A very interesting AP article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, Greg Oden’s dad told the Indianapolis Star that Oden was leaving Ohio State to enter the NBA draft (duh!) but today, the man who hopes to be Oden’s agent, Mike Conley, Sr. (father of Mike Conley, Jr — Oden’s teammate and best friends) said not so.

Here’s a quote from Conley that, to me, gives a little insight into what these kids go through and how poorly the adults around them behave.

“‘No. Definitely not. Not to say he’s not going to decide that – but, 100 percent, as of this moment, he hasn’t decided,’ Conley, father of Oden’s teammate Mike Conley Jr., told The Associated Press.“

It gets worse.

“‘The process for Greg Oden is, he’s going to talk to his mom today, he’s going to talk to me tomorrow and he’s going to talk to (Ohio State coach) Thad Matta on Monday,’ Conley Sr. said. ‘And after that, he’s going to decide what he’s going to do and when he’s going to report it.’”

I don’t care if Oden leaves, I think he had the game of his life against Florida and the market for him is higher than ever. You certainly can’t begrudge someone that amount of money, regardless of how old they are (or look). My problem is with the adults, I have no reason to believe that Greg Oden is sincere when he says that he loves college life and would like to stay at Ohio State. But we all know that’s not going to happen. The adults in his life, including the press, will tell him that he’d be stupid not to go and to get while the gettin’s good. If anyone cared about this kid’s well-being, and not their own, this decision would be Oden’s and his alone. But it’s not. And that’s a shame.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.