BOSTON - Greg Oden, the Portland Trailblazers bespectacled showpiece, looks and speaks like a man well beyond his 19 years.

So when a reporter asked whether it was disappointing to find out that the Celtics didn't win the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery, he casually looked through his glasses and smiled big.

"I'm enjoying my time in Portland," he said last night outside the visitors locker room at TD Banknorth Garden.

The 7-footer, felled for the season by microfracture surgery on his right knee, is an unlikely symbol for Boston's turnaround. What if the Celtics landed the No. 1 pick last June? What if Oden ended up in green and white?

Forget Kevin Garnett. Forget Ray Allen. Forget a rejuvenated Paul Pierce.

Watching a great team? Forget that too.

But as great as the Celtics have been this season, Oden is still intriguing. He's young, talented, and most of all, big. Imagine what'll happen when he joins the already improved Trailblazers.

"We will be better when Greg joins us next year," Portland coach Nate McMillan said.

Shockingly, Oden sounds patient. That's pretty impressive for any 19-year-old (he'll turn 20 next Tuesday).

At the moment, he's concentrating on losing the 30 or so pounds he's put on over the past eight months.

"I say I'm too big when my shirts don't fit. I have no room in a shirt like this," he said, tugging at his black T-Shirt. "That's when I say I'm too big."

Perhaps all the time away from the court has taught him how to deal with the press. With a little prodding, he joked about LSU's thrashing of Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game.

"I had to go back to my hotel room and be by myself a little bit," said Oden, who watched the game with fellow Buckeye Daequan Cook - now a Heat rookie - while in Miami for an NBA marketing meeting.

He's used to the gamut of questions by now. After all, he's the new face of a franchise formerly known as "The Jailblazers."

Going on road trips, McMillan said, isn't such a bad idea for Oden.

"What we want to do is keep him as close to the team - and to the floor - as possible," McMillan said. "...We just want him close by. We saw this as an opportunity to be with the team."

The Trailblazers aren't exactly in a rebuilding mode. Despite having the youngest roster in the league, Portland came into last night leading the Northwest Division by a game.

Even McMillan said what his team is doing is improbable.

"It's tough to develop players and win at the same time," he said.

Tough, but not impossible. With reigning Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy leading the way, Portland has shocked the league on a nightly basis.

"Guys have been playing hard, playing together," Oden said.

Oden, an unwitting spectator, isn't bitter - at least outwardly. Other players who have undergone microfracture surgery have been supportive. That, he said, has helped.

"Amare (Stoudamire) left me a message," he said. "Jason Kidd told me not to rush back."

He's enjoyed picking up tidbits from the game's best big men. He wasn't sure if he'd talk to Garnett, but planned on at least watching him work in the low post.

"Maybe (I'll) take a move or two I can work on," he said.

Clearly, Oden is focused on the future. Still, it's hard not wonder about the past.

What would have happened if the Ping-Pong balls bounced Boston's way last June?

For better or worse, we'll never find out.