Greg Oden expected to make his decision today, report says the Celtics never made an offer
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| Not happening |
It's only fitting that Greg Oden — who looks like he could be LeBron's dad despite being three years younger — has taken a page from LBJ's playbook and is taking his time deciding between a host of offers from prospective suitors. After weeks of workouts and discussions, Oden is expected to make his decision this afternoon, albeit without Jim Gray sitting by his side.
Oden has apparently narrowed his possibilities down to Miami, San Antonio, Dallas and New Orleans, with Atlanta and Sacramento both falling out of the race recently. Miami is reportedly considered the favorites despite the fact that the Heat can only offer their "mini-mid level" exception of $3 million.
For many Celtics fans (myself included), Oden was very high on their proverbial "wish list" this off-season. A former #1 overall pick in 2007, Oden represents the prototypical low-risk, high-reward possibility that a team like the Celtics should be salivating over due to their current financial restrictions.
However, the Celtics reportedly did not even make an offer. From ESPN.com.
Sources said Cleveland, Boston and Memphis, in addition to the six finalists, all expressed interest in Oden, but those three teams declined to make a formal offer.
As we mentioned above, Miami can only offer $3 million per season yet are considered the favorites to land Oden's services. It should be noted that the Celtics also had their entire mini-mid level exception to throw at Oden before deciding to use $2 million of it to sign Brazilian big man Vitor Faverani last month.
Why did the Celtics make an offer to Faverani and not Oden? Well there are a couple of possibilities.
First, they could simply have taken a look at Oden's medicals and been scared off. He has had five knee surgeries since 2007, three of which have been microfracture surgeries which are not easy to return from. In fact, no player in NBA history has come back from having three microfracture procedures.
It's also possible that Oden simply did not have reciprocal interest in Boston as a destination. With offers rolling in from both of the teams that played in the NBA Finals, Oden deciding to take similar money to play in income tax free Florida or Texas is understandable. It's realistic to think that Danny Ainge talked with Oden's agent and that it was made clear that the Celtics just weren't going to be seriously considered, and that Ainge then turned his attention to Faverani.
Finally, it could be as simple as Ainge liking Faverani more than Oden. Considering both players pedigrees (Oden as one of the best big man prospects in the past 20 years and Faverani as a back-up big man in Spain) this seems unlikely, but maybe Ainge saw more athleticism in Faverani's uninjured body, or simply wasn't impressed by what he had seen out of Oden after nearly four years out of the league.
No matter the reason, the Celtics are out on Oden as he nears a final decision. He has always seemed like a likable guy, so I'm rooting for him to get healthy and hopefully re-launch his career this season. Although I do admit, that will be a lot easier to do if he picks San Antonio.
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