Kerry Eggers has the story in the Portland Tribune – An icon with the Portland Winter Hawks as a player and a coach, Brent Peterson, now an associate coach in the NHL, has reached out to a Portland Trail Blazer icon, Brian Grant.

The subject: their battle with Parkinson’s disease. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Peterson would do this. He’s one of the great people who has passed through the Portland sports scene. Here’s Grant talking about Peterson:

“He’s a great individual – a warrior, man,” Grant says. “I’ve never been to a hockey game, don’t know much about it. But just listening to him in conversation, about how he loves his sport and approaches coaching, you can tell he is a warrior.”

Grant is still in the initial stages of getting used to the reality of living with Parkinson’s disease. Peterson is beyond that now.

“Parkinson’s is weighing very heavily on me,” Grant says. “Meeting Brent was definitely a bright spot, a bright moment for me. He went through the exact same things I’m going through now. To hear him talk about dealing with it gave me some encouragement not to get too down about it.

“He reminded me of other people with other diseases who aren’t as fortunate as we are, to be able to survive what we’re going through. We had a great conversation. It was very uplifting. He’s somebody I’ll definitely stay in touch with.”

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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.

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