Really? I would trade in a heartbeat. Not going as far as shooter saying it's been easy, but I could live with whatever public scrutiny there is for being paid millions to rehab and watch basketball. I'll even go further and say I would have handled it a lot better than Oden and at least shown some dedication and passion for the Trailblazer organization. But of course I'm not some 7 foot athletic freak, so my standards are different than Oden's. Also I would probably change places with Mills this year . . . so it shows where my standards are.
We should also point out that the sun is hot, that water is wet and that grass is green, unless it is brown. Not if you have the kind of contract NBA players have. See most CEOs that are fired with a golden parachute. It's the way the contract works - it is not Oden's fault that this is the CBA. It is what it is. I am not sure what the issue is - the kid has done everything they asked him to - does it suck that he is injured? Sure. Is there anything else to do about it? They have to make a risk/reward assessment and make a decision. It might be good, it might not.
Especially those of us who sweat pure cocaine. Oh, and those of us with incredibly wealthy parents. We sweat too: mostly the meat sweats from the poor people we roast and consume.
When you say Oden has lost that much money, you are assuming Oden, if he was able to play, would have reached Durant's level. For Durant, in his career, he has become a perinial all star, an Olympic team star and leads the entire league in scoring (besides showing he is incredibly passionate about the game). I don't think one can fairly say Oden has lost 20 million in endorsement. And if Oden isn't as good as advertised and he gets another contract (which he will) one could even argue that his injuries have delayed seeing what kind of player he really is and might even have made him more money. Basically we don't know if he is Candiman, Curry or Ewing and have to extend him to find out.
Oh, is it that time of the month for another of Shooter's moralizing rants? I had lost track of time (which is a moral failing of mine that Shooter can use for material in a future month--always looking out for you, big guy!).
Well, I've had a really fantastic run over the past three years, so maybe that has something to do with it. There are definitely times in my life where I would've gladly swapped to live the life of Oden or even Mills. Actually, I bet Mills has had a much, much happier life over the past 3 years than Oden. Health, the joy of making an NBA team, playing in the Olympics. The guy has a "I'm just lucky as hell to be here!" vibe to him. Which is a great attitude to have in life, no matter who you are.
I think what makes it doubly hard on GO is he KNOWS he can play. It's not like he's Kwame Brown with people waiting for his potential to come through. If he's even at 80% (which is I think the best we've seen him as a Blazer) he's a game-changing force. It would kill me if I for some reason was unable to do my job, and had to watch people less talented than me doing my job knowing I could help my company. Getting a paycheck would make me feel even more guilty. I know I wouldn't feel a part of my company, even if they included me in events. I absolutely feel sorry for Greg and wish him nothing but the best.
I was tempted to say: "Time of the month? What are you implying?" but then I remembered that would be gynophobic and unfunny. But then I thought, "Shooter's a conservative, and thus we can assume sexist, so it's like ironic and shit." So I went with it.
There are a lot of Blazers in the past who I could feel pretty angry about essentially stealing money and talent from the Blazers. Guys like Rasheed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Zach Randolph, and J.R. Rider didn't have Oden's injury problems and, at times at least, played very well, but because their on- and off-court antics they decreased their value so much that the team couldn't get in trade nearly what their talents would have otherwise commanded. Those guys, through actions that were totally within their control, damaged the Blazers. Oden's knee injuries haven't come from any actions he's taken other than simply trying to play the game that he was hired to play. Nobody held a gun to the Blazers heads to force them to sign Oden's contract...in fact, they were quite giddy to do it. Injuries are a part of the game, which is part of why contracts are guaranteed. Teams can elect to protect themselves, at least in part, by carrying insurance against injury. I suppose that there could be changes in the CBA to provide more protection to teams who suffer injuries to major players, but that's a topic for another discussion. I don't see anything to blame Greg about.
Okay maybe not look at it in Durant, but even another player like, let's say Miles or Zach; when they got contracts on pure potential. Or possibly a contract for Okfur; whom obviously isn't a superstar. All of them still got way more than 9-10 mil per season; which many think Oden will get based on purely potential. Still proves he lost money being injured. I can see the bitching if he got a large contract and was injured, i.e. Yao.
Figures he'd start this thread. Greg is a really good person who has had very bad luck. I wish him the best.
I love how you're such a staunch zealot of capitalism, yet don't seem to understand it. Oden earned the contract he got by being a very valuable speculative asset. Investments always involve speculative assets to some degree. If Oden was everything he was expected to be, he would have been worth more than the Blazers paid him. Because he was unproven at the NBA level, that risk is written into the dollar value. He didn't get money for nothing, as you imply. He got money for turning his talent into an extremely valuable asset, though hard work, that any NBA team would gladly have paid to invest in. Obviously, all investments don't pay out...risk and reward are key components of capitalism. If Oden did something in bad faith, that would be different. But from all accounts, he's always worked hard. Including in his rehabs. Oden, by rule, took less than his free market worth would have been and the Blazers took risk for possible reward. And so far it hasn't paid out for Portland. That's a pretty standard story in capitalism; at least, the Blazers' end of it.
Short version: Oden is just like all the black people with no money. He claims he can't work, so he lives off the dole. All the upper middle class guys posting in this thread while they're at work can understand this. Oden's a good, quiet dog who doesn't bark, just wrinkles his forehead in obedience. The ones I can't stand are the ones who yell at authority. We want you paid if you don't yell at us like Sheed does; we earn our pay.
