Greg; Oden The next big thing in the NBA, Greg Oden himself, would probably tell you that he leaves a lot to be desired, but many in the basketball community disagree: They think this The Indiana boy will be the next big thing in the NBA. Sometimes it is because I am overconfident in my writing skills, and sometimes it is because I am lazy and never look up the dictionary when writing articles. But when I told the story of Greg Oden, I searched hard to describe this big guy who was 2.14 meters tall and weighed 118 kilograms. Finally, I turned to the dictionary to find a usable word to describe this highly anticipated high school player of the year. Player: refreshing. Ostensibly, the word means "fresh," but doesn't it mean that the word can only describe fast food and soda pop? Fortunately, Webster's dictionary has other explanations for this word: refreshing, adjective, 1. refreshing, refreshing; 2. pleasingly fresh and different. This is what I want to express, especially meaning 2. The freshness starts on the field. Throughout the entire high school league, the summer all-star training camp, three consecutive weekly championships, and leading Lawrence North High School to a run and win 45 games, Oden showed a body and skills that I have never seen before. On the eve of the annual Roundball Classic in Chicago, this miracle happened just meters away from me. At our photographer's behest, Oden was dunking dunk after dunk. Is it a bit boring for a seven-foot tall man to perform a slam dunk? But when you watch Oden dunk, you don't feel this way at all. I don't know if Oden can win the championship if he participates in the NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest with his height, but I am at least certain that he will make everyone stand in awe. He can dribble behind his back against tight defenses and dunk with two hands. You can also shoot left and right and dunk hard, even Jordan would praise him if he saw it. I didn't know it before this day's test, but I know it now: Oden's jumping ability is amazing. Oden's idols Garnett and Dwight Howard are both power forwards with super physical fitness, and David Robinson is a specimen of a center, but in the final analysis, they are all big players who play towards the basket. Oden Not so. In terms of body, Oden already has the capital to dominate the high school league, and he will become stronger after entering Ohio State University. His powerful dunks have a classical school feel that would make even NBA legend Pete Newell look at him. Lawrence North High School senior coach Jack Keefer said: "Oden has really made great progress offensively. He likes to shoot jumpers and the distance is getting farther and farther. He will wake up at 6 o'clock in the morning to participate in the game set up for big players. Training. He is still practicing free throws hard, and his free throw shooting rate is above 80%, but his strength is defense. "There is no doubt that offense is Oden's weakest link, but it is only relatively weak. , after all, he was "the most threatening big man I've ever seen," said Bob Gibson, the expert who discovered Oden. Oden played 45 minutes under my watch and was completely captivated by him. I tried to talk to Oden about offense first. But when Oden ended the training session and took the photos as we requested, he brought the topic back to defense. The 18-year-old had a magnetic baritone: "I am a Defenders, I like rebounding and blocking shots, I just don't like seeing my opponent score." Can Oden play a big role in the defensive field? As Kiefer said: "He can move quickly under the basket and has super defensive ability. When playing with us, the opponent's shooting percentage was only 32%. It is precisely because of the presence of Oden inside that they had no chance and could only shoot 3. Points. Oden makes our defense more aggressive. We all know that he can handle the inside, so we have no worries. "Oden covers the sky with one hand in the inside, which gives his teammates many opportunities. Mike Conley Jr. was Oden's friend and future teammate at Ohio University. Whenever Oden was about to finish his opponent, he would take a break. Oden said: "When you run and get the ball, it feels really good. I like our guards, they always give me the ball. I don't shoot every time myself, but I just like having it in my hands. The feeling of the ball. I like to score, but I also like to assist. I am not happy if I only score. "It's really refreshing, isn't it? Auden does not regard himself as a "formed product" because he himself knows that it is still early to be formed. He insisted: "I still have a lot to do. I feel that I can still make a lot of moves, but I haven't used them yet. There are many techniques that others use well but I haven't mastered them yet, which makes me very anxious." We asked Oden to give an example. He said: "Let's look at the McDonald's All-Star Game. Kevin Durant won the MVP. He is really good. Hitting three-pointers is like picking up something. When you see him and When I compete, do you think I'm the best player? I just do what I want to do and don't care where the audience's eyes are. The All-Star Game is for people who play brilliantly, but I don't care. " Kiefer said that when Oden wasn't sleeping in bed or in class (Oden was an honor student throughout high school), he was definitely training.

"I sleep when I want to sleep, but when I'm on the court, I know exactly what I'm going to do. After every game, I'm going to take 50 free throws, and I have to make 80 percent of them. I can't leave until I hit 80%. Our coach opened a restaurant and promised me a free steak dinner if my shooting percentage was only 79%. I thought he was going to tell me to get lost. Haha. "The first time I played with coach Jimmy Smith was in the fourth grade." Oden was born in Buffalo, but moved to Indiana with his mother and brother in 1996. Riot. "I played hard at the time, but I was clumsy. I couldn't play basketball at all. My first ball was made in a game in the fifth grade." Speaking of which, O Den has adopted a cheery Shaquille O'Neal-esque tone, making people immediately think that what he has to say must be interesting. "It was a clean ball, but it went into our own basket. The whole audience was shocked!" Oden said: "This is not a joke, it is true. My first goal was an own goal, and I was just stunned. But we won the game and Jimmy Smith's son, Travis, was the MVP. I remember every time I made the shot, even though there were no cameras watching, there were flashes of light. Everyone was stunned, my teammates were at a loss, and the coach looked like he was saying, ‘What are you doing?’ Everyone came over to make fun of me, and I was also very embarrassed. After all, this was my first goal!” Although it started a bit! Unfortunately, Oden has improved rapidly. It should be said that part of the reason is due to his physical advantages. "I am the biggest in every age group." Another part of the reason is Oden's desire to compete. “Everything is difficult in the beginning, but once everything unfolds, the game is not so difficult for me. I used to go to the boys club in Theriault every day to have carefree fun, and then I concentrated on training with Coach Conley. ” Coach Conley is a former triple jump Olympic champion and coach of a local high school basketball team. “In 6th and 7th grade, he would travel back and forth between Indianapolis and Theriault just to pick me up. In 8th grade, our family moved to Indianapolis so I didn’t have to play ball. I started to get some letters from colleges, but I didn’t read them seriously. They were just questionnaires. All I had to do was go and visit and make the final decision. , But I don’t really care about which university I go to.” Although I haven’t entered university yet, I am paying more and more attention to Oden, which is growing almost exponentially. This isn't a LeBron-style star-studded celebration, as the NBA's age limit has delayed a potential No. 1 pick; and Oden himself isn't willing to live like LeBron. "People often come up to me and say, 'Auden, you are in the newspaper again today.' Actually, I don't read newspapers very much, but it is a very happy feeling to have someone write about you. I know that I am not the greatest genius. . I will continue to train hard and hope that one day I can reach the heights I should reach." Kiefer once led Lawrence North High School to win the 1989 Indiana state championship. "Indiana welcomed Oden like a rock star. Oden handled himself. We had no shortage of good players here, but everyone just wanted Oden's autograph, God. Oden was patient. People. Ask me if he will change, I don't think Oden is impatient, but I do find that sometimes he avoids public places and avoids being surrounded by crowds. "Oden has a place to go to avoid crowds. , that is Smith’s home. Oden said that after the season ends, he will go there once or twice a week. "Most of my friends play basketball, but Travis is still my best friend. He's short and white and likes to play golf. We play in his backyard and he can hit the ball in one shot. Go to the moon, and I can only hit 1 meter. Going to Terryot to play with him is my biggest pastime outside of basketball. "I told you, Oden is fresh. Oden's next step toward maturity will begin in July, when he will move to Columbus to train as an Ohio University student. Oden is ready: "I have done everything I can do. I had a great high school career and won three consecutive championships. When I enter college, I am ready to push my level to a new level." Oden was very cautious when talking about his freshman year at Ohio University, especially when it came to the so-called "Thad Five" recruiting staff (referring to Ohio University basketball coach Thad Matta's five-person coaching staff). This coaching staff plus Oden can indeed dominate the NCAA. But Oden was very modest: "I don't know, we still have to work hard. As a newcomer, I will play honestly like a newcomer." Oden himself is still planning the transition from high school student to college student, and the basketball world has already He was regarded very highly and even gained international fame. Just this morning, as the bus to the Roundball Classic was about to start, I saw Jerry Colangelo, the director of the U.S. National Team. There are rumors that the national team hopes to recruit Oden to participate in the Beijing Olympics. Oden said: "Colangelo came here just for me. He talked to me and asked me to train with him, but I was not ready yet.

Then he said, ‘You are now playing against college students in college, and you think you are playing the best, but if you want to really play the best, you must play against the best opponents. ’ I’d never played with an NBA player because I thought it was natural not to be ready. But on the other hand, how do I know I’m not good without fighting? I still have to give it a try, I hope it works well.

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