It seems we've been forgetting you Greg Oden.

I don’t like the fact that Bynum is opting out of the mini camp. It would delight me if Oden progresses wonderfully this summer, and then proceeded to take Bynum apart piece by piece. Oden and Bynum seem to be a intriguing matchup, and I hope they both take it to a rivalry. Step up, and have something to give Greg a big ol' chip on his shoulder. 

That man is 10 fouls and one mean streak away from being a dominate center. Someone just needs to summon the beast. Please Ron Artest, just throw a punch at him.

Seriously though, I have heard all this chatter about Greg and his "A+ Workouts". I am dying to see him in action. If he improves as some expect him to, suddenly the holes we have in our rotation won’t stand out quite as much. I almost wish Greg was playing in the Summer League just to see if he learned to utilize his athleticism, work the pick and roll, keep those hands up, and lose 10-15 lbs.

If he grows faster then the media anticipates, we would be able to have an athletic 35 min a night center. How nice does that sound?

"Well hello there trade deadline, I’m KP and I have a monster amount of cap space. And due to the growth of our roster, we have a legit starting center on the block. He happens to be a great defensive, blocking, and rebounding force. We can change your center position entirely."

"What’s that? Why yes we have a cheap, expiring contract combo forward on our roster, he happens to be a great scorer off the bench. If you want a point guard back in the deal, we have a gritty tough Steve Blake to send over; and yes his contract expires as well."

We have about 8 million of expiring contract to send out, a ton of variable cap space to give, and with Joel’s contract added that is an extra 7 million of cap space. All that cash has to be very valuable to quite a few GMs, and with the quality of the players we are able to send out, that makes our situation at the trade deadline all the more important. That is truly the last chance to add serious talent, and if Oden develops it just makes it so much sweeter.

I guess you get my point; maybe management is hesitant to deal anyone because they want to make sure that the young guns on our team can step up and provide starter level minutes. If that happens along with our cap space we would have quite a few trade chips to offer GMs. More then enough to woo the people who seem to think GMs have a conspiracy against the Blazers. 

Just think of how we did last year with Greg’s production. 52 games is awesome considering where we came from. Then think about what we COULD do if Greg became even a marginal force. There is a reason why he was the most hyped player coming out since Lebron. Common trends show that rookies generally get a big bump in production their second year in the NBA. Micro fracture victims get a big bump in production from year 1 to 2. Add to this these talks of great workouts and losing weight, and I am officially hyped up.

Greg Oden,

It is officially time for domination. Go get em’ big man. Ditch that apathetic attitude, and be Jerryd Bayless’ big enforcing basketball bodyguard.

Love,

OdenFanBoy

P.S. Please foul less often.