Usually Greg Oden is grabbing headlines for all of the wrong reasons.
A knee surgery here, being waived there. Thankfully the story surrounding Oden these days is all about his comeback and the teams vying for his free agent services.
After everything the big fella has been through (multiple knee surgeries and his exit in Portland), this is finally a story you have to be rooting for.
The sweepstakes for Oden is heating up and has reportedly come down to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat according to CBSSports.com. The 7-foot center and former No. 1 overall pick by the Blazers in 2007 has not played since 2009 and has a meeting scheduled for next week with Pat Riley and the Heat to report also said.
But while Oden has been working out in Ohio and Indiana as he prepares for next season, there is one other team to consider alongside the Cavs and Heat.
The Boston Celtics.
Over this past weekend, Shaun Powell tweeted that the two sides had spoken and the meeting went well. Danny Ainge, Boston's team president of basketball operations, confirmed the exploratory meeting with ESPN.com.
The Celtics may be too late to the party though. They are joined with San Antonio, New Orleans, Charlotte, Indiana and Dallas as the five other teams who have also shown interest in Oden, despite Cleveland (who might pay upwards of $4 million) and Miami (likely offering the minimum) being the frontrunners.
Before fans get too excited if and when Oden signs this season, let us make sure to keep in mind there is a lot of conditioning and time to consider regarding his return to the floor. The analysis on what his direct impact will be to the respective team he signs with will have to wait for another day. It’s far too soon to get those kind of hopes up.
After the setbacks Greg Oden has endured in his very brief NBA career (all 82 games), it feels good to be talking about him being involved with a team once again instead of just another injury update.
