The 7-foot center isn't taking part in five-on-five scrimmage sessions yet, but he began one-on-one and two-on-two and an assortment of basketball drills with Demopolous on Monday.

"Everything is done with the conditioning component in mind," Demopolous said of Oden, the top pick of the 2007 draft who missed all of last season after microfracture knee surgery. "We want to make sure he is able to make the transition from offense to defense and from defense to offense. We're working a lot on that."

Head coach Nate McMillan, assistant coach on the U.S. Olympic team, said Oden is more powerful than Dwight Howard. Teammate Channing Frye said Oden is the most powerful player he has seen in the NBA.

"Greg really is a big, powerful man," Demopolous said. "We need to get him to where that creates an advantage for us, and that's close to the hole.

"There are maybe four or five power dunkers in the league -- Howard, Shaquille O'Neal, Yao Ming and maybe Amare Stoudemire, though he's more of a hybrid. Greg is in that elite class. We hope he gets a chance to show it next season."

Asked to grade Oden's first four days of workouts in Portland, Demopolous replied, "I'd give him an A-plus up to this point for effort and enthusiasm."

Jensen puts Oden in a select class of ex-Blazers -- alongside Scottie Pippen, Detlef Schrempf and Damon Stoudamire -- in terms of work ethic.