When coach Nate McMillan announced the players he wanted on the court to
run through offensive plays, he named Raef LaFrentz, Sergio Rodriguez, Josh
McRoberts, Von Wafer ... and Oden.

"There was somewhat of an uproar by the team,'' McMillan said. "Some of them
said 'Greg?', and I was like, 'Yeah, Greg.' I think everyone was just
excited to see him on the floor, just moving with the team.''

Even though Oden said he went through the drills at about half-speed, he
looked much like the fluid, agile and coordinated big man before his
September surgery, when he was considered a can't-miss prospect as the No. 1
overall selection in the 2007 NBA draft.

==

After running through some offensive plays, Oden went to another court and
worked one-on-one with assistant coach Maurice Lucas. With Oden on offense
taking entry passes from Steve Blake, Lucas pounded the rookie's back with
his forearm and slapped at his arms as Oden worked for a shot. Nearly every
time, Oden backed Lucas down and finished with a dunk, including one in
which he dunked two-handed and slapped the backboard with both hands on his
way down, prompting Blake to whistle an imaginary technical.

The one-on-one workout was watched intently by his teammates, and was
surprising in the intensity and speed in which Oden went after Lucas. In
fact, McMillan said he didn't expect to see Oden jumping and dunking.

"Yeah, I got a couple of dunks, because at the end, coach Luke was just
getting out of the way,'' Oden said. "But coach (McMillan) didn't want me to
go hard, because I'm not cleared to go all the way hard. It's jut me getting
out there and learning the plays. But I'd like to start doing that more
often.''

Terraholm wrote:
> When coach Nate McMillan announced the players he wanted on the court
> to run through offensive plays, he named Raef LaFrentz, Sergio
> Rodriguez, Josh McRoberts, Von Wafer ... and Oden.
>
> "There was somewhat of an uproar by the team,'' McMillan said. "Some
> of them said 'Greg?', and I was like, 'Yeah, Greg.' I think everyone
> was just excited to see him on the floor, just moving with the team.''
>
> Even though Oden said he went through the drills at about half-speed,
> he looked much like the fluid, agile and coordinated big man before
> his September surgery, when he was considered a can't-miss prospect
> as the No. 1 overall selection in the 2007 NBA draft.
>
> ==
>
> After running through some offensive plays, Oden went to another
> court and worked one-on-one with assistant coach Maurice Lucas. With
> Oden on offense taking entry passes from Steve Blake, Lucas pounded
> the rookie's back with his forearm and slapped at his arms as Oden
> worked for a shot. Nearly every time, Oden backed Lucas down and
> finished with a dunk, including one in which he dunked two-handed and
> slapped the backboard with both hands on his way down, prompting
> Blake to whistle an imaginary technical.
> The one-on-one workout was watched intently by his teammates, and was
> surprising in the intensity and speed in which Oden went after Lucas.
> In fact, McMillan said he didn't expect to see Oden jumping and
> dunking.
> "Yeah, I got a couple of dunks, because at the end, coach Luke was
> just getting out of the way,'' Oden said. "But coach (McMillan)
> didn't want me to go hard, because I'm not cleared to go all the way
> hard. It's jut me getting out there and learning the plays. But I'd
> like to start doing that more often.''

Nice, although I had to check the Oregonian site to make sure you weren't
teasing. : )

Even though he won't play until next season, it's got to pump the team up to
see him on the court. I know it pumped me up just to know he's making that
much progress.

Go Blazers !

Swillabrew wrote:
> Terraholm wrote:

>
> Nice, although I had to check the Oregonian site to make sure you
> weren't teasing. : )

Me imitate Jason Quick? ;-)

>
> Even though he won't play until next season, it's got to pump the
> team up to see him on the court. I know it pumped me up just to know
> he's making that much progress.

Exactly. I was surprised.
Every time they interview him including on this trip he just said he could
start running but not much.