Celtics Title Town

I feel for Oden, as most people do. He's a guy who had a lot of potential, and he never got a chance, and he's young enough to keep his dream alive. For me I'm an Oden fan for one big reason. He's a Buckeye, and that makes him special to me.He almost deliverd a National Championship in 2007 for my OSU team, and at the time I was hoping the C's landed the first pick in 07' so they could snag Oden, but thankfully Ainge pulled off the KG-Allen deals. Ainge had this nugget of info from his weekly interview on WEEI.

"Yeah, so we're monitoring Greg, like all the NBA teams are, but we have not attempted to sign him," Ainge said Thursday. "But we are monitoring him and having (conversations) with his people just to see where he's at."

Oden hasn't played in an NBA game since December 2009, and reportedly wouldn't return until the 2013-14 season.

"I don't think (he'd be ready to play this year)," Ainge said. "I don't know any of that for sure, but I would suspect that anybody that would sign him would have their eyes looking more towards his contribution in the future than now."

Ainge said that in the brief time Oden did play in the NBA -- a total of 82 games -- he showed flashes of the talent that made him the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

"I think that there's been stretches, very few stretches, where he's played excellent ball," Ainge said. "He's been a terrific defender and a fantastic offensive rebounder and just a real big, strong presence on the inside. I think that he's been that."

Despite Oden's significant injury history, Ainge said he expects there to be competition for his services.

Oden would interest me for a minimum contract. The 24 year old still has some untapped talent that could help a team like the Celtics. What do you guys think about the C's possibly landing Oden next year, or even late this season.