...straight from Blazers Central....so that KP has an "out" should he not end up pulling the trigger on a pre-deadline trade. Trust me on this one.
I don't think anyone really knows. But I would doubt that the doctors give the OK. But if they do, it will be real hard for KP to keep Oden off the court. And if Oden truly believes he should be given the OK by the docs, but they don't, he will likely seek opinions of non-Blazer doctors.
Yeah but this talk about him possibly coming back is a ploy to take attention off of the lack of moves this deadline.
That's why the word "might" was in quotations. In other words, if KP doesn't make a trade, he could always fall back on the, "We didn't want to make a foolish (trade) move. As we understood, there was a "chance" Greg might come back. We wanted to be sure and let that play itself out." ....or something like that.
I would hope that he wouldn't make a foolish move. I still say there is no need to jump and make a deal just to make a deal.
This just is like when he missed his rookie year, and there was murmurs that he might come back that season too. And what happened? he didn't. Why didn't he? Because they're not stupid. why rush him back? What possible reason would they have to rush him back? It's just fluff.
If KP, indeed, doesn't make a trade, if fully healthy, I'd like to see Greg play some spot minutes if for no other reason than to see how he meshes with Batum, Miller, and others. I'm not high on waiting until next season to see "what" team we really have.
I don't remember any murmurs that he would come back his rookie season, he had MF surgery, nobody comes back that fast.
I called this in the original "Oden (Maybe) Back this Season?" Thread a few days ago. http://sportstwo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152957 "Here's my 2 cents - KP is humoring GO (and maybe us fans too) Oden has been saying since Day 1 that he is going to try and come back this season. Call it armchair psychology, but I think KP sees that this "goal" may be what's keeping the kid from having a breakdown. Why burst his bubble now? Let him rehab and keep working hard with a positive attitude. Greg has been known to get down on himself in the past - if KP & the Blazers take a firm "No, he's not going to play" stance right now, what good can that do? It could hurt his confidence if he perceives this as a sign that the Blazers really are scared to put him back out there - or that they believe he really IS fragile & injury prone. Greg already feels like he's let people down - perhaps the idea of vindicating himself later in the season is pushing him. Who knows? But I just don't see how telling everybody right now they are shutting him down no matter what helps anything. BTW - I DO BELIEVE they are shutting him down no matter what! If he comes back and gets hurt again and has to rehab all summer (doesn't get to stay in shape/work on his game) it's a disaster. It also gives the "Sam Bowie" jokesters more ammo. And his confidence will plummet. The odds are this is a non-issue. Greg most likely won't heal fast enough. But I like/admire the fact that he's really trying. Another side benefit to this is that if the fans/media are under the impression Greg may be coming back this season, it may take some pressure off the team to go get another Big. Not that they aren't trying to make a move, but when everybody knows you HAVE to make a move - good luck." This one was pretty easy to sniff out IMO.
I buy the KP humoring GO theory to keep him motivated. I thought that as well when the "story" broke. You could argue that a side-benefit is to take pressure off KP if he doesn't make a move. But that's all it is - a side benefit, and a very small one at that. I would think the vast majority of Blazer fans wouldn't let the very slight possibility of Oden coming back this year affect their judgment of the trading deadline. No way did KP set this thing up or get Oden involved in a big conspiracy to alleviate possible negativity by a small percentage of fans at the trade deadline.
