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Quick Note: Nic Batum told Blazersedge this afternoon that he would play in tomorrow's Fan Fest, despite an injury to his shoulder that kept him out of scrimmages and some drills at today's practice. Nate McMillan also said he expects Batum to play tomorrow. Batum was laughing with Monty Williams prior to leaving the gym and didn't appear to be in enormous pain. On to Oden...
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Per your 354,345 requests, I shot the following videos of Greg Oden at Training Camp this morning.
As media, we are allowed to see roughly 20-30 minutes of practice a day. Some of that time is scrimmage time, some is shooting time, some is drill work. We are allowed to shoot video from one wall of the gym, hence the people blocking the camera at certain times and the less-than-ideal angle. This is raw scrimmage footage, not a highlight reel. I tried to keep the camera trained on Greg throughout the entire video. The footage is presented in chronological order and spliced together to cut some of the down time. Sorry for the rough cuts.
- Monster Alley oop right out of the gate.
- You can hear Nate McMillan shout "Nice Pass!" when Greg hits an open shooter during the first video.
- After airballing his jump hook he grabs the ball and puts up a few extra attempts to get it right.
- Greg gets the offensive tip in and you can hear the gym get pretty juiced followed by Greg clapping his hands in excitement.
- Greg communicating with his guard on the pick and roll defense, yelling pretty loudly. Doesn't quite play it perfectly as the guard sneaks baseline but Travis plays it worse, leaving Bayless wide open.
- Udoka misses an opportunity to hit Greg with an alley oop pass off the inbound. The whole gym goes "whoooo" as Greg backcuts.
Drill Work
The second video shows Greg Oden working with Assistant Coaches Bill Bayno and Maurice Lucas going through some drill work after practice. For a big, higher quality version click here.
Second Video Notes
- After a 3 hour practice Greg looks visibly tired but still gets in his extra reps.
- The left hand. Whoa.
- You get the feeling Greg has gone through these reps thousands of time over the summer, don't you?
Alright, there you have it. The longest look at this year's Greg Oden that's been available to date. What do you think? Vote in the poll and leave your own observations in the comments.
PS Here's a link to the official Blazersedge Youtube channel. I'll be adding videos from time to time throughout the season. Feel free to add Blazersedge as a contact, etc.
-- Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)