I can't believe he's only 25. Sure, I still remember him coming in with Durant as the super freshmen of college, but dang. Feels like it has been ages since Oden was drafted, out of the league, etc.
he's great as a 3rd string center. low risk, high reward. will he take a min contract tho? probably not, since there's teams willing to pay him 3-4mil
Morey buys undervalued and unloved assets. Lowry, KMart, and Beverley are examples of undervalued. TWill and TRob are examples of unloved. He hasn't really gone down the "high upside but injured" path, ie. Amare. This seems like a move we would've considered last year, when we didn't have Harden. Even though we're still in the hunt for a second star, there's no reason to take unnecessary risks. Plus, we already have enough high upside bigs that we're trying to juggle.
Oden is undervalued and unloved. The only reason why Morey hasn't gone down the "high upside but injured" path, ie. Amare is because Amare is a max player and his potential output doesn't equal the risk. This seems like a move we would and should consider any year. Not just Morey but 29 other GM's should be all over this. A 25 year old, athletic 7 foot, shot blocking, defensive presence albeit injury prone doesn't come around too often. I don't think we would bring in Oden in hopes that he's that 2nd star to pair with Harden but rather a guy to back up Asik and see what he can do. If he pans out then we basically hit the lottery. If he doesn't then we can cut our losses and move on. I would be willing to take on Oden at a 1 year deal around $5 Million. I'm not sure what high upside bigs you're referring to. We do have a glut of young 4's whom all have their own unique limitations. Oden is a true center that can change the game if he can just stay healthy. It's a risk absolutely worth taking.
Unproven to a certain extent.... He was starting to dominate before he last went down. Small sample size as it's only 21 games but he was putting up 11 points/ 8.5 boards/ 2.3 blocks in 24 minutes per game. I watched all 21 of those games since his return here in Portland was a major deal. It seemed like he was finally healthy and starting to justify why he was selected #1 overall. He was dunking everything in sight, rebounding like a mad man and shutting down the paint like a beast. He was looking great as a post option as well.
He did try trading for Amare. (But, he was desperate for any "superstar".) But, while I agree there is no way he risks the franchise capspace on Oden's injury prone career return attempt #4, I wouldn't be surprised at some sort of non-guaranteed offer.
