Greg Oden getting an “A-plus” for his “fantastic” summer workouts
Honestly, I think Kerry Eggers scooped everyone with the most important Blazer story of the summer yesterday. And in all the fuss over Hedo Turkoglu it was sort of lost in the shuffle.
He has details of Greg Oden’s summer workouts and reveals that Oden is pretty much assistant coach Bill Bayno’s private summer project. And more important, he says that Oden is working very hard:
“I give Greg an A-plus,” Bayno says. “His effort has been fantastic. I’ve been pushing him hard. He has accepted it. He has worked with very little rest, but he doesn’t ask for a lot of rest.
“Today we went for an hour and 20 minutes straight. That’s a killer for one guy to go that long at the pace we’re going. We had two water breaks and shot free throws in between, but he’s been working really hard.”
Bayno says the workouts have been divided about equally between defense and offense.
“On defense, we’ve worked on lateral quickness, where he has to read and react and block shots,” the Portland assistant says. “Greg has surprised me how quick he is laterally. This is the first time I’ve put him through a lot of this stuff.
“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.”
And this, too, from Bayno, considered one of the best developmental coaches in basketball:
“We’re working Monday through Thursday weekly, and Greg is also scrimmaging at night (at Ohio State),” Bayno says. “He also lifts weights. Bobby (Medina) got with the Ohio State strength coach and gave him a program. Greg’s weight looks good, and his body looks good. He is so respectful, such a good kid, does anything we ask – he has been a joy to work with.”
The other piece of this is that ex-Blazer Brian Grant is back in Ohio working with Oden, too:
“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.”
The goal is not for the 21-year-old Oden, who weighed about 280 at the end of last season, to lose weight.
“He’s in good shape,” Bayno says. “It’s really about not adding a whole lot of weight. He is taking a nutrition class this summer at Ohio State, which will be good for him. To have a big guy like Greg at his age focusing on nutrition is important for longevity in the league.”
Of course, there’s more to the story and I suggest you read it. Oden’s development is still the critical piece to Portland’s NBA ascension.
NBA, Trail Blazers | Dwight Jaynes | July 3, 2009
Bill Bayno, Brian Grant, Dwight Jaynes, Greg Oden, Kerry Eggers, Portland Tribune
I cant tell you how long I have been waiting for the story on Oden’s summer Dwight
Back in May, Greg blogged he did squats for the first time since his surgery. I was shocked that Greg went the entire season last year without doing any squats. This means Greg has A LOT of room to improve on his exposiveness from last season to this season. It would be great to find out if Greg has been able to continue doing squat workouts this summer or if he had to pull back due to any discomfort or swelling.
Awesome news – that B Grant is involved; one of my favorites Blazers. Is this in an official capacity with the team (“developmental coach”) or just something he’s doing for Greg?
Yup, this is more important than the possible Hedo signing. How could the Oregonian miss this? Oden should be Jason Quick’s summer project.
Jason Quick should avoid Oden as much as possible. Remember last season how he describe Oden as “underwhelming” and so forth. I’d rather have Kerry Eggers report on his progress from time to time.
And…. Cue the Oden doubters…
This article reminded me of a key difference between Oden and the other elite players on the Blazers. Oden does not seem to self-motivate.
The recurring anecdotes about Bayless are how he is a constant worker. Pritchard likes to joke about how he knows where Bayless is at–implying that he is probably in a gym somewhere working on his game.
By contrast, a recurring comment for Oden is how he is a tireless worker and does whatever is asked of him. They said that before he was injured. They said that during the rehab. Here is Bayno saying it again.
This seems like the key for the Blazers to get a handle on and work with. Oden will improve. He do whatever is asked of him, but it is going to be imperative that the coaches ask.
They will need to challenge and push him because he isn’t self-motivated like Bayless, Roy, etc.
Forgot one thing:
I don’t think that it is a problem that he isn’t self-motivated. If he can be coached and takes coaching–if he does everything asked of him–then you just have to make sure you are asking for enough and constantly challenging him.
By the end of last year, Greg only had 2 issues: physical explosiveness and foul trouble. Looks like both are being addressed. Very cool that Brian is also involved.
Great work Kerry, thanks for the update. And thanks Dwight for linking the article.
Summer workouts are one thing…… Playing in a real NBA game is another…. Please drink the Odenade in moderation folks…
give it a rest dude
Take off the Oden colored glasses…… Summer workouts mean nothing…. If and thats a big if, the messiah Oden can put together 20 regular season games in a row with a contribution that is equal to the pre-draft hype that the blazers were scammed on, I will then jump on the bandwagon…
dude, I’ll say it again, give it a rest. you’re not going to convince anybody one way or another, all you’re going to do is piss somebody off. If that’s your intent, then fine, whatever. I’m not saying I completely disagree with you, but is it really worth your time to troll these message boards and attempt to point out how stupid you think people are for being excited about this Oden story?
what are the blazers going to say? workouts going poorly?????
This is great news. I thought GO would benefit from attending Pete Newell’s big man camp, and I was bummed to learn he was not attending.
To the schmuck who feels the need to “bring us down a notch,” the bottomline here is:
A. Better GO be working on his body than working on his dance dance revolution.
B. Everyone is realistic, dude did not look like an allstar last season, but he did have flashes of brilliance.
C. That he’s “putting in the work” is encouraging, some think GO is still kinda mature and would rather play video games than be a dedicated professional athlete.
I honestly wonder where do these trolls come from.