Oden Gets His First Taste of NBA Ballin' (Sort of)

You really shouldn't put any stock in preseason games ... unless we're talking about the first semi-real, five-on-five run that Greg Oden's gotten in public since going down with knee surgery. So take a quick look at this passage from The Oregonian, where you get a sense of where Oden's at, capability-wise, and just how much of an impact he might have:

There was Oden, in his first NBA "game", finishing with 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes. He tired easily, but of his five baskets, four were dunks, many of them coming after he patiently waited for his opening to rise above the rim. He also emphatically sent back a dunk attempt by Sacramento center Spencer Hawes and he drew nine fouls on Kings players.

"It was all right," Oden said of his performance. "But there's always room for improvement. I know I'm not in the best shape of my life and all I can do is work through that."

While Oden is downplaying this memorable showing, teammate LaMarcus Aldridge going ahead and crowning Oden this season's ROY, the hype is high in Portland. Especially when fellow rook Rudy Fernandez also had his share of breath-taking moves:
But most importantly, we're getting proof that the fundamentals of Greg Oden's game are sound. And that while he may not dominate every night, certainly, we shouldn't be expecting him to go bust, or make anything less than a central (pun intended) contribution to a Blazers team still on the rise.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.