http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/06/greg_oden_is_a_freak_of_nature.html

Quote :

"Greg Oden is a freak of nature (updated) Posted by Jason Quick June 04, 2007 11:24AM The Oregonian has secured the official weights, measurements and testing results from the Orlando predraft camp, and wait until you get a load of the freak of nature called Greg Oden. For starters, his numbers blow Kevin Durant out of the water. There are several startling revelations in the numbers, and the one that immediately pops out is the bench press. Players were rated on how many times they could bench press 185 pounds. Oden didn't attempt the bench press in order to prevent an injury to his right wrist, which has recently recovered from injury. But get this: Only one player was unable to bench press 185 even once - Kevin Durant. There is more. Oden is faster than Durant in the 3/4-court sprint, quicker in the lane-agility drill, and has better numbers in the running and standing vertical leaps. And, Oden has a mind-boggling 7.8 body-fat percentage ... most big men are north of the 12 percent range. For instance, other top-rated big men such as Washington's Spencer Hawes (13.0), Duke's Josh McRoberts (13.7) and Pitt's Aaron Gray (10.8) don't compare. Let's get to the specifics. Oden is 6-foot-11 without shoes, 7-feet with shoes. He weighs 257 pounds. His wingspan is 7 feet, 4.25 inches (fourth best in the draft). His standing reach is 9 feet, 4 inches (the highest of anyone in the draft). His standing vertical is 32 inches, his running vertical 34 inches. The lane agility drill, where a player runs through cones alternating between running backward, sideways and forward, is 11.67 seconds. And his 3/4 court sprint was 3.27 seconds. The thing that jumps out is Oden's speed and agility. We all know Oregon's Aaron Brooks is fast. Brooks finished the 3/4 court sprint in 3.2 seconds. Oden was 3.27 seconds. Durant, meanwhile, finished in 3.45. Oden's 11.67 in the agility drill speaks volumes to the footwork so many scouts rave about. Durant did the same drill in 12.33. Durant's specifics are as follows: Height: 6-foot-9 without shoes, 6-foot-10.25 with shoes. Weight: 215. Wing span: 7-foot-4.75 (second longest in the draft - Maryland's Ekene Ibekwe is 7-6). Standing reach: 9-2. Body fat: 6.6. Standing vertical jump: 26.0 inches; running vertical jump, 33.5 inches. Lane agility: 12.33 seconds and 3/4 court sprint, 3.45 seconds. Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard declined to comment on the numbers, in part because he had just received them himself. But really, there is no need for comment. The numbers speak volumes."

6/5/2007 11:18:39 AM

Fantastic thread title

6/5/2007 11:22:09 AM

Oden is a beast no doubt

Although I have trouble believing that Durant is the only player in the predraft camp who could bench press 185 even once...that seems absurd

nm i misread it

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 11:22 AM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 11:22:11 AM

apples to oranges.
like comparing the best safety and best WR in the NFL Draft.

6/5/2007 11:32:26 AM

although you'd expect the WR to be faster

but similar to the NFL, your 40 yard dash time at combines doesnt always translate to in game speed, etc

6/5/2007 11:35:40 AM

Yes, but wouldn't it be surprising if the best safety was not only bigger and stronger, but also faster than the best WR in the draft?

6/5/2007 11:37:37 AM

imagine having arms as long as durant's and bench pressing.... probably has to work twice as hard as any of us

6/5/2007 11:42:18 AM

but if I read that correct, Ibekwe, whose reach is longer, at least managed to do one.

6/5/2007 11:48:27 AM

OK, so I thought Oden and Durant were only at the camp for pre-draft physicals, they were running, weightlifting and doing drills too???
If I was Durant, I could seriously not give a fuck about working out, it's not like his stock is going to rise or drop. He won't go 1 or 3, so who cares?

6/5/2007 11:58:12 AM

^^assuming he was in it

Oden and Conley, for example, were listed as "physical only" where they just take physicals

Conley isnt a huge dude but since he was "physical only" he didnt have to try

^yeah its interesting he even worked out

6/5/2007 11:58:56 AM

Quote :

"His standing vertical is 32 inches, his running vertical 34 inches. "

This stat seems strange to me. With a running start, he gains only 2 more inches on his vertical? Is that normal? Maybe it is and I've never realized it, but I always felt like I could jump much higher than my standing jump when I had a running start.

6/5/2007 12:32:49 PM

^you've got "1-footed jumpers" and "2-footed jumpers"

classic examples are Jordan as a 1-footed jumper and Dominique as a 2-footed jumper

6/5/2007 12:34:34 PM

Quote :

"^^assuming he was in it Oden and Conley, for example, were listed as "physical only" where they just take physicals "

Thanks.

I didn't realize that some probably didn't do anything but the physicals. That would make more sense then. That wingspan would definitely make things fairly difficult when benching.

6/5/2007 12:42:10 PM

Quote :

" Only one player was unable to bench press 185 even once - Kevin Durant."

that one's the most shocking part...

6/5/2007 12:44:04 PM

That's actually kind of sad.

6/5/2007 12:53:05 PM

^^not really, he's tall and skinny.....he reminds me of teyshaun(sp) prince, with more scoring ability.......he'll be a great NBAer.

6/5/2007 1:06:33 PM

i remember some of the baseball apologists awhile back were like "i'll bet you pro basketball players use steroids too"

not realizing that ^ its more about being limber, agile, flexible, etc

6/5/2007 1:08:01 PM

I could see 'em using after an injury to promote faster healing.

6/5/2007 1:10:34 PM

Oden is going to be great no doubt

and Durant is a BALLER, doesnt matter how he tests

6/5/2007 1:13:28 PM

^^well sure but not as a "performance enhancer" per se

6/5/2007 1:14:03 PM

who'll be a better pro, Oden or Durant?

6/5/2007 1:22:01 PM

I'll say Oden

6/5/2007 1:22:31 PM

Quote :

"not really, he's tall and skinny"

yeah, but 185 is not a lot of weight at all.... any basketball player should be able to bench 185 without doing anything outside of their normal training regimen...

6/5/2007 1:54:06 PM

I'd be concerned about Durant's work ethic not even benching 185...he should be able to do that within his first month of working out. I'd be shocked if an NBA point guard couldn't bench 185. Did Rick Barnes never show him where the weightroom was at Texas?


And Greg Oden is a much better pro prospect, if only because he is a rarer specimen. You have similar athletes to Kevin Durant in the draft almost every year. You only see a prospect like Oden every 5-7 years. Consider how many solid 3s are in the NBA versus elite big men.


Sprinting is less relevant because you rarely get to full speed on a basketball court. Agility and quickness are very important, however, as is strength. Strength obviously matters more for big men (and less in basketball than football), but if you watched Tayshaun get overpowered time after time last series you can see why strength matters at the 3 position as well.

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 2:02 PM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 1:55:02 PM

I understand that Oden is a freak, but really, strength/speed testing results like these are much less relevant for basketball than they are for football, and won't have too much impact on the draft. Yeah, Durant is skinny as hell, but the dude is can shoot the lights out, is 6'10, and plays hard as hell. He's gonna be nasty in the pros, regardless of how much he can bench.

6/5/2007 1:57:43 PM

^on point.......what is being strong going to get durant at this point in his career? he's not a banger, and if he got stronger at the expense of his quickness, i'd actually hurt him imo.

6/5/2007 2:00:20 PM

^You must have missed the part that Durant got owned on the quickness drills as well. I'd also disagree that lifting weights and benching at least 185 is going to slow Durant down.

6/5/2007 2:03:27 PM

Durant:

Quote :

"PPG 25.8 | APG 1.3 | RPG 11.1"

Oden:

Quote :

"PPG 15.7 | APG .7 | RPG 9.6"

both as freshman, say what you want about drills, bench max, or whatever, but I'd take a slow, skinny, weak guy that scores 10 more a game and averages more rebounds and assists over the big, strong, fast guy any day. Not necessarily saying i think durant is better than oden, but you can't put much weight in these workouts (pun intended ).

6/5/2007 2:09:50 PM

^JJ Redick must be lighting it up in the NBA.

6/5/2007 2:17:35 PM

as is Michael Olowokandi.

6/5/2007 2:29:01 PM

Quote :

"I'd also disagree that lifting weights and benching at least 185 is going to slow Durant down."

Brackman would also disagree, wait...

6/5/2007 3:08:14 PM

^lol, good point.

6/5/2007 3:12:58 PM

^^Good point. I would discourage Durant from going through a baseball conditioning program.


"Never lift weights, it will kill your basketball career."

-Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, etc. etc.

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 3:14 PM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 3:13:56 PM

Julius Hodge

6/5/2007 3:16:18 PM

Archie Miller

6/5/2007 3:21:00 PM

y'all are making a 185 bench press out to be some insurmountable weight that requires a ridiculous amount of muscle to lift.

6/5/2007 3:21:48 PM

^^^^way to totally distort what's being said in order to create the facade of a legitimate point.

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

6/5/2007 3:22:33 PM

^^

6/5/2007 3:31:26 PM

y'all are making it sound like he might as well not even enter the draft b/c he can't bench 185.

6/5/2007 3:32:54 PM

He'll probably be available at the #22 spot now

6/5/2007 3:40:48 PM

results from last year. check out Jordan Farmar's vertical leap (PG for Lakers)
http://www.topendsports.com/sport/basketball/testing-draft-results.htm

this one lists every participant
http://www.draftexpress.com/viewarticle.php?a=1352

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 3:51 PM. Reason : link]

6/5/2007 3:47:24 PM

All these results really do is solidify Oden as the #1 prospect - no one is claiming it has raised any doubts about Durant. Nearly all GM's already believed Oden was the best prospect anyway, even before he showed that he's actually quick as hell too. And while Oden's numbers this season weren't as impressive as Durant's, you gotta remember that he spent much of the season primarily using his off-hand. If his right wrist had been at full-strength, he likely would've scored much more.

That being said, I'd have a hard time not picking Durant. While he didn't lead his team to a championship, like Carmelo, this was easily the most impressive freshman season I've ever witnessed. Especially considering this was one of the most stacked talent levels in college basketball in recent history. Durant's skill set, especially for his height (and age), is ridiculous. And the fact that he averaged 11 rbg, while not being able to bench 185, shows that he was hustling non-stop and has a great feel for the game. Huh, I wonder if that's ever happened before - someone that weak getting double-digit boards in college basketball? Heck, actually, that's pretty damn impressive!!

6/5/2007 3:57:49 PM

For a second I thought Earl was back. I don't think you can lose w/ either of them. It's too hard to compare them head to head because they will have different offensive and defensive impacts for their respective teams.

6/5/2007 4:01:13 PM

It's weird that the #1 pick looks like he is over 50...and the #2 pick looks like he is 13.

6/5/2007 4:01:39 PM

they'll both be stars but i think the most important reason for oden going 1st is because there are just less quality big men than wing players in the league

^and the #1 pick in 2003 looked about 35

6/5/2007 4:04:01 PM

luckily bench pressing has almost nothing to do with playing basketball.


Leg strength matters a lot more than upper body strength.

he's like 19 and has super long arms... I wouldnt read anything into it, he'll still be averaging 15+ ppg as a rookie

6/5/2007 6:27:43 PM

Upper body strength is important in the post. Durant is gonna be a wing in the pros, but he'll have a lot of trouble if he tries posting up or fighting for offensive rebounds.

[Edited on June 5, 2007 at 6:49 PM. Reason : 2]

6/5/2007 6:48:50 PM

KG and Marion are doing alright

6/5/2007 7:08:08 PM

^^^ yeah, I agree - I'll be pretty shocked if Durant isn't dropping at least 20 ppg for the sonics next year.

6/5/2007 7:29:59 PM

I call bullshit. that's definitely not true. durant CAN DEFINITELY bench press 185.

6/5/2007 7:56:09 PM