SH Blog: Greg Oden to sign soon? Pau Gasol starts in Lakers loss; Birdman, with Heat, speaks in 3rd person

Full disclosure: Greg Oden has always been one of my favorite players. Maybe it’s because of this commercial, maybe because of how fun his Ohio State team was to watch, maybe it’s just that I really like big men who get absurd amounts of rebounds and appear to be older than 50.No matter the reason why I love Greg Oden, the fact remains that he’s been a huge disappointment as an NBA player, though through no fault of his own.

So whenever the Oden comeback rumors pop up, I try to find them, because as a basketball fan, I feel like I was robbed of a great player who could have dominated the NBA. Remember, he was taken above Kevin Durant, and that wasn’t a surprise at all, to anyone.

Here on Sheridan Hoops, we’ve got new MVP rankings from Chris Sheridan, as well as a Euroleague update from Nick Gibson about a bizarre series of events in an Olympiacos vs. Siena game.

Now here’s your daily fix of all the latest news from around the NBA, staring with some Greg Oden discussion, because … why not?

• From Sam Amico at Fox Sports Ohio: “Greg Oden is talking comeback, and interest around the NBA is sky high. That in itself is news, considering Oden hasn’t played in more than two years. But we’re talking about the former No. 1 overall pick and a guy who doesn’t turn 25 until later this month, not to mention a man who collected 20 rebounds in his final NBA game (Dec. 1, 2009 vs. Miami). So forget the three microfracture knee surgeries for now. Plenty of teams are lining up to take a crack at the 7-footer. The short list reportedly includes Boston, Miami, Cleveland and Dallas. Oden’s agent, Mike Conley, has insisted that Oden is 100 percent and a future All-Star. Oden is currently taking classes at Ohio State, and while he’s expected to sign with a team this season, it’d be for continued rehabilitation purposes only. He plans to actually play games next season. And with the way things are going, he will indeed be back in the league.”
• Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer makes this note regarding the Cavs’ pursuit of LeBron James: “But please don’t think all the Cavs are doing is Waiting For LeBron. Those reports about how they have “no contracts” on the books for the 2014-15 season are silly. Consider these players and salaries: Kyrie Irving ($7.1 million), Tristan Thompson ($5.1 million), Dion Waiters ($4.1 million) and Tyler Zeller ($1.7 million). All are team options — and you can assume the Cavs will pick up all of those deals. Anderson Varejao has a $9.78 million contract for 2014-15, with $2.5 million guaranteed.”
• Marc Berman of the New York Post reports that though the Knicks had been interested in Pablo Prigioni for several years, they didn’t pull the trigger until this season because of Mike D’Antoni: “Although former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni professed to love European players, sources told The Post he was against bringing in Spanish League point guard Pablo Prigioni the past few years.
  
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