Would anyone like to change their mind on closer to a rebuild than a championship right about now?
Of course.
Oden was the key to having a shot at a title.
Obviously that isn't going to be the case even if he comes back from the injury.
His ceiling right now is probably Bill Walton on the Celtics.
A valuable bench player on a great team but not a center piece for anyone.
The problem I see is that all of Portland's most tradable assets are at positions where Portland is the thinest.
We can trade Miller but we better get a point guard in return or we are fucked at that position for the near term.
We can trade Camby and Joel but we better get a center in return or Sean Marks will be starting.
Not sure anyone would take Oden off our hands right now when they can just wait for him to become a free agent and sign him for a fraction of his current contract under the new CBA.
I have heard people (The Bald Faced Liar) talk about the Celtics with regards to Portland making deals to become a contender.
I think that team caught lightning in a bottle and I don't think Portland could repeat what the Celtics did.
After all, there isn't a team out there right now trying to tank a season so they can move the team to another city.
Or an all world player stuck on a bad team that just so happens to have the 2nd worst gm in history that also played for Portland back in the day.
The closest thing we have to that would be the Kings.
Except they don't have a truly great veteran on that team, just a bunch of kids who might be good that the team probably wouldn't be willing to part with.
Before anyone says anything about Melo he has already stated he doesn't want to play here. We would be renting him for 6 months before he heads to the Knicks next summer.
Tanking isn't really an option because this draft class will be historically bad with players staying in school due to the uncertainty of a lock out next year.
Overall, this is a really bad time to try and rebuild.