Years after big man Greg Oden’s stint with the Portland Trail Blazers ended in large part because he couldn’t stay healthy, Oden attempted an NBA comeback with the Miami Heat in the 2013-14 campaign.
Oden ended up playing in just 23 games for the Heat in the regular season and averaged 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He then played sparingly in the postseason, and his time in the NBA wound up ending after his one season in a Heat uniform.
However, even though Oden was never quite able to find his footing with the Heat, he still had nothing but positive things to say while recently speaking to HoopsHype about his stint with the team.
First, he explained that he “felt” Heat culture. Oden was part of a great group in Miami, as the team almost won a championship. The Heat reached the 2014 NBA Finals but lost to the San Antonio Spurs in a gentleman’s sweep on the biggest stage.
“Yes, I mean I was a part of it,” Oden said when asked about the Heat’s culture. “I mean we made it to the Finals, from the organization to the coaching staff to every player on that team, you definitely felt that was the culture. To everybody that worked in the Heat organization, it was just amazing. They were all going for one goal, and that was to get championships and be the best player you could possibly be. And it helps when you’re in Miami.”
To boot, Oden said that it wasn’t all that difficult to avoid distractions during his time with the Heat.
“To a certain extent, yes,” he said when asked if it was easy to lock in. “I mean we all still grown men. We have to make our best decisions while we’re there. But, they have the structure to make sure you’re in your best shape there. Like I said, the coaching staff, Coach [Erik] Spoelstra, I mean, he’s literally worked in every job you could possibly have in that organization on the coaching staff. So, they definitely do a really good job of getting everybody prepared.”
Oden was fortunate enough to be able to cap off his career playing with three of the best players of that generation in Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh. Even though Oden’s NBA career didn’t pan out the way many folks thought it would, he at least got a taste of what it’s like to play for a top team in the league.
Ahead of the 2007 NBA Draft, Oden was hyped up to be a generational player, and it’s evident why when considering the monster numbers he put up in one season at Ohio State University. He averaged 15.7 points and led the Big Ten in blocks (3.3) and rebounds (9.6) per game in the 2006-07 season. He also led the conference in shooting percentage (61.6).
However, injuries limited Oden to just 105 career regular-season games in the NBA before he was out of the league permanently. Plenty of people like to refer to him as a draft bust because his pro career was short and unspectacular, but that label might not be fair considering all of the poor injury luck he dealt with.
