijuana, technicals and sucker-punches tarnished a once proud franchise, the Trail Blazers have revived their image and their connection with their fan base.
Throughout this season, Oregonian beat writer Jason Quick and photographer Bruce Ely will chronicle the people and the events that are defining the most dramatic turnaround in Trail Blazers history in what will be called "Rip City Revival: An inside look at the Blazers pursuit of a second NBA title."
Today, the second installment - Greg Oden: A big man's small step - will be accompanied by a 3-part blog series centered around Oden...
Part I - The power of Oden: Nate McMillan retires
Posted by Jason Quick, The Oregonian August 05, 2008 00:00AM
Categories: Rip City Revival
Nate McMillan is retired. Done. Finished.
The Trail Blazers coach, and former Sonics great, says he will never play competitive basketball again.
All thanks to Greg Oden.
The setting for this tale is Hawaii, shortly after the Blazers season ended in April. Much of the Blazers basketball staff and Oden were awarded a retreat of sorts to the island by owner Paul Allen to help break up the monotony of Oden's rehabilitation workouts.
McMillan went on 15-mile bike rides with Oden - "We started and he just took off,'' McMillan said. "He left me about a mile behind'' - and directed several of his basketball workouts from the sideline while assistant coach Maurice Lucas took part in drills and in defending Oden.
But soon, McMillan wanted to get on the floor and show Oden exactly what he wanted.
"Luke wasn't moving fast enough, so I jumped in there,'' McMillan said. "So I start hitting (Oden), but then he hits me back. And you know how when you hit something and everything inside of you is shaking? Well, that's what is happening here. I hit him, and then he hits me and everything is shaking.''
McMillan continues to play Oden one-on-one, trying to make Oden move his feet on defense. After about an hour of playing, McMillan wants to hammer home his point. He devises a "box drill", which emphasizes defensive slides.
Oden, as he recalls, understood the drill when McMillan told him the first time.
"I said 'Coach, I can do it','' Oden said. "But he was like 'Let me show you how to do it, you are not doing it right' ... and I was like 'Coach, let me do it' ...''
McMillan, still exhausted from the constant pounding from Oden, took his first step in demonstrating the drill ...and BAM!
Down goes McMillan.
"It was like somebody shot me,'' McMillan said. "I yell and hit the floor and I couldn't get up.''
McMillan's back _ which plagued him late in his career and nearly prevented him from playing in his only NBA Finals _ had gone out.
"I couldn't move for 20 minutes. I couldn't get up,'' McMillan said.
Standing over him was Mr. Allen, Jay Jensen, Lucas and Oden.
"They couldn't move me either,'' McMillan said. "So they had to lift me up like a board and stand me up. Then I had to go from that position to trying to get in a car ... then I was wondering how I was going to fly back.''
After two weeks of acupuncture, bed rest and pain killers, McMillan was finally able to get back on his feet. But during his bed rest, he came to a conclusion.
"I'm retired from playing. Period,'' McMillan said. "I'll shoot and I will do some drills. But I won't play anymore. Even if I get my back right, I won't play again ... not with him. He's a big guy, man. A big guy.''
The experience solidified McMillan's feeling that Oden is bound to succeed in this league because he is such a unique physical specimen.
"Yeah, I can see it, and I think he will (be special)'' McMillan said. "And I want to help him understand what it takes. Because he has it. In my mind he has it. The physical makeup of him ... I mean, to be 20 years old and have a body like that? And to do the things he does? I mean, the power he has ... so I tell him that I want him to understand who he is, and I want him to understand what he wants to be. Then, like the Nike commercial says, 'Just do it'. Do it.''
What McMillan likes best about Oden is his mental makeup.
"When I worked out with him, I hit hit, and he hits right back. And he hits back harder,'' McMillan said. "I like that. Most guys, you hit them, and the next time they are kind of protecting themselves. You hit him, and the next time he runs right over you.''
Oden said he vividly remembers McMillan giving him body shots as he tried to post up in their workouts.
"He was trying to make a point by saying 'These are how the other guys are going to come at you' ... and I was like, 'OK, well this is how I'm going to come back at them - even stronger','' Oden said. "Coach is trying to make me better, so you know, what if he is going to sit there and push on me? I'm not going to sit there and practice being soft, I'm going to come back just as hard as I would in a real game.''
While working as an assistant with the U.S. Olympic team, McMillan has worked closely with Orlando's All-Star center, Dwight Howard. Jensen said McMillan told him that Oden is more powerful than Howard. And McMillan last month said he thinks Oden is more powerful than Shawn Kemp was at age 20.
Still, McMillan doesn't think success will come to Oden without a little hardship.
"He's going to have to be embarrassed and fall, and once that happens and he responds, that's when you will see the Greg Oden that everybody thinks he can become,'' McMillan said. "But he is going to have to be busted in the mouth and embarrassed. And that could take a month. It could take a year. It could take a game.''
Part II - How Greg Oden is like Scottie Pippen
Posted by Jason Quick, The Oregonian August 06, 2008 00:01AM
Categories: Rip City Revival
Blazers athletic trainer Jay Jensen is entering his 15th season with the Blazers, and after a year of working closely with Greg Oden during his rehabilitation from microfracture surgery, Jensen says Oden deserves to join lofty company.
"I haven't seen Greg play basketball yet, but as far as work ethic, he is right up there with Scottie Pippen, Detlef Schrempf and Damon Stoudamire as the best I've seen,'' Jensen said. "He's a hard worker, very determined.''
I have never seen an athlete take care of his body, or work as hard in the weight room and in exercising as Pippen. The guy bordered on maniacal, which is one reason he will have an express ticket to the Hall of Fame.
That Oden has already adopted this kind of work ethic is one reason why nobody from the Blazers was concerned during Monday's initial workout with Oden, when I thought he looked lethargic and sometimes disinterested.
One defense offered was that Monday's workout was completely different from his normal routine. Usually, he is able to set the pace, or the tone, of his workouts because they were solo exercises that were boring and thoughtless. So when Monday rolled around, and Oden all the sudden had lead assistant Dean Demopoulos in his ear, and Blazers forward Channing Frye on his hip, it was easy to see why he appeared a little disoriented.
Nonetheless, Jensen said the fact that Oden is healthy and pain free is a testament to how hard he has worked through his rehab. Darius Miles, for example, was nowhere near getting on the court in his 11th month after microfracture.
"Greg has seen the right way and the wrong way to go through this,'' Jensen said. "He knows that it involves hard work. And I think the year off will help him in the long run because he's had a chance to watch people and see how they act and what it takes to be a pro.''
Oden has a busy schedule ahead of him in the coming month. On Tuesday, he went to a gym with Frye to experience a boxing workout. And next week, he will ride bikes with Jensen and Brandon Roy. All the while, he will continue basketball workouts with Frye, Steve Blake and Steven Hill over the entire month until he is cleared to play five-on-five. Hill, incidentally, is a 7-foot, 250-pound center from Arkansas who was on the Blazers Summer League team last month. He impressed general manager Kevin Pritchard enough that Pritchard brought him to Portland for the sole purpose of working out against Oden.
Big man's small step
The Blazers center is impressive at times and has no problems with his knee in a full-contact workout
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
JASON QUICK
The Oregonian Staff
TUALATIN -- The rehabilitation of Greg Oden and his right knee is officially over.
Now, it's all about basketball.
So on Monday, the Blazers' 2007 No. 1 overall draft pick who missed all of last season because of a knee injury, began the latest and most significant step in his comeback. He practiced for the first time in full-contract drills, going up against teammate Channing Frye for 45 minutes at the Blazers' practice facility in Tualatin.
For moments, it was awe-inspiring. Early in the workout, Oden took a long stride and ripped at the rim with such ferocity that the shot clock mounted on the backboard shook for more than five seconds punctuating one of his dunks.
"I've got tingles," assistant general manager Tom Penn said from his courtside seat.
And for longer stretches Monday, it became evident that Oden still has a ways to go before he becomes the dominant force so many Blazers fans envision. The workout, Oden's first against an NBA player since he had season-ending knee surgery last September, revealed that he was decidedly out of game shape.
"It just lets you know that I'm not ready to play 82 games right exactly now," a sweat-drenched Oden said. "But if I keep working, I'm eventually going to get there."
Nobody with the Blazers was alarmed at Oden's lack of stamina; in fact, it was to be expected. For the past five months, Oden has been on bikes, in pools and on treadmills, but none of that simulates the rigors and demands of playing NBA basketball.
"He is in great shape, but he is not in basketball condition," team athletic trainer Jay Jensen said. "He has done everything we have asked, and he has done it hard. But now, it's time to start picking up the pace."
Jensen said Oden's recovery has gone very well, particularly because there have been limited instances of pain and no evidence of swelling in the right knee.
His knee looks really good," said Jensen, who also supervised the microfracture rehabilitations of former Blazers Zach Randolph and Darius Miles.
The Blazers are less than two months from training camp, during which they expect Oden, 20, to be ready to go full speed, albeit with designated days off to rest his knee. Jensen said Oden will train this month against one, two and three players. By September, the plan is to allow him to play in five-on-five scrimmages, when the rest of the Blazers begin reporting to Portland.
What the players and, eventually, fans will see is a 7-foot center who can run like a small forward, move laterally like a power forward and display power like few have seen in this league. It's why Blazers Frye and Steve Blake, not to mention Penn and several other team employees, stopped by to see Oden's workout.
"It is an amazing phenomenon, what's going on here with him," said lead assistant Dean Demopoulos, who is running Oden's workouts. "It's a good thing."
Hits first three jumpers
Slowly and methodically, Oden sauntered onto the practice court for the 10:30 a.m. workout. He shot jumpers, making his first three, and chit-chatted with Frye before the intense and high-strung Demopoulos arrived on the court.
"OK, we ready to go?" Demopoulos asked, not waiting for an answer.
Oden shrugged his shoulders indifferently, clearly not motivated about the workout ahead of him. Although he would quickly snap out of his lethargy -- Demopoulos forced him to -- Oden sometimes appeared like he was off in his own world, disinterested in the jack-hammer instructions coming from Demopoulos.
It was a stark contrast to the mood Oden described later, when asked what he was thinking about as he was dropped off at the facility by his cousin, Chris.
"Ready to get some work in, that's what I think every day," Oden said. "Just trying to get myself better. You know, just getting ready for the season. I'm looking forward to it more than anybody else. I put a lot more pressure on myself -- like you see when I miss a layup or something like that -- I think about it worse than anybody else. That's just what is on my mind always -- get myself ready and good when the season comes."
From Day One with the Blazers, Oden has carried himself in a casual or relaxed manner, and nobody with the team seemed overly concerned with his demeanor during the workout. In fact, the rap on Oden at Ohio State was that he would often look disinterested in warmups and practices but would snap out of it when the game started.
Penn, for one, said Oden looked good Monday.
"The important thing is he's moving well and he has the same explosiveness and athleticism as he did before the surgery," Penn said.
Oden's most impressive stretch came early in the workout, when Demopoulos instructed Frye to lob passes near the rim as Oden filled the lane.
"Everything is a dunk, Greg!" Demopoulos shouted. "Everything is a dunk!"
Oden obliged, catching the passes in midair and finishing with mostly soft one-handed dunks. Occasionally, however, he unleashed a violent two-handed dunk, which raised the eyebrows of Demopoulos, Frye and Penn.
"That's some nasty stuff," Penn said. "And we're not even going full speed."
Midway through the workout, Oden had to be prodded more and more. He often rested his hands on his knees, and several times had to be reminded where to go, all while the superbly conditioned Frye dashed and darted around the court.
On one occasion Frye bee-lined toward the basket and was met by an outstretched Oden. The collision resulted in the 6-11, 245-pound Frye barreling backward while Oden held his ground. "That's a big boy, man," Frye said, smiling and shaking his head.
Despite his moments, Oden acknowledged that Monday's workout was an adjustment.
"That was the first day, and it was different from what I was doing," Oden said. "There was a lot more running around, a lot more pick-and-roll stuff. But it gave me a look at where I'm at right now."
After the workout, Demopoulos met with Penn, who was the highest-ranking Blazers official at the workout. General manager Kevin Pritchard is vacationing in Los Angeles, and coach Nate McMillan is in China, where he is serving as an assistant coach with the U.S. Olympic team. Demopoulos started his conversation with Penn by saying, "He's got a ways to go, but (it was) good for a first workout."
Later, Demopoulos admitted he could have made Oden look better by making the workout easier. But the point, Demopoulos said, is not to make Oden look good, but rather to make Oden become good.
"It's a work in progress," Demopoulos said.
He's stronger than ever
Oden said he already has made progress during his season on the sideline.
He has practiced jump shots, jump hooks and post moves exclusively.
"All of that is at least 50 percent better than what it was," Oden said confidently.
He is also stronger than he has ever been, with bulging shoulders and biceps and mammoth legs.
"He is one powerful human being, I will tell you that," Jensen said. "And I mean powerful. Really powerful."
Oden would not reveal his latest weight -- saying, "It's too big of a deal" -- but Jensen said the last time he checked, Oden was hovering around 290 pounds. He hopes to have Oden at 280 by training camp. In his only season at Ohio State, Oden played at 275 pounds.
"The people at Ohio State said once he starts playing basketball, he loses weight really quickly," Jensen said.
Oden said his newly chiseled body renews some of the confidence he had lost from not playing in more than a year. Still, he admits confidence will be an issue.
"It's a different game, and everybody here is a lot better," Oden said. "They are a lot quicker, a lot more in shape. So I can't really tell you where (my confidence) is at. But I know that I'm pretty happy, and I'm going to keep working so I can get better. I feel pretty good, but I know it's probably not even enough. So I'm here this summer.
"That's what I'm doing: I'm working at it, trying to get that much better."
