A Miami Heat Player You Can Actually Root For

It's Greg Oden, of course. This is from his second game. (And don't blink or you will miss him; he's a deep sub and not relevant, even in the deepest of fantasy leagues.)



Now, a few things about the one-time #1 pick and perpetual injury problem, late of Portland, now trying to stay upright in Miami and have a career or something, after three years of not getting on the court.

He's 26 years old, and has made over $24 million in NBA salary so far.

The occasional tripod-ish photo and personal blog traffic generation moment aside, he hasn't struck the world as a guy who is burning through the money.

His career numbers, even if he somehow stays healthy, doesn't speak to much more than a low double-double guy, reasonable on defense, without very much of an offensive game. He is, in short, a guy who would be spectacularly lucky to have, say, Tyson Chandler's career at the absolute upside. In all likelihood, his ceiling is to be a rotation big man on a good team, since being a starter on a bad one is just going to wind up getting him exposed to enough minutes to get him hurt again.

In short, he shows every sign of being a guy who is only here because he loves basketball. And by signing with Miami, that he wants to win.

This doesn't exactly make him unique, or heroic, or anything more than an athlete with a good idea of what to do with his career.

But still, seems like the kind of guy you could root for, right?