Hooped Up

Bobby Medina, in his 11th year in Portland as their strength and conditioning coach after five years with Seattle, says Oden reminds him of a young Shawn Kemp or Jermaine O’Neal in terms of work ethic.

“Greg’s a monster in the weight room,” Medina says. “I’m not at all worried about his (weight). Once he gets into his cardio, running up and down, he’ll be fine – he’s an active guy.”

“Right now is a tough time because all he can do is ride a bike and do a little work in the water. But when he gets to the point where he can run, he’ll lose some weight and keep all the muscle and his tone.”

“We don’t want him to be a football player. We want him to keep his athleticism, but he needs to be strong at that position.”

Oden gets that sheepish grin when asked how he’s doing.

“Right now, I’m just enjoying being big,” he says. (Don’t you just love this guy?)

“I’m the strongest I’ve ever been,” he adds. “I hope I can stay that way, but that I’ll be able to get my weight down after I’m able to start running again. Jay (Jensen, the Blazer trainer) says I can do that at four months, so I’m a few weeks away.”