"He's just showing you what he's going to become. I think he's coming along great," Portland Trail Blazers small forward Travis Outlaw told HOOPSWORLD.

"I think these last few games were his best yet," LaMarcus Aldridge said recently.

Praise and promise go hand-in-hand for the soon to be 21-year-old Oden.

Despite being an offensive focus for Portland thus far, the Blazers have benefited from Oden's defensive play and timely shot blocking ability. That was the hope within the organization from the get-go. On the season, he's the Blazers shot blocking leader with 1.21 per game and currently ranks third in rebounds (7.2) and second in blocked shots among NBA rookies.

No worries there. It's the other end of the court where the Blazers need Oden to assert himself. Then again, much of that depends on head coach Nate McMillan trusting Oden with that task.

"I haven't really focused on offense with him. The focus has been on the defensive end of the floor. Our options as far as going into the post, we go to L.A. (LaMarcus Aldridge) first and probably L.A. second. Then we work Greg in there," said McMillan.

Now with Brandon Roy nursing his sore hamstring, McMillan may have to start utilizing Oden more offensively sooner than he anticipated.  While McMillan's offense is primarily an "inside-out" gameplan, it's glaringly obvious during Roy's absence – where the Blazers have gone 1-2 in that stretch – that the offensive results have come from "inside."

A little Oden offense anyone? There's no time like the present.

If Oden can somehow duplicate his offensive outings against recent foes Toronto (16 points), Boston (13 points) and Los Angeles (10 points) without being an offensive option, what is Oden capable of when the ball is consistently in his hands? What can Portland's plethora of guards do with open-looks from an Oden double-team?

"Now that he's doing some good things we drop him the ball and run him some quick sets, slowly give him more opportunities. With Brandon out there are more opportunities to go there," McMillan added.

Just like any new kid on the block in the NBA, the key for Oden is staying out of foul trouble.  That's one impression the Blazers can't afford to become lasting.

He ranks first among all rookies with 3.8 personal fouls per game, and in roughly 23 minutes per game is by far the most foul-prone for Portland. In his 28 games played, Oden has collected 107 personal fouls (in 647 minutes). Those 107 total personal fouls rank him 16th in the league in that category, fifth among all rookies. Only LaMarcus Aldridge comes a close second on the team with 101 personal fouls.

But he's also played a total of 1,211 minutes in six more games.

Kind of hard to produce when your posture entails watching from the sidelines.

Ticky-tack fouls tend to get Oden in trouble: bumping a guy coming across the lane or backing someone down only to turn and commit a charge. Much like improving his conditioning or learning to communicate on the floor, Oden learning to remain in the game is part of the maturation process.

"We are starting to see what he is capable of, but he has a ways to go. But I think he'll get there. Now he's starting to experience what it is like to play that way. And it looks pretty easy for him," McMillan said.

"As he continues to grow, I think he'll become the guy we all think he's capable of becoming."

Somewhere in that assessment of Greg Oden lives a scoring touch.