Greg Oden Wants to Play this Season

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Someone asked in my Comcast/NBC chat yesterday about Greg Oden and whether he'd ever play again. I'm told by Mike
Conley, his college teammate at Ohio State, that Greg is back in Columbus, taking classes and trying to get into playing shape and that he hopes to be available to hit the free-agent market and join a team before the end of this season. If he can't get his body right by then or there isn't sufficient interest, he intends to take another shot at it next fall. The takeaway: Oden hasn't given up on resuming his -- or, perhaps more accurately, having a -- NBA career.

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http://sulia.com/channel/basketball/...source=twitter

This has been discussed at some point, but would you consider giving him a look? He would be very low risk, although any money committed to him is a gamble. Do you still see any potential in him, or have you already written him off?

He would probably be very cheap to sign for the rest of this year, and you could probably tack a team option on for next year so a team wouldn't be committed if he doesn't pan out.

Thoughts?

Sign him up. As much dead weight that make $3-5 million a year in the NBA, I wouldn't mind being the crazy team that overpay him $5-7 million a year for 3 years. He's only 24 years old.

Sign him. What do we have to lose? When Greg actually played he was very good.

All the team needs is for Oden to play well for half a season and get a $60 million deal this summer, only to fall apart again. I don't want him around for fear that he actually plays well.

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Originally Posted by Bogg

All the team needs is for Oden to play well for half a season and get a $60 million deal this summer, only to fall apart again. I don't want him around for fear that he actually plays well.

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Oden would have to be awfully impressive to get any kind of contract like that. I think most teams know that the wheels could come off at any minute on a big like him that has already had so many problems. Though, it's something to be cautious of at any price, as I could see $15-20M being sent his way and the same thing happening.

Oden is gonna pull a Brandon Roy, that is, he's gonna get back on the court, say he's ready to contribute and then *POP* goes the knee. Steer clear.

He wouldn't even pick up the phone if we rang, he would sign with a play off term- probably Miami

Just makes you think, if not for the Knee Curse in Portland, how good the team would be. I think a core of a healthy, prime Brandon Roy, Aldridge, Oden, and Batum would definitely be contenders right now.

I wonder who has it worse between our fanbases, with Portland knowing they had the pieces for a potential championship run for a decade, but now forced to cheer on first round fodder, or us never having a good team, but also having nowhere to go but up, and not always wondering what if in the back of our minds.

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Originally Posted by QC Thundercats

Just makes you think, if not for the Knee Curse in Portland, how good the team would be. I think a core of a healthy, prime Brandon Roy, Aldridge, Oden, and Batum would definitely be contenders right now.

I wonder who has it worse between our fanbases, with Portland knowing they had the pieces for a potential championship run for a decade, but now forced to cheer on first round fodder, or us never having a good team, but also having nowhere to go but up, and not always wondering what if in the back of our minds.

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Roy had bad knees before he even got to Portland, it's why he fell so far in the draft despite obviously being the most NBA-ready prospect. Portland screwed up royally by not trading him in his second or third year, and instead decided to just pretend that everything would be fine if they just wished hard enough. It was obvious he wasn't going to last a long time in the league.

Ah he'll probably go to Miami next year. That would actually be the best move for him. He would be allowed to move along slowly and really wouldn't have to be relied on too heavily. However, he is exactly what the Heat (I refuse to capitalize their entire name) needs. He'll probably get a minimum contract next year and then have his salary go up each year thereafter. If we wanted Oden, we should have already jumped on that ship.