A Paean to Andre Miller or "Why the Portland Trailblazers should make another ‘stupid’ Wesley Mathews-like mistake and make sure Andre Miller stays in Portland".

Honestly, thinking of this Oden situation reminds me to think of another Blazers player we’ve had… Sabas. Its nowhere near the exact same situation as when we had Sabas, but look at it this way.

With Sabas, we got him late in his career when his body was too old to really get over the injuries and the mobility problems he had that very well could have made us a contender in the 90s. Most argue, no question, we would have had no contest winning titles. That was his biggest downfall – the age. Did that stop him from putting his heart on the floor, regardless of his body’s aches and pains, and playing as good as he did, giving us what many would call one of the most entertaining performances to ever don a Blazers uniform? N-O.

Oden… is 23 years old. Everybody wants to get down on him and say that he can’t come back… when the facts about that statement are absolutely not true. Or really, there is no “fact” stating he can’t come back. There just isn’t. There is supporting evidence, and that evidence can be ominous, and depressing, for sure. But it does not create a situation of reasonable doubt. Depending on how you look at the glass (either part-filled or part-empty).

Okay, if he lost a foot or an arm in some freak accident, then I think that could be a pretty damn good grounds to say he’s not ever playing basketball again. But to go as far as to say that after only having surgeries, and at such a young age in his life and career… I don’t buy it. And I highly doubt that the high majority of the GMs in the league do, either. This is not a Sabas situation. This is a young player who, although has been set back by some pretty crappy injuries, is not ready to just give up. It does not mean that he is SPENT, or “done”, like Sabas was at the end of his career. The one thing Oden has on Sabas? He didn’t join the league at the age of 31 with knee or ankle problems… He’s got 8 years on him. Eight Years. That is plenty of time.

From what we’ve seen on the court, he has so much potential to grow mentally and skill wise. He’s only 23, and we were JUST beginning to see the tip of the iceberg of what he could be if we give him the chance. Perhaps most view that as what he ‘could have’ become, but the point of the matter is, even if he became half as good as that, would he still be worth it to this team? As far as I’m concerned, even half-decent centers in this league are a hot commodity (look who are 3rd string center is!). Good centers are rare. Great centers are borderline legendary (meaning they either have the tools necessary to become legendary, or are already in the process of doing so), especially in THIS day and age of the NBA. Given the rarity of even good centers, healthy ones at that – would Oden be worth the risk even if he was only considered to be half-decent, but remained healthy after coming back strong from these injuries? These are the kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves, not whether he’s going to “come back” or not. We all know, short of death, losing a limb, having some sort of other career ending injury that can seriously impede him for the rest of his life, or him giving up * knock furiously on wood, all you Oden-believers *, he’s going to be something in this league. He has a lot to prove to the world, and I don’t know how he doesn’t plan on proving it short of the aforementioned happening. I can feel his pain just by looking at the television or reading an article that had a quote of his in it. A dude with that much poise, and that much perseverance, fighting through so much to come back – you’d think that’s all he has on his mind. If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to think of anything else.

We know what he’s fighting to come back from the surgeries, but what if he could learn to account for the downfall of his injuries, and still become a dominating player at some point of his career? Even if he didn’t become ‘dominating’, what if he could be a half-decent center? Or a good one?

Are we willing to give him the chance to reach that point? Or risk giving him away to someone else like LA or SA or some other contender (or sleeping contender) who has the time and money to invest in his recovery and development? Honestly, giving away a center that has potential in this league, especially one with the possibility of Oden’s, is probably one of the riskier things you can do… People compare him too much to Bowie, or other high picks that didn’t make it to the potential that everyone else wanted them to be (mainly the potential they envisioned when they were drafted) because their bodies and spirits were fractured up, and in some cases, broken.

I don’t know how someone’s spirit couldn’t fracture after everything that he’s been through, but it does not mean its completely broken… or that he can’t return. His dedication so far in his young career proves he has nothing more to lose, and obviously that his spirit is not broken. He has had so many people telling him what to do his whole career that I bet at times he didn’t even know what to do. But as long as he doesn’t give up, and continues to fight back… only the future will tell what he can become. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, folks. And Oden is working his hardest to make that will, a reality. Imagine the story he could become if you all just gave him the chance. The chance he deserves. Because he was picked by the Blazers as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft… no higher draft honor.

We were given the chance to pick ANY player we wanted in the ‘07 draft, and it was a no brainer for us… it honestly was. Regardless of what side of the board you’re on (whether its DFN or BPA – draft for need or best player available), it would have seemed really odd from our standpoint to draft Durant and create a logjam galore (and likely more and more trades/player movement to fix said logjam) rather then let a potential all-star center get away from us. I didn’t care how good Durant was in college, seeing him that far back, you can never know how good a player like him would become in the NBA. He was tall, but undersized; lanky, but a very intelligent offensive powerhouse. As sad as I hate to say King Charles is right about one thing – you can’t really fake defense in the NBA because of how crazy strict calls are. And to pass up on a player with Oden’s potential not only as a center from the offensive side of the game (where he averaged 18 and 11.5 in college, and scored 25, 12 boards, and 4 blocked shots in the NATIONAL TITLE GAME as a freshman, no bigger stage for a college player, all pretty much with a bum-healing right wrist), but also his defensive potential to become one of the league’s greatest defensive players of all time. Even Steve Kerr said in December of his freshman year that he was a “once in a decade” kind of player. Considering all of his accolades going into the NBA, how COULD you find a way to doubt him? Honestly? How were we wrong, at that time, to choose him over Durant? Given all this? You can’t change the past. But to sit in denial and say that we made a mistake, is just crying over spilled milk. Clean the milk up and see what we’ve got left in the gallon, for crying out loud, before throwing the whole damn thing away.

If it were any other person in his position, do you think they would give up? If you, personally were in Oden’s position. Would you give it all up? I think the fact that he is not giving up is a testament to his devotion to the sport of basketball and his wanting to be a part of this organization. We can’t ask him to do more then he’s already doing. And to claim that he’s completely and absolutely done with his career in basketball, is either an attempt at being a troll, or an uneducated myth. Either support the dude, and support your team, or go join someone else’s trolling brigade…

By the way.. Bowie went on to average 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.78 blocks per game in his ELEVEN YEAR career. If Oden could come back and average this, in limited minutes on a bench role, would I be satisfied? Heck yes, I would. Would YOU be satisfied? That’s up for you all to decide. I believe in my team, and the players that are on my team, regardless of the situation they are in. Long as they aren’t pulling guns out of their lockers, getting busted for smoking dope, dogfighting, destroying team chemistry, and they leave it all out on the court and work hard, they deserve a chance to me. That includes Oden.

That’s my $0.02