Miami Heat center Greg Oden is pushing to play in games as he continues to rehab, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. Although there's no specific timetable for Oden's return, the 25-year-old could see minutes on the court toward the end of November, when Miami has their next multiple-game road trip.
Oden, who played last month for the first time since Dec. 2009, is eager to return to the lineup. Miami, however, is unwilling to budge on the rehab schedule set for the 7-footer. Oden doesn't travel with the team for one-game trips, but Spoelstra did say the center would travel with the team for trips with multiple games scheduled.
"We're training him right now," Spoelstra told The Sun Sentinel. "He'll be with us on all multi-game trips."
Spoelstra went on to explain the decision to keep Oden at the facility when the team travels for one-game trips.
"He gets a ton more work in our facility," said Spoelstra. "That's our priority right now. We have all of our equipment there. So it's not only the weight equipment, but the AlterG [gravity-reducing treadmill], which is imperative for him right now.
"There's nothing alarming about this. He'll be with us when it makes sense."
Miami's next multi-game trip is on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29 against Cleveland and Toronto. Spoelstra hasn't ruled out the possibility of Oden recording a few minutes in one of the games, saying only that Oden's timetable to return was day-by-day.
Oden played in his first game in nearly four years last month in a preseason game against New Orleans, where he logged four minutes of playing time and one dunk.
Chris Bosh, meanwhile, will miss Tuesday's game against the Toronto Raptors to celebrate the birth of his second child.
