Okay, so Oden won't be ready at the opener. My spin: 1) This will give LMA more room and time to practice his new inside dominance. 2) It will reduce pressure to start Oden and allow them to work him in more slowly, maybe allowing him to play more at the end of the season (see Yao Ming). If most believe that getting 60+ games out of Oden would be great, wouldn't you rather have that happen in the last 60 than the first 60?
I don't want him on the floor weighing 275... that's around the weight Joel was at when he kept injuring himself. And yeah, if he's going to play 62 games, I want them to be the final 62 of the season, not the first 62.
Well I guess we solved the debate about who'll be the starting C! When Oden returns he can come off the bench until he gets conditioning/fouls under control. Guess his initial thoughts of making a return for last seasons playoffs were very unreasonable. I'm disappointed but if he can play the second half of this season and at a very high level for the playoffs this may not be a big deal. Blake Griffin is still working on a comeback I believe and his injury was months earlier than Greg’s.
The only good thing about this is that we might be able to resign him at a bargain basement price since other teams would see offering him a contract as too risky.
Yeah there will be some owner willing to over pay, but I agree with craig in that with Oden injured again this season maybe we could get him for a few mil less. If he played 82 games + playoffs at the level of last season hell he might've got a near max deal. Maybe now it'll by $9mil per or something.
The last time the starting center of an NBA championship team played all 82 games was Robert Parish in the 1980-81 season. Almost 30 years ago.
Man, Oden's future contract is a serious catch 22 for the Blazers. If they don't sign him and he pans out, they eat shit. If they sign him and he doesn't pan out, they eat shit.
If they don't sign him to an extension now they can still match any offer he gets next summer. Perhaps for the first time in recent memory Portland won't bid against themselves when resigning a player.
Only if he accepts said offer. He could always also just take the one-year QO and go unrestricted in 2012. He won't, but if he were pissed at Portland (for whatever reason) he could.
Players that have never recieved a big NBA contract just don't do that. They are not going to turn down a big pay day, a long-term high dollar guaranteed contract for "spite". If we offered Oden a max deal next offseason there is not a single plausible scenario where he would turn it down.
All true, but the wildcard variable is the upcoming lockout. What if the rules change? I could see the players' union wanting to strip out the RFA status for 1st-round picks after the rookie deal expires. If so, not extending Oden this offseason could be a very big mistake.
Iif there ever was a player to fear turning down a long term contract because they might get hurt during that QO year, it would be Oden.
