I figured about half …$4mill or so

Greg will still be making $22,727 per game he misses this year. Awesome. Guess it could be worse, right? RIGHT?!?

The only way I can see this going down is if Portland threatened to pull the qualifying offer. Portland basically paid Greg 1.5 mil to retain his bird rights. Not a good sign regarding Greg’s ability to get on the court this season. My guess is that Greg’s team didn’t think anyone else would offer him a contract considering his “setback.”

and almost guarantees he is leaving in my mind. Seems like he could have gotten a much much better deal had he just turned down the QO. But then he knows Portland would have matched almost anything.

either way, Oden is a UFA next summer; signing the qualifying offer was his “right”, unless the team pulled the QO under the injury clause…

but even if that happened – how could he only got $1.5? You know every team with a mid-level in tact would sign him up.

maybe it’s HIPAA rules or w/e.

but i doubt saying something about the serious nature of this injury will cause much of a stir among blazer fans, because we’re all resigned to the fact that anything he adds will only be gravy for the team. and the merchandise that he sells now (that ive seen anyway) is heavily discounted. it’s not necessarily a PR nightmare to reveal more about his situation. yet, the organization chooses to remain clandestine about it.

strange.

Makes it sound like this new contract is NOT a Qualifying Offer. Which I think is better for The Blazers. With the qualifying offer, it simply expired and Oden became a Unrestricted. I actually think this is a better sign that Oden does want to stay in Portland.

If Oden wanted to leave? If Portland pulled the Qualifying Offer upon discovery of the setback, Oden could of simply put himself on the open market. I’m sure numerous, countless teams would of taken a 1.5 Million Dollar gamble on Oden. Oden even with a setback, is a good gamble at 1.5 Million.

The contract, actually makes me feel better about Odens commitment to Portland. Of course the setback? Unfortunately makes me unsure about Odens entire future.

Thanks to the great fanshot we got from blacknoiseNW earlier, we have good reason to suspect that Oden’s setback is probably not severe. It’s enough to delay his rehab, and it’s enough to raise question marks about Oden’s prospects to be healthy for an extended period. On it’s face, it doesn’t seem more than that.

But think about this: It was enough that by the terms of the CBA, the Blazers had the right to call attention to it, and Oden had an obligation to turn down the QO in response. That would have made Oden an immediate UFA. Just think about Oden heading into free agency with this this headline hanging over his head:

"Oden required to refuse Blazers QO for medical reasons."

The only public rumors involving wooing Oden were for the new MLE. 5m/yr over 4 years, tops… and that was before the setback. How much could he expect to pull down after the setback? Maybe a team would happilly offer him 1.5M for 1 yr, just like we did. But what other team would sign him solely to provide a lesiurely rehab? Nobody. He literally had nowhere to go, the Blazers new it, and they negotiated the most inexpensive deal possible given the circumstances.

Somebody tell me why we need to hire a new GM? Well played, 3-headed GMonster, well played.

[Note: Original post mis-described the value of the new MLE. Additionally, it was questioned in my original comment as to what would happen to Greg if he refused the QO. I hold my assertion that the result of turning down the QO without another offer to replace it is immediate UFA status, but I’m no expert.]

Something is rotten in the state of BlazerNation.

I just want Oden back on the court or I want to be rid of him. I can no longer stand to sit back and wait for this to all work itself out(even though I have no choice). Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning but please dont tell us anything else about Oden unless its that hes either outta here or hes going to play.

Im starting to feel like the fisherman who reels in a record blue marlin only to have it break line and escape before I could gaffe it, and haul it into the boat. And then on my very next cast out, the same thing happens. I reel in a record breaker only to have it escape my clutches at the last possible second.

My heart hurts over this. Oden playing is all that will heal this pain. Oden leaving will cause a wound that will never heal. Stay or go, but why o why do we got to drag this all around, up and down. I need to have some closure here. Stay and play, or go, thats all thats left for me.

Feeling : ( about Oden, but id rather be : ) just they havent given us much reason for : )

Does the current CBA allow for any sort of games-played bonuses?

A 7.3 Million Dollar difference? Can you really call that an adjustment? That’s an adjustment like the sinking of the Titanic was just a way of cleaning off the decks. That’s Scar Face introducing you to his little friend. That’s finding out your E-Harmony.com date worships Satan and just finished jail time.

1.5 Million isn’t a bad payday, to basically rehab in Blazer facilities but it’s a far cry from 8.8 Million to basically do the same.

A 7.3 Million dollar adjustment does mean somethings up. Sounds like Buchanan and The Blazers opened up a big Ol’ Can of “Not so Fast There!”. Oden and his camps relatively quiet agreement? Well if all was well in Oden Land…I’m sure they’ed be asking for the full price of admission.

and that there are perhaps some unlikely incentives built into the contract. How many incentives? Who knows….perhaps the new CBA allows more unlikely incentives than were allowed in the previous agreement (the previous CBA limited unlikely incentives to 25% of the contract amount).

I hope he goes back to his stated dream of being a dentist. That’s not a bad living, not at all, and continuing to get money while endlessly waiting for a one-in-a-zillion shot at a brief NBA career can’t be good for one’s mental state. Everyone should feel useful and important, and he can’t at this point.

He will never play at a high level in the NBA and maybe never play at all. I hope he realizes that and moves on. Blazer fans need to realize it and move on. Yes, it stinks that, after 20+ years, the first team to finally make a more colossal draft mistake than passing on Jordan is the same team. But it’s over. Time to figure out how the team can escape those dreaded “OK but not a contender” doldrums. And Oden will not, in any way, shape or form, be part of the answer.