Why Greg Oden Makes Sense For The Miami Heat Aug 4th 2013, 17:36
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- Greg Oden (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
It's a bit odd to perform an autopsy on a team that just won two consecutive NBA Championships. But let's remember that at several points during several games before Game 7, this most recent crown was in considerable doubt. Many detractors had already defrocked and disemboweled Chris Bosh from the big three and his failure to have a traditional inside presence. Of course the truth was the Heat had not been a premier rebounding team all season, a fault of not one person but a team weakness that was a hole to be filled. Enter Greg Oden. He signed a two year deal with the Miami Heat on August 2nd.
One may assume a pro basketball career is over if the first overall pick in the 2007 draft has had more injuries than playing time since then, with potentially genetically defective knees. Add three corrective microfracture surgeries of the cartilage. That's a process that actually creates small fractures in the underlying bone so that new cartilage grows and develops. That's scary for a 7 foot man with about 285 pounds pounding on those knees. But there are other NBA players who have returned to productive careers after such surgery, including Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady Andrew Bogut, Kenyon Martin, Amar'e Stoudemire, and Chris Webber.
Then add what is unpublished about Mr. Oden. One of my clients was a coach of the big men for the Portland Trailblazers during Oden's time there, former NBA All-Star and now-deceased Maurice Lucas. Luke (for whom Bill Walton named his NBA-playing son) claimed the potential was there. Lucas was known as a consistently mentally strong enforcer in the middle. That makes him everything Bosh is said not to be and a good judge of what could help the Heat have that inside presence. Oden had not played much basketball prior to going to Ohio State. And he only played one year there. What Maurice saw in Oden was someone who just needed to play more within an environment where he can learn from those who compete and win at the highest level. Luke was convinced he had the right attitude, respect for the game without personal demons to deter him from becoming a beast of a shot blocker and rebounder. He's always had a good shooting percentage in large part because he's had the basketball sense to stay within his skill set. The offensive part of his game would expand over time.
As with any business deal there is risk. Beyond the health issue is rust. He hasn't played since 2009 and only played 82 games in his career. But he's only 25 years old. How good will he have to be to help Miami? Not much, especially at a mere $ 1million next year. The Miami Heat were almost eliminated by Indiana before the finals. The Pacers exposed the fact that they were a match up problem for the Heat. The problem was that the Pacers were the best rebounding team in basketball with a +5 differential to their opponents. The Heat were dead last with a negative differential of -1.5. But LeBron James and Pat Riley have been recruiting Oden since at least last spring. I suspect they see the same things Maurice Lucas saw years earlier. And the Heat's vision had been pretty good of late.
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