What surgery is recovering from? What rehab is he going through? Exactly why isn't he playing? He should be in summer league if he's serious. Has he just given up? What exactly is he doing right now? If he was serious, I'd be for signing him this summer but I'm not sure he cares.
He is seriously trying to negotiate one last big contract like Roy did. Remember when Roy was headlined in Seattle last summer, so a big crowd showed up to see his last game, and he just sat on the bench? Oden isn't any dumber.
Maybe Oden should resurrect his career and do a youtube clip of him doing the "Harlem Shake" with a whole bunch of college females.
Last news was March 9, 2013 at a Cavs game. It sounds like he likes being in Ohio still and likes the Cavs organization. Source: http://www.fearthesword.com/2013/3/...ttends-cavaliers-game-and-sits-near-cleveland
Should be interesting to see if he gets the kind of money Roy did. You'd have to assume that most teams would love to have him on at the minimum salary as a low-risk, high-reward prospect. Right now, Dexter Pittman is in the NBA, so that's my basis for all minimum salary transactions, and there's no way Oden can be worse than Dexter Pittman. Hell, there are one or two players on every bench in the NBA that are glorified season ticket holders. Why wouldn't a team take a chance on Oden as a "worst case scenario" seat warmer and 7'0" practice dummy? Apparently there's a market for that. Although, it'd be pretty ballsy of his agent to ask for more than the veteran's minimum at this point.
My question is, how does the NBA figure out how many years does he get credit as a veteran minimum salary? He barely got 82 games in a 3 year span. LOL Does he get credit for 1, 2 or 3 years played?
Oden could be the ultimate high reward player. Hell even if he only gives a team one season of healthy he could be an absolute steal of an FA pick up. Even the most injury prone guys seem to have at least one healthy season. It all boils down to the contract and the situation/expectations place on him. If you could be all but guaranteed that he would give you one healthy productive year and nothing after that how many teams would even overpay for that one year for a chance at a championship run? But of course no one at this point can know if he will be healthy. So who will be that one team that gets that healthy year out of him? Can you imagine if it was Miami next year? FML!
I think some promoter should sponsor a big Dance Dance Revolution competition between Oden and Bynum. The first one to blow out a knee loses. It could be pay per view.
One was voluntary, one was because his kneecap exploded, and both the others resulted from a combination of his drinking and his failure to rehab properly. It's possible that he's matured enough to get his head on straight, and that he's doing whatever it takes to get his body right.
I believe he can still come back. I don't see us winning the title anytime soon so why not take a chance? He is a once in a generation talent. That is obvious.