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What can Greg Oden offer?
Even if the entire world looks down upon Greg Oden and his battles with injuries, the man sure can play. At college, he was one of the best players coming out and in the few games he started at Portland, he was effective in grabbing defensive rebounds and in shot blocking. Those are two key domains the Heat need to build on for next season should they go for a three-peat. Oden can also be a floor general when needed as he can command any other center with his intimidating physique. He seems to be willing to negotiate on his price range as well – something the Heat, as an entire franchise, have sacrificed to keep Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James in South Beach, Florida. Most importantly, if the Miami Heat can give a chance to Eddy Curry, anybody who is around 7 feet tall and weighs 230 pounds deserves to play among the defending champions’ ranks.
What should Greg Oden expect for himself at Miami?
Starting off, Oden needs to stay fit to even feature on a nightly basis at Miami. Should he achieve that, he would be handed a measly five to ten minutes run to begin with. But Oden has constantly been lauded for his work ethic and team spirit, and with that he could surface to running the floor on a more frequent basis. If Greg Oden can put up 6.5 PPG, 5 RPG and at least a block or two in the twenty minutes handed to him, Erik Spoelstra will be more than happy to keep him at Miami.
But that is for the long run. For now and in the coming weeks of the 2013-14 season, Greg Oden needs to stay fit and live up to his tag that once saw him drafted ahead of future Hall-of-Famer, Kevin Durant. Not many can doubt Greg Oden’s talent or potential. But only Greg Oden can answer us if he can stay fit and play on the roster of the NBA’s finest. If the Heat does sign the center for cheap, they would not be making a mistake but just taking a calculated chance. And today’s NBA is all about wise calculations.
