Greg Oden
Everyone else has days when they don't want to smile, when you just want to come in and be regular.Collection: Smile
I can be fine and not smile.Collection: Smile
I do like to go bowling a lot.
I hear it each day. If I'm not smiling, if I don't have the biggest grin on my face, then it's like I'm always down.
When my knee feels good, I'm always going to feel I can do more.
There's more to life than basketball, and at some point, it's going to end anyway.
I was a professional rehab/workout guy for four years. I wasn't even a basketball player - just a guy who got paid to exercise.
It doesn't say how much you played on your championship ring.
Like I would love to be a ladies man, but it's like... uh, you're seven feet tall, and you need to shave!
I Bust-A-Move! Old-school style too: like, I'll bust a Robot out in a second.
Me and my brother used to love when my dad walked in with a pizza. We used to watch Nickelodeon every Saturday night. That was, like, the greatest time ever.
I'm just gonna be who I am, who God made me, what my mom taught me to be.
I'd be lying if I said that it didn't suck to see Durant doing so well.
For starters, Portland isn't a great city to live in if you're a young, African American male with a lot of money. But that's especially true if you don't have anybody to guide you.
When you're on the court with guys that know basketball, it's a universal language for us.
It's homework. It sucks.
Is there any proof that I'm a bust? All there is proof of is that I have bad luck with injuries.
I wanted to be a dentist when I was younger. But then I started to get big and realized that my hands were so big, I'd kind of scare the little kids away.
Growing up in Terre Haute, Indiana, there's not a whole lot to do. What I did was I just went to the basketball court at the Boys & Girls Club and literally stayed there all day until my mom got off of work.
I've been strong my whole entire life.
For a lot of guys in this league, it's confidence - once they play a year or two, they start to figure it out.
Fundamentals - everybody has that. I definitely have that.
There's been so many times when I've heard people not pulling for me. So I just play and try not to think about it.
I'm not really worried about individual stats.
It's a game. Don't put too much pressure on yourself that you can't have fun.
I've played against LaMarcus Aldridge, and he kills me every time.
Marking success, for me, is walking onto a court and just walking off healthy, no matter if it is one minute or two minutes.
My dream is to be able to play basketball, and if I can go out there and do it, run up and down, and come off the court again healthy, that's goal one.
I'll be remembered as the biggest bust in NBA history. But I can't do nothing about that.
Just basketball in general in Indiana is just huge, so that's everybody's getaway. That's our main thing, to think about the history. Obviously, Larry Bird is a very, very big part of that.
My favorite player, growing up, was David Robinson. He was really the first person that I actually knew about and actually watched.
I started to play in the fourth grade and didn't score for, like, a whole year.
I just like to hang out with friends.
I lived in Indiana, and Reggie Miller was everywhere.
Everybody would love to be able to be great and make it to the NBA All-Star Game as a rookie. I mean, that is everybody's goal.
I don't want to get dunked on too much, and I want to make it to the playoffs.
I wouldn't say I regret anything. I would say I just wish I did things better.
I'm just trying to better myself and work on my degree and set something up for the future of my family.
Since I've been in fourth grade, all I've known was basketball.
I'm just trying to work on my game and get better. That's all I can do. Keep working hard, keep trying.
When I get 100 percent, and I get to improve on the court, I feel I can be an All-Star.
When I get out there 100 percent, everybody will see what kind of player I am.
When you don't play hard enough, you don't win.
When I was in Portland, there were some dark times for me.
I've got an old body.
I've got to warm up to warm up and then play. I understand that now.
I'm going to try to jump over people, and I'm going to try to run all day. If my body lets me, I'll do it.
It wasn't like I was clinically depressed, but I was so down. I think I was probably depressed. Nothing went my way since college, and I put my head down and kind of pitied myself. That wasn't the right way to go.
All I know is what I've lived through, so this is what I know.
If you're out there, and you can't do it, that makes you a bust. Well, I was never really out there. I was never Greg Oden in the NBA.