Chris Haynes @ChrisBHaynes 1m RT “@IraHeatBeat: Spoelstra said Oden will not be active Satuday in Portland.”
I heard he's walking with a cane . . . This was online a few days ago, however: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/21/3830609/miami-heat-center-greg-oden-a.html
God will have the last laugh when he Dominates Durant and the Thunder in the finals and is holding up the gold trophy. Mark my words. The Heat are playing this smart. He could easily be playing right now.
I'm starting to think this isn't going to have any chance of helping them out. Oden will need to get time on the court to get used to playing and gain chemistry with teammates. The thought was he could give them 15 minutes against Hibbert. But if he's never on the court he'll screw up the offense and not know where to rotate on defense. Players like Birdman and Haslem have years of experience with these teammates so Oden will need time to become a better option than them. Oden dunked in a preseason game; so over two months later he hasn't got a single minutes of game action? I wonder if he had a setback or another injury that hasn't been released to the media.
They showed a brief clip of him getting some court work in on Christmas Day (during the LA-Miami game). He made a post move against a coach, turned to the hoop, tried laying it up at the rim and missed badly. He grabbed the ball and slammed it down. It seemed like he was frustrated with where he is. He certainly doesn't look like the Oden of 4+ years ago.
Even if he gets healthy and makes a comeback its going to take him many months to get used to playing basketball again. At some point this year I wonder if the Heat will start to consider waiving him so they can sign a DLeague option? If there is an injury or foul trouble for any of Bosh/Birdman/Haslem the Heat could be in major trouble during a playoff series. Yes LeBron is the best player on the planet, and maybe of all time, but he can't play center.
Oden is safe for this season. I think Miami is really trying to bring him along as slowly as possible, and will ease him in later in the season, in hopes he'll be healthy and confident against Indy and Roy Hibbert.
Depends on the match-up. No, he can't play C vs IND. But I think he'd do fine playing C against us or the Spurs.
