Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra didn't rule out the possibility of center Greg Oden playing in the season opener against the Chicago Bulls. Oden, who's ahead of schedule with his recovery, said he felt no discomfort in his knees after dunking in a game for the first time since 2009.
Oden played four minutes on Wednesday in a preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans, where he grabbed two rebounds and threw down a dunk. The limited floor time was significant; it was his first time playing in an NBA game in since Dec. 5, 2009.
More importantly, the 25-year-old didn't experience any setbacks after playing. He isn't expected to play on Friday in the preseason finale, but Spoelstra didn't rule out Oden playing on Tuesday, ESPN reports.
When told Oden wanted to play in Tuesday's season opener, Spoelstra smiled and said, "Yeah, we'll see."
Miami is cautious with the workload assigned to Oden. Although Spoelstra said the injury-plagued center is ahead of schedule to return, Miami is keeping Oden on a strict rehab schedule that mandates a certain amount of recovery time based on the days he worked.
"For example," ESPN's Michael Wallace wrote on Friday, "because Oden played Wednesday and then completed consecutive days of practice or conditioning work, the schedule calls for a break in action to see how his knees respond."
While Oden felt fine after playing on Wednesday, Spoelstra was unwilling to budge on the set schedule.
"We're going to be very disciplined to the big-picture thinking, very patient with it," Spoelstra told ESPN on Friday. "I think he's appreciated that, based on all the research and everything you feel. This is the right path. ...
"We have a specific amount of days he goes in a row. But it's not based on how he feels. If I just go off how he feels, he probably would have played in five games already. And he would have probably participated in 70 percent of the practices."
Despite being eager to return to basketball, Oden understands the team's cautious approach and is excited with his progress.
"I'm still standing and I'm happy, so let's just keep building from that," Oden told ESPN on Friday. "The first step was the other night (in New Orleans), the second step was Thursday and the next step was today. So let's just keep getting better and moving on from there."
