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C Greg Oden (All B1G, All-American, Defensive Player of the Year, Butler Assistant Coach)

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Taking a shot

There are some who think the Cavs should make an offer to restricted free agent Greg Oden this summer. Even though it would be a risky move considering his injury background, try finding players like him on the open market.

Guard David Lighty is a former teammate of Oden's at Ohio State.

"He's moved out to L.A. training and getting ready, rehabbing to make his comeback," Lighty said recently in Chicago at the NBA draft combine. "The big thing is guys think he's a wash, but he can't help getting hurt.

"When he's been on the court, he's been productive, averaging like 12 points and 10 rebounds. When you get a double-double in the league, that's not easy at all. It's about him getting a chance to stay on the court. When he does that, I think he does a great job."
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http://morningjournal.com/articles/...4deaf5a2534c9775819358.txt?viewmode=fullstory
 
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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtXO9gSo5_w"]YouTube - ‪The Team Mating Game PART 1‬‏[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnSO9EnWYF0"]YouTube - ‪The Team Mating Game PART 2‬‏[/ame]

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The Greg Oden clock starts ticking for the Trail Blazers
Published: Monday, June 13, 2011,
By Joe Freeman, The Oregonian

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Randy L. Rasmussen, The Oregonian
Greg Oden watches the Blazers play their last home game of the season against Memphis.

The clock on Greg Oden's uncertain future with the Trail Blazers officially started ticking Monday.

The Dallas Mavericks' championship victory Sunday night triggered the start of a deadline for the Blazers to tender an $8.8 million qualifying offer to the soon-to-be free agent center. The Blazers, who did not extend an offer Monday, have until June 30 to do so.

Assuming they do -- and the Blazers have given indications they will -- Oden will become a restricted free agent on July 1, which means the Blazers will have the upperhand in resigning the former No. 1 overall draft pick who's brief NBA career has been marred by injuries and surgeries.

It's common for teams to delay extending qualifying offers until the deadline nears, so it was not a big shock that the Blazers did not make a move Monday. Even Oden's camp did not expect it.

"I'm sure they're going to hold off doing anything until the end," said Mike Conley, Oden's agent.

If the Blazers tender Oden, there are several ways they can retain him. They can sit back and gauge what the free agent market will be for the talented but injury-plagued 7-foot center and match any offer Oden receives. If interest is minimal, they can simply sign him to the one-year $8.8 million deal.

They can also offer and sign Oden to a multiyear contract, gambling that the player who has played in just 82 games and endured three knee surgeries during his four-year career is destined for a long and healthy return. Oden, it seems, is open to a long-term return to Portland.

"That would be fantastic," Conley said of a multiyear deal. "We would definitely be excited about that."

As for the free agent market, Conley said he expects his client to receive a heavy dose of interest.

"He's intriguing to a lot of people," Conley said. "It will all come down to the physical condition Greg is in at the time. He'll have to prove he's ready. But if that's the case, people will be interested. No question."

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http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/06/the_greg_oden_clock_starts_tic.html
 
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Agent: Greg Oden underwent 'interventions'
Posted on: June 15, 2011

Bill Duffy, president of BDA Sports, says Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden has undergone "interventions" to help deal with the mental strain ofgreg-oden being injured. Posted by Ben Golliver.

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, has had trouble staying on the court, playing just 82 games in his four-year NBA career. Throughout the trials, which have involved multiple microfracture knee surgeries and a fractured patella, Oden has received support off the court.

Bill Duffy, president of BDA Sports, the agency that represents Oden, told Portland radio station 750 AM on Wednesday morning that the center has received professional help in dealing with the mental side of all the injuries.

"Counseling, therapy, interventions, just to let him understand all the pressures, not to put too much pressure on himself," Duffy said. "Everybody needs that. Not just an athlete but someone to talk to and share your thoughts and your concerns and just get reassurance. If you do things the right way, stay patient, keep your eye on the prize, you'll be fine."

In 2009, Oden revealed to Yahoo! Sports that he had visited a sports psychologist, however there has been no previous talk of interventions publicly.

Reached by telephone Wednesday, Portland Trail Blazers Acting GM Chad Buchanan, newly installed after Blazers owner Paul Allen fired previous GM Rich Cho in May, told CBSSports.com that he personally had not been a part of an intervention with Oden but refused to divulge any additional information.

"I'd rather not confirm or deny any of that," Buchanan said. "I was not involved with it. I couldn't tell you either way."

In September 2010, The Oregonian reported that Oden had stopped drinking and going out to clubs. "My first year (2007) was probably my worst," Oden told the paper. "But after that, I definitely cut back. I never thought that I had a problem or anything. I actually stopped last season."

Asked whether Oden's interventions were to express support for him or whether they were specifically related to drinking or substance abuse, Buchanan again refused to comment.

"That's something I'd rather not comment on," Buchanan said. "Greg has been great for us and anything that took place along those lines is between Greg and his people. Greg has been awesome for us."

Oden is currently rehabilitating from microfracture surgery in November 2010. Microfracture surgery generally carries a 12 month recovery time period.

"You proceed with caution," Duffy told 750 AM. "We don't want to come back too soon. We're not going to even challenge it until we get to that 12 month threshold. If it were December or November or January we just can't afford any more slip ups. We'll wait until we get full clearance and then probably err on the side of caution, maybe a month or so after that."

Buchanan's timeline was slightly more optimistic -- sometime between October and December -- but he said the Blazers, who must issue a qualifying offer to Oden before June 30 to make him a restricted free agent, would work with Oden, his representatives and the medical experts to establish an appropriate timeline for his return.

"We'll work together collectively, Greg and the doctors and us," Buchanan said. "We're still a little ways out. It's hard to put a timeline on it other than what you can go by historically from a player recovering from a microfracture. We're going to be supportive of Greg making sure he feels 100% comfortable to get back on the court. We're going to rely on what both Greg and what the doctors tell us. We want to make sure that he's in the right mindset as well as the right physical condition to get him back on the court. We're going to wait until all the conditions are right for him to get out there and play again."
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http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/30055052
 
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Blazers to make qualifying offer to Oden
By Marc J. Spears, Yahoo! Sports

Portland Trail Blazers officials have told Greg Oden?s(notes) representatives they will tender the center an $8.8 million qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The Blazers have until midnight ET Thursday to give the qualifying offer.
More From Marc J. Spears

The No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, Oden has played just 82 games over four seasons because of injuries. The Blazers made the qualifying offer to protect themselves from possibly losing him for nothing, sources said. Once Oden becomes a restricted free agent, the Blazers will have the right to match any offer sheet he receives.

Oden missed last season after having microfracture surgery on his left knee in November. He hasn?t played since December of 2009 when he needed surgery to repair a fractured left patella. He was averaging 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks at the time of the injury.

Oden, 23, is working out in Los Angeles. There is no firm timetable for his return.

?Some people may think it?s best for me being out of [Portland], getting out of that mode of being injured or Sam Bowie talk,? Oden told Yahoo! Sports in late May. ?Some people are probably saying, ?You owe the Blazers for four years.? I don?t know. For me, I just want to get out there and play.?
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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-spears_greg_oden_blazers_062911
 
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Updated: July 9, 2011
Projecting Greg Oden's impact
History gives us an indication of what the oft-injured big man has left
By Kevin Pelton
Basketball Prospectus

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Tom Lipman
Greg Oden has had good production in the rare stretches when he's been healthy.

Editor's Note: Kevin Pelton revisited his look at Greg Oden and how he compares to Yao Ming, in response to Ming's reported retirement on Friday.

All week long, ESPN Insider has been focusing on projections for the upcoming season. Now, our attention turns to the most difficult prediction of all: the enigmatic Greg Oden. Since being taken No. 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2007 NBA draft, Oden has spent more time in the trainer's room than on the court, dealing with a series of injuries to his knees.

Oden hasn't taken an NBA court since Dec. 5, 2009, when he fractured his left patella. While rehabbing the injury, Oden suffered cartilage damage in the same knee, requiring microfracture surgery -- his third season-ending knee injury in four NBA campaigns. Oden became the second NBA player ever to have microfracture surgery performed on both of his knees (Denver's Kenyon Martin was the first).

As a result, when Basketball Prospectus' SCHOENE Projection System suggests that Oden would put up somewhere in the neighborhood of 10.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in the 23.9 minutes he averaged before his 2009 injury, those numbers are largely meaningless. Production has never been the issue for Oden, who has been effective whenever he has been healthy. The question is whether he can get back to that point

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http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/news/story?id=6752069

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=1795

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw89iuJcR_M"]YouTube - ‪1st and 10 discuss Greg Oden‬‏[/ame]
 
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Yertle;1979506; said:
I'm currently in the Houston airport and just ran into Greg oden. I had my face buried in my iPhone, but he saw my block O hat and said "go bucks!" I looked up to see a mountain of a man and said "huh? Oh, hey Greg!" ugh... That's all I could come up with??? Really? Dammit.
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:slappy:

Good job...:shake:



probably all I could manage too...lol
 
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Yertle;1979506; said:
I'm currently in the Houston airport and just ran into Greg oden. I had my face buried in my iPhone, but he saw my block O hat and said "go bucks!" I looked up to see a mountain of a man and said "huh? Oh, hey Greg!" ugh... That's all I could come up with??? Really? Dammit.
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I ran into Dallas Lauderdale at O'Hare a few months back and was too shell shocked to say anything....so kudos to you for getting anything out at all. LOL!
 
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