Oden extras Posted by Jason Quick May 26, 2007 13:30PM Categories: Draft lottery I had a wonderful visit with Greg Oden this week, part of which will be relayed through a feature in Sunday's editions of The Oregonian. First off, the kid is great. If the Blazers do indeed draft him with the top pick, people in this town will fall in love with him. He is hilarious. Smart. Polite. Interesting. And real. The word that keeps popping into my head with him is "pure". From a chemistry standpoint, he would be a great fit to the Blazers locker room. And from talking to Ohio State coach Thad Matta, we have yet to see the real Greg Oden on the basketball court. He was dominant for much of last season even though he couldn't catch entry passes or rebound with both hands because of his wrist injury. But after Matta worked him out after the season, he said he was amazing. A couple of things that didn't get into the story. The talk of Oden's camp pushing the Blazerrs to draft Ohio State point guard Mike Conley, Jr. is real, but it probably won't happen. The Blazers have made some initial offers to Atlanta regarding the third pick, but the Hawks want either Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge in return for the third pick, and that simply isn't going to happen. If the Hawks don't take Conley, Jr. with the third pick, look for the Blazers to turn to Milwaukee at No. 6 to possibly see if they can swing a deal. I asked Oden how important it is for him to continue playing with Conley Jr. - the two have been on the same team since 4th grade, during which they have never lost a home game - and his reaction wasn't as emphatic as you might think. "It would be really nice to be able to play with him, with how many years we have been together,'' Oden said. "Especially with the winning streak we have together. I mean, really, we don't lose. If we both come here, it's almost a guarantee we aren't going to lose. "But honestly, I think he has lived in my shadow. I mean, people don't really know - maybe the people who know basketball do - but he is the driving force of the teams we played on. But people have kind of put him in my shadow, and I don't know, maybe he wants to be his own person. That's what I think. I mean, he would never say that to any media or anything, but I think so.'' I asked Oden what number he would want to wear on the Blazers. He said his favorite number is 2, and he wanted to wear No. 22 at Ohio State, but the number was retired in honor of Jim Jackson. So he wore No. 20. In Portland, No. 20 is retired for Maurice Lucas. Oden said he has worn No. 50 in the past, but that is taken by Zach Randolph. And No. 2 is currently occupied by Dan Dickau, of which I'm sure an arrangement could be made to switch. "It's just a number to me,'' Oden said. "If somebody already has it, I can just get another number.'' I also asked him about his age - he turns 20 on Jan. 22. I told him he looks like he is 35, which got a chuckle out of him. "It's because of my beard. Sometimes I get lazy, and I just don't cut it,'' Oden said. "Plus, my barber is the only lady I trust to cut my hair, and she lives in Indianapolis. So when I was in Columbus, I was like ... I don't know about this. See, because I've got those little Shane Battier things on the top of my head (grooves), and she is the only one who knows how to cut it just right, so it doesn't show.'' I asked him his impressions of Portland after his two-day stay. "When we were driving to Nike (from downtown Portland), we were on the highway and you look over and see all these mountains and houses ... it's just beautiful. I asked the driver if you can really drive through the town and get to the other side, because you can't see anything but trees. So to me, it looked like a regular town with a lot of trees. But it's nice, very beautiful. Very beautiful. Oh, and we saw the volcano (Mt. St. Helens). It looked like a big cloud. It was huge.'' At any rate, he is a great kid. His reminds me of Shaquille O'Neal with his playfulness and his array of interests. He will be a fascinating subject in this town, a guy people will really relate to and feel a connection with. I will be filing reports this week from Orlando and the NBA pre-draft camp. At some point during the week, the Blazers will name their new assistant general manager (a hint: he has been mentioned in this blog before), but the Blazers are NOT expected to meet with either Oden or Kevin Durant in Orlando. The Blazers are allowed only two workouts or meetings with prospects, and general manager Kevin Pritchard said he wants both of those visits to be on his "home turf" here in Portland. The tentative schedule right now is to have either Oden or Durant in Portland on June 5 for two days, followed by the other player on June 6 for two days. Talk about red-letter days. ---Quick http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/05/oden_extras.html --

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