tl;dr article about what to do with Oden

If the OP's position is valid, then the smart move would have been to max Oden out last summer. I'm positive he would have accepted it, and it would have saved the Blazers a year of a guaranteed contract.

So ... just more evidence to me that Cho and the Gang have botched a situation that didn't need to be botched.

 

lol yeah right after miami lets go of bosh, and the lakers get rid of pau and odom, etc

 

Based on Oden not offered an extension to even say "no" to last summer, and knowing that Oden could accept the Q.O. for next season and leave the Blazers after the season, I'm guessing that Cho didn't have a better idea on how to handle Oden last summer. It's one of the risks in bringing in an unproven GM, and it could come back to even further harm this franchise's already uncertain future.

 

For the simple reason that it's good for a few owners, but not for them all. Ask Herb Kohl, the Maloof brothers or Dan Gilbert how they feel about their current situation. I bet their argument would be that the NFL should be the model, which gets record ratings by having great teams in places like Green Bay and Pittsburgh. You don't need the Giants, Jets, Bears to go far in the playoffs or even a franchise in LA to dominate professional sports. The last thing the NBA owners want to see is what's happened to MLB; where smaller franchises are just farm teams for the glamour franchises.

 

Most Likely to happen. Hopefully it won't be too toxically high.

 

do we know that he wasnt offered one? i hadnt heard one way or another

 

The company line was that both sides decided not to negotiate last summer. How Oden's side can decide this, when it's up to Portland to make an initial offer, is another story. Mike Conley Sr. also said that the Blazers didn't offer an extension, and Portland hasn't refuted those recent comments.

 

Here is a thread with some info on Oden's contract status last year.

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1061547&sid=ecc49faef270e0ce83b614cc3b7bd650

 

That's still conjecture on your part as to what happened last October, PapaG. Since none of us were party to the discussions, we have no way of knowing what was said and whether Greg felt he was slighted by the Blazers. All I know is that reports at the time were that both sides agreed not to enter into contract extension discussions because of the uncertainty of Greg's status coming back from a major injury. My reading is that the Blazers weren't comfortable then offering a max deal and Greg didn't want to settle for less than that, instead hoping to prove he was worth a max contract by his play this past season. Since both sides knew that the Blazers would have another chance to offer a max contract before June 30, I don't think that it's likely that Greg was particularly offended by putting it off until then. Unfortunately, another microfracture surgery put that scenario out of the picture. Still, I don't see any reason to believe that Greg is so offended by the turn of events that he'd pass on a max contract if one were offered. Since that's all conjecture on my part, I guess we'll just have to agree to wait and see how it plays out.

 

blargh, you would think that we would have at least put something out there..., although conley sr. is banking on a healthy season and a max deal i bet

 

Mike Conley Sr. disagrees, though. That may be posturing on his part, but at this point, why does he even need to posture? Either the Blazers offer a Bird Rights contract after the Finals, or Oden accepts the Q.O. and becomes a UFA next summer, or Oden declines the Q.O. and becomes a RFA this summer. At this point, I don't see why Oden's agent would need to say anything, yet he put out that Greg was a bit stung by not being offered an extension.

I'll give Cho and the Gang the benefit of the doubt by thinking that Oden would be healthy last season, but in retrospect, it could be a very bad decision.

 

I'm with whoever thinks "We should do anything to keep Oden". We are screwed Salary wise for at least the next 4 years and this would just screw us for the next 6 years if Oden doesn't pan out. I'v said it a few times and i'll say it again, I think without GO we will be middling Playoff team that never gets passed the second round. If you want to win a championship in the foreseeable future then keeping GO is a must.
We already have drafted the person who is considered the biggest bust of all time by a lot of the media (damnit Bowie!) so why don't we take on the mantle of "worst contract offer ever" and try and keep the only real shot at a championship in the next six years alive.

 

Okay so if Oden rejects the QO and becomes a RFA, then let's say Miami offers 12 mil for 3 years; we can match that and keep Oden for that amount of time?

 

I think that's a pretty accurate assessment of the options for this summer. I'm sure that Greg would prefer it if the Blazers had given him the golden ticket last fall. I'm also pretty sure that Cho thought he was just hedging his bets and knew that he'd have another shot this spring. Obviously, Greg's second injury removed any chance that the Blazers may have had to feel less at risk in offering a max deal to Oden this spring. If I were Greg's agent, I'd be doing everything I could right now to turn the heat up on Cho and push him to make a max offer in order to avoid the risk of playing the RFA market or having Greg take the risk on the 1 year qualifying offer in order to be a FA next year. Looks to me like that's what Conley is doing. These games of chicken are always interesting when viewed from the sidelines.

 

Yep, we can match any offer that Oden is given as long as we have offered him the QO

 

Yup. The only real risk is if Greg accepts the qualifying offer, plays out next season and becomes an unrestricted free agent the following summer.

 

We can offer him an extension with his bird rights intact if he takes the QO I believe.

 

Big problem with comparing it to the NFL is it is simple to have one giant TV contract for the NFL, with all of their games on the same two days. It's unrealistic for there to be one giant all encompassing TV deal for the NBA, or MLB, and so it isn't an equal comparison.

As for the MLB critique, it seems to me there is just as much, if not mroe variation of MLB teams winning as there is in the NFL. It's not "always the Yankees and Red Sox", people just like to complain as if it is.

 

True, but the Blazers los ethe right to match at that point. Which means the only benefit is another year and more money on a deal very near the max. So ... if that's what Oden ends up with, then the Blazers should have just offered a max extension last summer and saved the team a year. It would have been viewed at the time as bidding against themselves, but at this point, the only real plus (Bird Rights) if Oden accepts the Q.O. isn't a realistic option, and if it is, then the team goofed by not offering the 5-year max deal that they offered Brandon Roy, or the LMA extension, at the very least.