Oden is our best chance at acquiring a franchise level star player. It's a risky chance, but there is virtually no way we are getting a superstar with draft picks in the mid to late first round and no superstar free agent is going to chose Portland. So even if you believe Oden has a 75% chance of never beating these injuries we sadly just don't have a better option.
Gerald Wallace and LaMarcus are above average starters but neither is going to lead a team to a championship. Now if your goal for the Blazers is to get them out of the first round, perhaps you could try to go in a different direction. For me, I want the Blazers to one day have a shot at winning a title, and to do that the Blazers need to do whatever they can to obtain a superstar player. Go watch the OSU vs Florida title game again, Oden dominated two older players who have both become solid NBA All-stars. Oden's chance of obtaining that superstar level in the NBA are greatly dimensioned from when he was drafted but its still much higher then trying to strike gold with the 21st pick in the draft. I believe it’s an easy decision to keep Oden opposed to just letting $8mil in salary for next season come off the books. Joel Pryzbilla was paid ~$8mil this year and Canby is over $10mil. $8mil for a one year deal is not expensive at all in the NBA.
