NBA Free Agency 2011: Will Any Team Top Portland?s Offer to Greg Oden?
The Portland Trail Blazers recently extended a sizeable $8.8 million qualifying offer to the tragically injury-prone Greg Oden.
The seven-foot center was selected by the Blazers with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and has played a grand total of 82 games since then (No. 2 pick Kevin Durant has played 314 games).
Odon?s had surgery on a wrist and both knees, and has had foot problems as well. There's no doubt that the big man can be effective when he's on the floor. He's averaged 15 points and 12 rebounds per 36 minutes during his injury-plagued career. The problem of course is that he's rarely on the floor.
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As a restricted free agent, the only way Oden can go to a different team is if he accepts an offer from another organization which exceeds Portland?s qualifying offer and is not matched by them.
The new CBA will almost certainly bring a lower salary cap with it, and I don?t see any teams with significant space making a run at Oden when they?ll have to pay him around $9 million a year.
You can follow Andy Bailey on Twitter @_Andy_Bailey
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