Posts tagged GregOden at Sports Blog - The FanHouse

And that is most evident when he talks about his NBA future, as he did in an ESPN interview this morning. Without fail, when he's asked whether being a professional basketball player is a lifelong dream, Oden explains that his actual dream is to become a dentist. That's what he wanted to be as a child, and his physical size is actually a hindrance toward that dream: His hands are so big that he'd have a hard time getting them in a patient's mouth.

Oden's devotion to fighting tooth decay has been on display for as long as he's been a public figure. " " Oden said at the Final Four. "I just went to the dentist.

It was nice." " back in the day," he told Men's Fitness. "I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and ," his agent Mike Conley Sr.

says.

I hope Oden plays 15 years or so in the NBA, until he's 60 35. And then I hope he goes back to school, gets the undergrad degree, and moves on to dental school.

Yeah, his hands are bigger than most, but a man as devoted to teeth as Oden is shouldn't miss his true calling in life.

However, this time around there's a new twist on the scenario:

That means more of the usual Shawn Marion summer-trade talk, which now has become more than just rumors. Marion will make $34.25 million over the next two years.

Stoudemire, another All-Star, would not be untouchable without a trophy. Like Marion, Stoudemire, who plays center, craves a larger portion of offense and fame and dislikes playing one position up from his natural spot.

Come to think of it, they're partially responsible for the Suns system as we know it. But I have to admit, swapping one of them out for Durant or Oden would help them long-term. While it might set them back a year at first, Durant could be like Marion with infinite offensive capabilities, and Oden, Stoudemire-like on both ends of the floor without slowing things down.

If the Suns are the ones making the , that whole will seem suddenly not seem nearly as bad. Handing the player of the future to the team of the future is too egregious to be true.

and entering the NBA draft. An official news release is coming out tomorrow.

There's really not a ton to say about it that hasn't already been said.

Everyone's been operating on the assumption that he would go pro, and rightfully so. I certainly wouldn't expected either of them to turn down the opportunity to be a guaranteed top-2 pick.

One thing that strikes me, though, is that in the case of Durant and now Oden, too, both of them talked about how much they liked college and wanted to stay .

.. and both are now officially in the draft.

Not that I'm going to shed any tears for anyone in those particular shoes, but ...

is that a little bit sad?

I know it's not like a depression-era 9-year-old who has to quit school to work on the farm with pa, but ..

. they both expressed a desire to be a student for a while longer, and neither of them will get to fulfill that desire. The way of the world, I guess.

Some people have to become bazillionaires before they want to.

Something tells me we'll hear more about Oden and Conley here in the FanHouse.

"Why not, as long as he finishes school in the offseason?" the elder Oden said. "He's the kind of kid that, even though he'll have a lot of money, he needs to do more than just basketball.

"They had an exciting season, but why take the chance on him getting hurt?"

Oden's dad also confirmed that Mike Conley Sr., Oden's AAU coach and a former Olympic track and field star who was recently certified as an agent, will represent Oden. And he said that two other Ohio State players, Mike Conley Jr.

and Daequan Cook, intend to enter the draft but not hire an agent to leave open the possibility of returning to school. Of course, when your dad's an agent, it kind of gives you a loophole through the whole "not hiring an agent" thing.

"You win in basketball when you attack."

Walton added that he was "wholly disappointed" that Matta often ran a slow-down offense and a zone defense, which Walton said did not adequately use Oden's skills. Walton called Oden "the most under-utilized talent that I have ever seen in the college ranks.

"

Walton knows far more than I do about how to use a talented big man, but I have to disagree with him here. Oden was great in the tournament except when he got into foul trouble. If Matta had told Oden to play a more aggressive game, wouldn't he have been more likely to foul out?

On the other hand, I like the fact that Walton isn't shy about expressing his opinions. I think too many analysts are timid when it comes to questioning coaches' strategic decisions. No one can say that about Walton.

.. Greg Oden pretty clearly is blameless.

He did did everything he had to do last night. He did everything people wanted to see from him.

People said he had to stay out of foul trouble, and he did (though there is at least one call Corey Brewer would like to discuss).

They said he had to be a defensive force in the paint, in more than just a shot-blocking way, and he was. To say the least. They said he had to score if he was guarded one-on-one in the post, and he did (against Joakim Noah and Al Horford, mind you, two consensus NBA top-10 picks, and he did it with a certain degree of ease).

Oden was a beast last night, moreso than he had ever been in his short career.

All told, 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting, with 12 rebounds, on 38 minutes played. Even against Florida, pretty clearly the best team in the nation, it looked at times like Oden might as well have been playing against sixth-graders, because no one guy out there was going to stop him (and rarely did two guys try to stop him).

So if he leaves (and I think and will), he leaves after his best performance on the biggest possible stage, and did everything anyone wanted him to do. Except win, I guess.

Bilas said he thinks Oden is seriously considering a return to Columbus for his sophomore season and added, "He really loves college."

I really loved college, too. I wouldn't have turned down a multimillion-dollar job offer to stay in college, though.

Assuming this was Oden's last game, it was a great one -- perhaps his best in a Buckeyes uniform. He had 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks against that outstanding Florida front line. Thanks to his teammates' horrendous three-point shooting, Oden didn't go out a winner.

But he went out on top.