Green Target: Greg Oden

Four years ago he was considered the second coming of David Robinson. By then, we were one of the worst teams in the league. We were a collection of young players trying to prevent Paul Pierce from getting depressed in Beantown. We almost got him, and even though it was rumored that Danny preferred Kevin Durant, we all imagined we would grab Oden from that draft. Luck left us without any of the mentioned players and we were given the chance to draft Jeff Green. We shipped him with Delonte West and the last minutes of health of Wally Szczerbiak to Seattle in order to get Ray Allen and start building the Big Three that would take us back to glory more than two decades later.

The ironies of destiny have recently brought two of the main actors of that thriller of the summer of 2007: Green and West. Now, a name has been written in websites and whispered all around the Celtics world: Greg Oden may be targeted in the next weeks by Boston. Isn't life interesting?

We are in 2011 now, and Oden is considered a bust. He has underachieved due to very severe knee injuries. You know the story, the man hasn't barely been able to play consistently. His stock has dropped and his team may even not try to keep him after July 1st. He needs a change of air, he needs to leave Portland. What better place than a post-Perk and post-Shaq Celtics team? We desperately need a big center in this team.


Let me get this straight: we are not dealing with the prospect of adding the promising beast of 2007. We'd be glad to get a 60 game season of Greg in which he would give us 8 points, 8 rebounds and some blocks here and there. That is what we need and that is what he may reward us with right now. Provided he can be healthy. Provided he decides to come here. Provided the Blazers abandon all hope in him.

How the Celtics could get him:

There are only two reasonable ways to sign Oden and it would start by the Blazers not exercising his 2011/12 option and thus letting him become a full unrestricted free agent. We have read mixed reports about Portland's intentions, notably due to the fact that their GM has recently been fired.

In the midst of that confusion, maybe they decide to release Greg. Because otherwise we wouldn't be able to match what Portland can offer him.

If the Blazers finally give up their hopes on filming and producing the second sequel of their film of their dreamed franchise player project, then we would have a chance of offering Oden the full MLE. That what he is honestly worth now and that is all we could offer. We have a fair chance to land him in Boston and there are rumors all around the web that we have all intentions to do so.

Cons:

Health. That is the magic word here. It is very simple: do you trust a guy that has had such a horrendous history of injuries? Do you want to spend your MLE on a guy that has burnt all possible ways of hope from the franchise that drafted him with the number 1 pick?

You need much faith and a big gamble. It seems only Danny Ainge would do such thing, right?

So what do you think? Should the Celtics sign Greg Oden?