Ya that game early at Minny was great! He showed what he was capable of. Don't even know what his final stats were, but he was a blast to watch!
In Greg's case I think the team has to seriously consider letting him play without an extension this year and letting him get to RFA. I usually think it is better to lock a player up earlier rather than potentially getting into a bidding war, but the injuries are just too scary.
I just had a funny thought (more 'oh shit' less 'haha') with the looming lockout, if Greg is a restricted free agent during the year the league shut down, he wouldn't necessarily be a restricted free agent coming back in the summer of 2012, he'd be unrestricted. The Blazers may have to lock him up unless they think they can live with an unrestricted Greg Oden.
5 years 60 mil with the first 3 years being 30 mil based on games played bench marks, the last two years being 15mil a season with no clauses for games played.
I think something like this is pretty close. Greg had fully recovered from the microfracture surgery and was playing well this year before he was hurt, looking like the #1 pick that he was. His injury, while definitely a setback, was a simple bone break, not something that's likely to be a longterm problem. Looking at other contracts for big men in the league, a deal starting at around $9-$10 mil per year is reasonable as is the notion of protecting it with incentives and insurance. Big gets paid in the NBA and there's no way that the Blazers are going to risk Greg going on the market as a RFA. Still, based on the way the deals for Roy and LMA were dragged out, I wouldn't expect anything until just about the start of the season.
No way. Average of $8 million over 4 years with a PO on the 5th year. If he says no, let him got to RFA (although RFA may become obsolete in the new CBA).
