Dime Q&A with Oden

[Foulzilla]

I don't think this was posted yet, or if so I missed it (and feel free to merge this with it).

Dime magazine has a short Q&A with Oden, here.

When people ask me for a Greg Oden story, I usually tell them the one from the ‘07 Rookie Photo Shoot. That was the year Oden was supposed to make his NBA debut before microfracture knee surgery delayed his rookie season for another calendar turn. At the time, we were still putting together our cover feature on Oden for Dime #35, and I was going to help get some extra quotes.

“Do you love basketball?” I asked Oden. His answer was something along the lines of, “Yeah. I mean, I’ve been playing since I was a kid.” It wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said it — he sounded like somebody who was trying to convince themselves of something they know isn’t true.

I bring that up because, when I spoke to Greg Oden this past weekend — one of the first times I’d spoken to him for more than a couple of minutes since that Rookie Shoot — it was the first time I’d gotten the impression that he actually does love what he’s doing. A few days before he was to report to Blazers training camp, all Oden wanted to talk about was how he’d been improving his body and his game over the summer, and how he’s ready to erase any bad memories of last season from his mind.

I don't really read a whole lot into "loves the game" arguements, as I don't believe you can really tell that just from what someone says. That being said, it's an interesting read (though mostly just because I'm getting antsy for the season to start).

 

[mook]

I liked this quote:

Dime: Was there a time last season when you felt like you were getting the hang of the NBA game instead of just playing catch-up?
GO: I got to a point right before the All-Star break where I was feeling pretty comfortable — I had a couple games where I was getting 20 and 10, I was playing pretty well — then I had that game against Golden State (Feb. 12) when I hurt my knee again and never got back into that groove the second half of the season.

You know, I kind of forgot that he was actually playing really well before then. The two games right before then he'd put up 17/12/6 blocks and 16/10/3 blocks. And of the 11 games leading up to the injury he was in double figure scoring for 6 of them.

 

[PapaG]

I keep getting the feeling that Oden is going to explode this year, but I'm really trying to temper my enthusiasm and tell myself I'll be happy if he can just stay out of foul trouble.

Because if he does, he'll already surprise people. Andrew Bynum was the "next great center", and he put up numbers that Oden would surpass in similar minutes. I mean, I've seen national media types say Oden is an Olawakandi. KandiCane's best PER season of his career was 12.4; Oden had 18.1 as a foul-plagued rookie.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I keep getting the feeling that Oden is going to explode this year, but I'm really trying to temper my enthusiasm and tell myself I'll be happy if he can just stay out of foul trouble.

Because if he does, he'll already surprise people. Andrew Bynum was the "next great center", and he put up numbers that Oden would surpass in similar minutes. I mean, I've seen national media types say Oden is an Olawakandi. KandiCane's best PER season of his career was 12.4; Oden had 18.1 as a foul-plagued rookie.

Sounds messy

 

[mgb]

I keep getting the feeling that Oden is going to explode this year, but I'm really trying to temper my enthusiasm and tell myself I'll be happy if he can just stay out of foul trouble.

Because if he does, he'll already surprise people. Andrew Bynum was the "next great center", and he put up numbers that Oden would surpass in similar minutes. I mean, I've seen national media types say Oden is an Olawakandi. KandiCane's best PER season of his career was 12.4; Oden had 18.1 as a foul-plagued rookie.

My only concern is him staying healthy. As long as that happens he's going to be a beast! I think a lot of the fouls will not be a factor as long as he's healthy and can move his feet.

 

[PapaG]

My only concern is him staying healthy. As long as that happens he's going to be a beast! I think a lot of the fouls will not be a factor as long as he's healthy and can move his feet.

I think so too. The health will definitely help the silly out of position fouls. I'm as excited for this year as any year in my life of Blazer fandom.