FanPost

The Greg Oden Conundrum

With the signing of Joel over the weekend, and the release of Armon Johnson, it is apparent that the Blazer brass have decided to hold onto Greg Oden for at least the short, foreseeable future.

Greg's $1.5 million contract is an easy enough pill to swallow, after we've been paying him a good deal more over the years for the same level of production (that is, zero production), and we could always include his salary in a trade if the right one came along.

My question is, what do you foresee happening in the Greg Universe in the next year or so (or before, such as the March 15 trade deadline)?

Obviously, when Greg is on the court, he shows all the talents that made him the number 1 pick in the draft years ago. He can rebound, he can dominate, and he can fill the paint on defense like few guys in Portland's recent history have been able to. Sure, Przy has been great in years past, but Greg has/had the opportunity to be a real game changer-- a guy to build around, though that has petered out into obscurity with all the injuries the guy has unfortunately gone through.

Nonetheless, what kind of contract/situation will the future hold for Greg?

I've recently heard chatter about Portland fans hoping that the team doesn't sign him for more than the minimum... Lol, I really think that is under-appreciating the type of talent he could be. Yes, he's going to be out a solid year, and maybe won't even play next season, but a team will likely take a chance and sign him to a reasonable extended contract, hoping to find the next Roy Hibbert, DeAndre Jordan, or even the overpaid Kendrick Perkins.

In my opinion, a 3 or 4 year contract for around a full MLE is what some team out there is going to offer, at the very least. Even if Greg sat out the entire season next year, and came back healthy for 2 seasons of the contract, he'd be worth $15 million over 3 years, even if he only played 150 games.

Thoughts? Desires? Criticisms? React below.

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