Greg Oden is back in the NBA. On Friday he agreed to a two year deal with the Miami Heat that will pay him the veteran s minimum. The former Ohio State center once destined for greatness is getting close to playing shape and wants to take another crack at an NBA career. Luckily he s found himself in a perfect situation on a contract that makes sense for both sides.
The average person knows two things about Oden
1. He was drafted first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2007 ahead of Kevin Durant.
2. His career has been ruined by repeated injuries to both knees and he hasn t played in an NBA game since 2009.
So why is it a big deal that the Heat picked him up Can he even contribute Will he be able to stay healthy
The beauty of his new situation with the Heat is that all three of those questions have the same answer It doesn t matter.
Whether or not the Heat become the first team to three peat as NBA champions since the 2000 02 Los Angeles Lakers doesn t depend on Oden. They ll be the most covered team in the league but almost none of that media attention will be focused on Oden. It will be focused on LeBron James impending free agency. It will be focused on Dwyane Wade s health. It will be focused on the difficulty of winning three titles in a row. Oden can take his sweet time getting healthy enough to play and then Erik Spoelstra can ease him into the rotation.
Miami is also an ideal situation for Oden basketball wise. Absolutely nothing will be expected of him offensively. Between James Wade Chris Bosh Ray Allen Shane Battier and Mario Chalmers the Heat have plenty of players capable of scoring inside and out.
Oden s role once he s ready to play will be closer to that of Chris Birdman Andersen. All the Heat will need him to do is come off the bench for 10 or 15 minutes a game rebound block shots score on putback dunks and use his six fouls. And the Heat won t even be relying solely on him to do that considering they re signed Birdman earlier this summer.
Talking about Oden s potential when he was drafted six years ago is pointless in 2013. Everyone knows how dominant he was at Ohio State and we ve all seen the flashes of brilliance he showed in parts of two seasons with the Blazers. The Heat aren t getting that player Oden is a few knee surgeries beyond having that kind of athleticism. But the Heat don t need that player and Pat Riley had no delusions about getting it when he recruited Oden.
Getting Oden for the veteran s minimum makes this essentially a no risk move for the Heat. Consider that the Cleveland Cavaliers recently gave Andrew Bynum a contract guaranteed for $6 million that could be worth as much as $24 million over two years. Bynum has played much more recently than Oden but the Cavs also need him more than the Heat need Oden.
Cleveland has been a lottery team for three seasons since LeBron s departure and they re trying to get back to the playoffs after having the first pick in the draft for the second time in three years. How far they go will depend at least a little bit on Bynum and Anderson Varejao staying healthy.
The Heat on the other hand are the Heat. They re the two time defending champions. They have the best player in the world and they ve brought back virtually their entire team from last season. There s no reason to believe they won t be dominant again this year and if they are there will be no questions about why Oden isn t contributing. If they re not well LeBron conveniently happens to be coming up on free agency next summer. Oden will be invisible even if the Heat struggle.
Oden is doing this for himself. No matter what happens he s never going to be able to shake the bust label. Kevin Durant is already a lock for the Hall of Fame and Oden has been injured too many times to be able to get back to his previous level of play. The ship has sailed on the first paragraph of his Wikipedia page.
But he had two choices here. The book on Oden could have been He was drafted ahead of Durant couldn t stay healthy and disappeared off the face of the earth or it could be He was drafted ahead of Durant couldn t stay healthy and made a comeback in a limited role and at least helped the Heat win a couple more championships.
That second option sounds pretty good.
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