Oden

[CleveRocks]

Humphries just got paid $12 million/year. Uh, no thanks.

Bynum would have cost a lot via trade. Oden would only cost Gilbert some $$ for a year and a half if he doesn't work out (without us giving up any assets, cap space in 2014 and beyond, etc.).

Roy, although a better comparison, has no cartilage in his knees. And maybe the Cavs were interested in him, but weren't willing to offer him as much as Minny (or as many guaranteed years as Roy was looking for)? Or were interested in him, but Oden being a big is more intriguing than Roy being a guard?

Yeah, this. Its a risk reward thing. We can afford such a gamble now, given that our youngsters wont be prime for two years. As long as he is cheap, there is not a lot of downside.

[Jon]

There's a reason we have team Doctors. I imagine the math works out something like this ... if there's only a 30% chance that Gregg can contribute at a 70% level then it's worth giving him a small offer. Teams gamble on players all the time.

If Gregg was 100% healthy and likely to stay that way, then he's probably worth $20M/yr. A straight linear approximation of his value based on the 70% performance and 30% risk factor would value him at $4.2M/yr.

So justifying the expense is easy, especially when we may not have other plans for the cap space, but it all depends on that evaluation of the risk & potential.

[RonHarperFan]

the Blazers and Warriors are both over the tax by like 4m or less, so we could help either one of those teams out with a trade. Maybe the Bulls too.

My favorite move would be to take back Rip Hamilton with a pick from Chicago(perhaps that Bobcats pick they have), and then keep his stupid ass to March 2nd and then cut him.

Outside of those moves we really won't need to use much cap space to make a move.

[Tornicade]

the Blazers and Warriors are both over the tax by like 4m or less, so we could help either one of those teams out with a trade. Maybe the Bulls too.

My favorite move would be to take back Rip Hamilton with a pick from Chicago(perhaps that Bobcats pick they have), and then keep his stupid ass to March 2nd and then cut him.

Outside of those moves we really won't need to use much cap space to make a move.

portland is nowhere near the luxury tax limit.

[RonHarperFan]

portland is nowhere near the luxury tax limit.

Ah, didn't see the part where they had amnestied Roy.

Anyways, I'll start a conspiracy theory. Oden is making sure he's 100% off of any illegal substances he's allegedly on, so that he can pass a drug test once he's an NBA player again. Hence the delay, hence the not signing at all in the summer.

[billmac91]

Ah, didn't see the part where they had amnestied Roy.

Anyways, I'll start a conspiracy theory. Oden is making sure he's 100% off of any illegal substances he's allegedly on, so that he can pass a drug test once he's an NBA player again. Hence the delay, hence the not signing at all in the summer.

Or the real reason:

Teams want to get through the trade deadline with current rosters and cap flexibility in the event of making transactions. Adding $4M to your cap several weeks before the deadline, on a guy who won't play until 2014, would be horrifyingly moronic. Even Kahn would laugh at that GM.

[AuxiliaryPie]

Or the real reason:

Teams want to get through the trade deadline with current rosters and cap flexibility in the event of making transactions. Adding $4M to your cap several weeks before the deadline, on a guy who won't play until 2014, would be horrifyingly moronic. Even Kahn would laugh at that GM.

which is exactly why he would have used drugs even though he knew he wanted to be in the NBA!!

[amurderofcrows]

First, any drugs Oden would use would be to accelerate/aid his rehabilitation.
Second, the Fan is mentioning Oden to the Cavs as imminent. Whatever that means time wise.
IMO, it makes too much sense for the Cavs to obtain Greg for them not to do so.

[amurderofcrows]

I would rather sign speights long term and forget about this headache.

How about SP8s and Oden? Deal half done. Sorry for the double post, I just read this.

[JMcCurry08]

Heat have removed themselves from Greg Oden derby, sources say. Both Cavs and Bobcats prepared to make Oden offer after trading deadline.

— Sam Amico (@SamAmicoFSO) February 11, 2013

[Rob]

One would think he would choose us over the Bobcats...

[gratefuldead]

play with kyrie or goto the slobcats??

come on greg

[Jack Brickman]

So basically either way I get to watch Oden if he's able to make a comeback? Win-win.

[Zen]

I see almost nothing positive about acquiring oden at this point. At the very best you have a guy that is able to contribute but is constantly in and out of the lineup causing continuity issues.

[Jack Brickman]

I see almost nothing positive about acquiring oden at this point. At the very best you have a guy that is able to contribute but is constantly in and out of the lineup causing continuity issues.

Actually at the very best we'd have one of the most defensively dominating centers in the league who was a former number one pick playing over thirty minutes a night.

At the very worst we'd have a guy who doesn't play at all because he's physically incapable.

At the very middle we'd have a guy who can play twenty or so minutes a night and contribute defensively.

Worth taking a shot even if we only end up in the middle. There's literally no downside. Even if Oden can't stay healthy, we could simply void his contract in the summer of 2014, and he wouldn't cost us that much to begin with.