COLUMBUS, Ohio -- If Greg Oden does decide to jump to the NBA early, John Havlicek believes he'd look good in green. Havlicek, a former Boston Celtics star, isn't rooting for Oden to leave Ohio State after his freshman year. But if the 7-footer does go pro he's hoping he ends up with the downtrodden Celtics. "Why not?" said Havlicek, an Ohio State graduate who was at the third-ranked Buckeyes' 63-56 victory over Purdue on Saturday because the school was honoring its past captains. "Can you think of anyone else in the country who's a big man who you prefer over him?" That seems to be the prevailing opinion among most draft experts, who consider Oden to be among the finest American-born centers in a generation. Oden, from Indianapolis, is considered a lock to be the No. 1 overall pick. A two-time national player of the year in high school, Oden missed Ohio State's first seven games because of offseason surgery on his right (shooting) wrist to repair ligament damage. He has shot his free throws left-handed all year while averaging over 15 points a game. He has sparkled on defense and on the boards, blocking seven shots in a game earlier this week. Havlicek, one of the NBA's top 50 all-time players, watched Oden in person for the first time Saturday. Despite being saddled with heavy foul trouble, Oden scored 14 points and had nine rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals in 21 minutes. "He'll have more of an impact defensively than offensively to begin with because the offense here started out without him and now they're trying to work him in," Havlicek said. The Celtics, after winning 16 NBA titles, have fallen on hard times recently. Their top player, Paul Pierce, missed 24 games with a leg injury and the team is mired in a franchise-record 17-game losing skid. People in Boston have taken notice. Suddenly, Celtics fans are keeping an eye on happenings in Columbus, where Oden has remained mum about his plans. "Oh, yeah. The Oden Sweepstakes," Havlicek said with a chuckle. "But you know that doesn't mean anything because we were supposed to get Tim Duncan (in the 1997 draft) and he went to the Spurs. We've had a string of bad luck and maybe it's about to change." http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=176177
Obviously he wants Oden. Anyone with half a brain stem wants Oden on this team. Any basketball fan would want oden on their team.
