Oden Takes Steep Road to Court

2008/03/25 00:05:04 @NBA.com: News

In the OREGONIAN, Jason Quick writes "Nate McMillan was huffing. And puffing. And sweating. So when the Trail Blazers coach gave his assessment of a day in the life of Greg Oden, it was with broken and gasping words. ‘This,' McMillan said, catching his breath before continuing. ‘This is the real deal. The kid is going to be all right'. The kid, of course, was Oden, the 20-year-old center for the Blazers who is spending his first NBA season on the sidelines while rehabbing a surgically repaired right knee. And the ‘real deal' was a steep, half-mile residential street in Tigard that in Blazers parlance has come to be known as ‘The Hill.' Oden did the first third of the hill in side-to-side steps, as if he were guarding a player going baseline to baseline. In the middle section of the hill, Oden jogged backward. On regular days -- Oden does this workout three times a week -- Oden finishes the final third of the hill walking straight ahead.”
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