Oden chose Miami

[dbreiden83080]

He's played 9 seconds in the league and he is thinking about chasing a ring..

[Sean Cagney]

I'm really disappointed about his decision, 'cause he could have been a big hope for the years after the Duncan era.
That said, I also think that this choice was the worst for him, career oriented.
In S.A he would have been treated like a precious investment for the future, would have been taken care off for every thing and could have become better learning the offensive game from the best possible guy (and God knows if Oden needs to train his offensive game...expecially after three non playing years).
In Miami he instantly become the best option at center from day 1...so, despite all the insurances he received from whoever, he's at a big risk not to be taken care enough.
Imho, Spurs (with a crowded center position consisting in Tim, Splitter, Baynes and Pendergraph all able to play the role) in their current situation, could have given Oden a one year completely dedicated to his on court reabilitation and game improvement (wonderful training environment for a big).
Miami has the highest expectations possible of all the teams involved in his sweeptakes...and ther's no worst situation than this for an injured player just coming back to action 'cause, at the end, if your team needs you, you're supposed to play, despite your risky phisical conditions.
And I don't think that Greg is going to learn something from training neither with Anderson, Anthony or Haslem (all of them rely on defensive and athletic skills) nor from Bosh (totally diferent kind of player).
Imho dumb decision and horrible advise and counseling from his part.
For the Spurs, in any case, a big disappointment, but maybe a blessing in desguise.
First 'cause push our trainers to focus and give time to the improvement of promising players we already have at that position.
Second, 'cause this kind of decision seems to speak from itself about the player willingness to follow the obviously better path...for achiving results, you have to sacrifice your immediate expectations and work on yourself in the rifgt way. That's our culture. Oden, despite been, probably, a wonderful and kind guy, is still following the syrens....

Oden now at best is a role player and not a future for any team, infact he might not even last long in this league with those knees. Did I want him to come here cheap to play a role? YES, but he is no more than a project at this point.

Great signing by Miami, Oden could be the difference for them between threepeat and not threepeat.

I would say that hinders alot more on Wades Knee than anything.

[xmas1997]

Oden now at best is a role player and not a future for any team, infact he might not even last long in this league with those knees. Did I want him to come here cheap to play a role? YES, but he is no more than a project at this point.

But he could also be the difference in a three peat.

[KaiRMD1]

It would be quite insane if he rings before the ol' sport in Oklahoma City who was drafted after him

[superbigtime]

The guy looks as dumb as a goat. He's going to fall apart. Probably will get injured in scrimmaging or at a strip club parking lot. I can understand why he went to Miami.

[Skull-1]

Have a great 2 game season goofball.

Rotflmao!

[spurs10]

Oden called a press conference to announce he'd be taking his crutches to South Beach.


Ah yeah Miami, its on!!! Where's my locker?!?

His surgeon will be taking his talents to South Beach!

[Kidd K]

Well, we all knew he was going to the Heat. No surprise there at all. The marquee teams always get the best and biggest names unless you overpay.

That's a lot of words to convey a simple fact: Dude is far too injury-prone to mess with.

That's not what the article was about. It was about how all of Oden's injuries were preventable, and that the Blazers were too conservative in their medical plans with Oden which led to more of the same problems. Essentially they just hoped and prayed it'd work itself out rather than take a progressive approach and it predictably failed.

[TD 21]

Now this brings up an interesting topic. How much does the FO's recruitment of players or lack thereof have to do with players passing up the Spurs as a destination all the time?

Do players pass up the Spurs as a destination because the FO doesn't put much effort into recruitment or are the Spurs really that much of a boring organization/city? Could it be a combination of both? Too bad we'll never have the answers to these questions.

Beyond the obvious (small market, haven't been considered serious contenders going into a season since '07-08, generally have had little financial flexibility), I think there's three more reasons they repeatedly get spurned . . .

1) As I said a few days ago, I don't get the sense that they, as Rivers calls it, beg.

2) Save for Leonard, the entire team is either mixed, foreign or white American and chances are, a lot of players probably don't think they're all that likely to relate to a lot of them.

3) This is as nuanced a system and strict an environment, in general, as there is in the league.

[michaelwcho]

Well, if you didn't want Oden at that price, you could see it otherwise: Spurs picking Belinelli instead of Neal cost them the ability to offer $3.4M at the FA of your choice.

Belinelli over Neal is a head-scratcher to me. It's the same player, except he doesn't know the system and we don't know if he'll comply with team directives.

[UZER]

Not sure why it took him this long. I would have picked Miami on Day 1. They're the champions, they have an enormous hole at the five, they have all the best steroid clinics, and Miami has hotter es than just about any city in the US.

Funny because when the spurs were winning chips, players said they didn't want to come to a team that already won. They wanted to help a team win. Now he picks a team that just won. Bottom line...players don't come to SA. Not that Oden was a game changer, but just another example of guys throwing the spurs name out there with no intentions of ever coming here.

[Bruno]

Belinelli over Neal is a head-scratcher to me. It's the same player, except he doesn't know the system and we don't know if he'll comply with team directives.

Belinelli is a little less a defensive liability than Neal. It could be the reason why they go with him.
In his 3 years with Spurs, when Neal was on the court Spurs allowed 5.5 more points per 100 possession in the regular season and 11.4 more in the playoffs. Stats back up the fact that Neal bad defense was hurting the whole team defense.

[Ice009]

Funny because when the spurs were winning chips, players said they didn't want to come to a team that already won. They wanted to help a team win. Now he picks a team that just won. Bottom line...players don't come to SA. Not that Oden was a game changer, but just another example of guys throwing the spurs name out there with no intentions of ever coming here.

Yep. Karl Malone said he didn't come here because he didn't want to go to the team that won the Championship but Oden hops right the on the team that won it (they didn't win , we handed it to them. lol, yeah, I'm still mad and not giving them any respect). I bet if we won it, then he would have chosen Miami saying that he didn't want to go to the team that won it. both of them.

The guy is a imbecile. How can you turn down learning from Tim Duncan after he just showed the world how you can still compete with the best at age 37? He showed everyone that you don't need supreme athleticism to complete against the best, and that you can do it with a solid fundamental base. Roy Hibbert, a player tutored by Tim Duncan also played great against the Heat and almost helped Indiana beat them, yet this idiot still picks Miami. I would have had respect for him if he chose a team with decent big men that he could learn from and possibly grow with. Memphis would have been a good place for him to go to too, yet they weren't even on his list.

Oden is on my list. It just made complete sense, yet the tool looks like he chose pussy over learning the game of basketball and bettering himself as a player. The dumb should have gotten into porn when the companies contacted him after those photos if that is his main priority. It sure isn't about making himself better as a player.

I think I read somewhere that said Miami told him they wouldn't need him much at the start of the season, well, that is a piss poor excuse, any team that signed him for the minimum would be able to ease him in slowly, no one would have rushed him, any team could have afforded him that.

Plain and simple, Oden copped out, just like Lebron.

[Ice009]

Belinelli over Neal is a head-scratcher to me. It's the same player, except he doesn't know the system and we don't know if he'll comply with team directives.

Not to me. I've wanted the return of real Spurs defense since after the 2009 season and Neal is just too poor of a defender.

I loved his at ude and willingness to take big shots with confidence (that is something else I always look for in a player), but not at the expense of decent defense. Even though fearlessness to take big shots and shoot with confidence is high up on my list, defense is always first. I'm hoping Marco can be someone similar to Neal on offense, but be able to keep working and improve on defense. That is the main thing I will be looking for from Marco, hopefully he can focus on continually improving himself as a defender.

Bruno, even though Marco isn't a great defender, do you think that he has more room for improvement on that end of the court in comparison to Gary Neal? I think Neal was pretty much maxed out on defense and wasn't going to get any better on that end of the court. I would have kept Gary if there were any signs that he could keep improving on defense, but I don't think that he could.

[therealtruth]

Belinelli is a little less a defensive liability than Neal. It could be the reason why they go with him.
In his 3 years with Spurs, when Neal was on the court Spurs allowed 5.5 more points per 100 possession in the regular season and 11.4 more in the playoffs. Stats back up the fact that Neal bad defense was hurting the whole team defense.

Neal never understood defensive help principles and was always standing in no man's land. He wasn't really helping and he was giving his man an open shot.

[therealtruth]

Not to me. I've wanted the return of real Spurs defense since after the 2009 season and Neal is just too poor of a defender.

I loved his at ude and willingness to take big shots with confidence (that is something else I always look for in a player), but not at the expense of decent defense. Even though fearlessness to take big shots and shoot with confidence is high up on my list, defense is always first. I'm hoping Marco can be someone similar to Neal on offense, but be able to keep working and improve on defense. That is the main thing I will be looking for from Marco, hopefully he can focus on continually improving himself as a defender.

Bruno, even though Marco isn't a great defender, do you think that he has more room for improvement on that end of the court in comparison to Gary Neal? I think Neal was pretty much maxed out on defense and wasn't going to get any better on that end of the court. I would have kept Gary if there were any signs that he could keep improving on defense, but I don't think that he could.

I agree we're finally seeing the return of Spurs defense. Pretty much the only time we struggled in the playoffs was when we went away from it like at the start of the Warriors series and end of the Heat series.

Neal was a quick fix when Pop thought we needed more offense but it would have been better to find a way to survive on offense and maintain our defense.

[Sean Cagney]

Yep. Karl Malone said he didn't come here because he didn't want to go to the team that won the Championship but Oden hops right the on the team that won it (they didn't win , we handed it to them. lol, yeah, I'm still mad and not giving them any respect). I bet if we won it, then he would have chosen Miami saying that he didn't want to go to the team that won it. both of them.

The guy is a imbecile. How can you turn down learning from Tim Duncan after he just showed the world how you can still compete with the best at age 37? He showed everyone that you don't need supreme athleticism to complete against the best, and that you can do it with a solid fundamental base. Roy Hibbert, a player tutored by Tim Duncan also played great against the Heat and almost helped Indiana beat them, yet this idiot still picks Miami. I would have had respect for him if he chose a team with decent big men that he could learn from and possibly grow with. Memphis would have been a good place for him to go to too, yet they weren't even on his list.

Oden is on my list. It just made complete sense, yet the tool looks like he chose pussy over learning the game of basketball and bettering himself as a player. The dumb should have gotten into porn when the companies contacted him after those photos if that is his main priority. It sure isn't about making himself better as a player.

I think I read somewhere that said Miami told him they wouldn't need him much at the start of the season, well, that is a piss poor excuse, any team that signed him for the minimum would be able to ease him in slowly, no one would have rushed him, any team could have afforded him that.

Plain and simple, Oden copped out, just like Lebron.

Do not worry he won't do and he will be out soon just like Roy was, except Roy was a player and had class Oden will be a role player at best, those injuries will get the best of him and he won't last long .

[Snaq O'Meal]

Yep. Karl Malone said he didn't come here because he didn't want to go to the team that won the Championship but Oden hops right the on the team that won it (they didn't win , we handed it to them. lol, yeah, I'm still mad and not giving them any respect). I bet if we won it, then he would have chosen Miami saying that he didn't want to go to the team that won it. both of them.

The guy is a imbecile. How can you turn down learning from Tim Duncan after he just showed the world how you can still compete with the best at age 37? He showed everyone that you don't need supreme athleticism to complete against the best, and that you can do it with a solid fundamental base. Roy Hibbert, a player tutored by Tim Duncan also played great against the Heat and almost helped Indiana beat them, yet this idiot still picks Miami. I would have had respect for him if he chose a team with decent big men that he could learn from and possibly grow with. Memphis would have been a good place for him to go to too, yet they weren't even on his list.

Oden is on my list. It just made complete sense, yet the tool looks like he chose pussy over learning the game of basketball and bettering himself as a player. The dumb should have gotten into porn when the companies contacted him after those photos if that is his main priority. It sure isn't about making himself better as a player.

I think I read somewhere that said Miami told him they wouldn't need him much at the start of the season, well, that is a piss poor excuse, any team that signed him for the minimum would be able to ease him in slowly, no one would have rushed him, any team could have afforded him that.

Plain and simple, Oden copped out, just like Lebron.

If I can recall correctly, Miami first reached out to Oden shortly after his release from Portland, when he was at the lowest point of his career. At that time, pretty much everyone else have written him off, but Miami nevertheless maintained contact with him and perhaps made him feel like part of the organisation.

So, it came as no surprise that Oden eventually picked Miami. From all accounts, Oden appeared to be a very respectful and loyal person, so picking another team will be out of character for him. Instead of heaping scorn on the guy, perhaps other teams should learn a thing or two from Miami's recruitment approach.

[Seefourdc]

Some dumb people on here. Also some heartless sick people. Oden is a person who has gone through a lot of with his knees to try to play basketball again. More than a respectable effort.

The reason the Heat landed him is two things. #1 they reached out like posted above. #2 and more importantly to Greg Oden at this time Spo and Riley know about the Zig stuff posted in that article up there and everything Oden is working on to fix all of the underlying cir stances that led up to his injury. They were the only team who really treated him like a human being and were interested in what was best for his recovery. Pat Riley is masterful in reaching out to athletes and treating them as individual human beings instead of JUST making it about business. Riley is talking to people first and basketball business second. That's why the Heat will be a juggernaut again next year.

Sad that both teams and fans treat players like they are JUST lucky to be there but forget that it's just a damn game and people actually have life changing injuries because of it. Maybe it's because I work in the medical field and see how hard it is to go through rehab for orthopedic injuries I get it, but it's sad to me seeing such ugly ass opinions about a human being who's had 5 surgeries and a ton of painful rehab over a 3 year period be talked about as sub-human refuse because he is playing a stupid game for another team instead of your team.

Stay classy dudes.

[resistanze]

@ GNSF's bitterness. From "He'd be a great fit!" to " that cripple!" because he didn't choose SA. Was Oden disrespectful in any way?

[rjv]

Some dumb people on here. Also some heartless sick people. Oden is a person who has gone through a lot of with his knees to try to play basketball again. More than a respectable effort.

The reason the Heat landed him is two things. #1 they reached out like posted above. #2 and more importantly to Greg Oden at this time Spo and Riley know about the Zig stuff posted in that article up there and everything Oden is working on to fix all of the underlying cir stances that led up to his injury. They were the only team who really treated him like a human being and were interested in what was best for his recovery. Pat Riley is masterful in reaching out to athletes and treating them as individual human beings instead of JUST making it about business. Riley is talking to people first and basketball business second. That's why the Heat will be a juggernaut again next year.

Sad that both teams and fans treat players like they are JUST lucky to be there but forget that it's just a damn game and people actually have life changing injuries because of it. Maybe it's because I work in the medical field and see how hard it is to go through rehab for orthopedic injuries I get it, but it's sad to me seeing such ugly ass opinions about a human being who's had 5 surgeries and a ton of painful rehab over a 3 year period be talked about as sub-human refuse because he is playing a stupid game for another team instead of your team.

Stay classy dudes.

this is a tangent but goes to your point: riley was the only university of kentucky player to shake any of the texas western players' hands when UK lost in the NCAA final to the first team to ever have an all black starting five.

he'll always have my respect for that. riles probably has a lot of similar traits to pop.

[CaptainLate]

Belinelli is a little less a defensive liability than Neal. It could be the reason why they go with him.
In his 3 years with Spurs, when Neal was on the court Spurs allowed 5.5 more points per 100 possession in the regular season and 11.4 more in the playoffs. Stats back up the fact that Neal bad defense was hurting the whole team defense.

I knew Neal would make the team after that crazy summer league performance. But NEVER did I like Neal as a backup PG. If pressured, he was a TO waiting to happen (think Beno Udrih vs. Detroit). As long as MB is not a worse defender, and he is not, he is a better ball handler, will drive to the basket and get more trips to the FT line. I'm confident his BBIQ will help him pick up "the Spurs way" so by playoff time, he'll be a much better fit than Neal ever was.

[Biggems]

i didnt really want Oden anyway....so I am not upset. I would rather have Asik, too bad that has about close to zero chance of happening. I know we really only have room for 1 more Big on the roster, I would like to go after Zeke Marshall. Bring him to camp, give him some preseason minutes, and if he shows some potential, sign him and send him to Austin for a while.

So while the Oden signing didnt bother me, i am still quite upset about Miami getting one of my pet cats, James Ennis, from the draft. He could have been the solution to our backup SF.

[dbreiden83080]

@ GNSF's bitterness. From "He'd be a great fit!" to " that cripple!" because he didn't choose SA. Was Oden disrespectful in any way?

It was just about getting the name more than the player? Thinking the Spurs could sign Oden sounded kind of cool to some fans. He won't be contributing in any meaningful way with the Heat and he would not have with the Spurs. If he is lucky he will play 10 min or so a night since he'll be treated with kid gloves out of fear that he will be on the operating table again.

[Skull-1]

Beyond the obvious (small market, haven't been considered serious contenders going into a season since '07-08, generally have had little financial flexibility), I think there's three more reasons they repeatedly get spurned . . .

1) As I said a few days ago, I don't get the sense that they, as Rivers calls it, beg.

2) Save for Leonard, the entire team is either mixed, foreign or white American and chances are, a lot of players probably don't think they're all that likely to relate to a lot of them.

3) This is as nuanced a system and strict an environment, in general, as there is in the league.

Point 2 shows the Balkanization of America. People hate the nation and the culture that made them great.

In a foxhole fighting an enemy the color of the guy saving your behind becomes highly irrelevant. I don't care what color Dash Two is. I am glad he is covering my tail. I also don't care what color Dash Four is. As his Lead I will die to save him. This color and race and ethnic stuff is so juvenile.... Re ed. Immature.

As for 3.... Thank gawd the Aviators from the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Army (not to mention the airline pilots who slave away at the regionals for 17 grand a year) accept...and thrive in...a nuanced and strict environment.