Greg Oden hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2009-10 season. (GETTY IMAGES)

Greg Oden’s decision to sign a reported two-year contract with the Miami Heat could be the most significant free-agent signing of the summer.

The former Ohio State All-American hasn’t played since the 2009-10 season because of debilitating injuries to both knees, but six teams were hot on his trail for months: Atlanta, Dallas, New Orleans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio, and the defending champion Heat.

Oden could easily have been a good fit with any of those teams, but joining the Heat was the right choice. He fills a very big need for Miami in the frontcourt and masks the team’s weakness in the middle.

It’s a move that’s comparable to the one the Boston Celtics made 27 years ago when they acquired what appeared to be an old, broken-down Bill Walton. That small investment turned into an NBA title in 1986, and Walton ended up winning the Sixth Man of the Year.

The Heat are hoping Oden would turn into their Bill Walton. And it’s ironic that both started their careers as No. 1 overall selections by the Portland Trail Blazers only to have their careers derailed by injuries.

Walton was the top pick in the 1974 draft out of UCLA, and led the Blazers to their only NBA title in 1977. The following season the Blazers won 50 of their first 60 games and appeared to be on their way to another championship season when Walton suffered a broken foot in what turned out to be the first in a string of foot and ankle injuries. Walton was never the same after that.

Oden, who has played in just 82 games for his career, was the No. 1 pick in 2007 draft by the Blazers but missed the entire 2007-08 season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee. Oden played in 61 games in 2008-09 and averaged 8.9 points and 7.0 rebounds.

Injury struck again early in the 2009-10 season when Oden sustained a fractured left patella (kneecap) in his 21st game and missed the rest of the season. He hasn’t played since.

Acquiring the broken-down-but-still-serviceable Oden is a minimum investment for the Heat with a potentially huge return. The deal is reportedly around $1 million per year, with a player option. Salary-cap wise it will barely make a dent should Oden goes back on IR.

But if Oden has anything left in those creaky legs, he could play the same role Walton did for the Celtics in ’86.

If he’s healthy — and that’s a big “if” — Oden is strong around the rim, can rebound in traffic, and is a very good rim protector. At 7-0, 280 pounds, Oden gives Miami size and strength inside. One person who watched Oden work out told USA Today Sports that Oden was further along than expected when it came to agility, conditioning and jumping exercises. But the person also said Oden was limited in on-court basketball drills.

Anyone who watched the 2013 NBA playoffs saw how vulnerable the Heat were to teams with big men. The Pacers with 7-2 center Roy Hibbert extended the Heat to seven games and the Spurs with future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan was 28 seconds away from winning their fifth title until Ray Allen’s miracle 3-point shot saved the Heat’s season.

It would be a minor miracle if Oden returns to his old form when he dominated college basketball six years ago and nearly led Ohio State to a national championship. But the Heat are not asking Oden to be dominant for 40 minutes. They’ll only ask him to be effective for 15-20 minutes or even less depending on the matchups.

There are only a handful of teams in the league who have legitimate centers, so the Heat may not call Oden’s number until the Eastern Conference playoffs when they face teams such as the Pacers with David West and Hibbert, the Chicago Bulls with Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, and the Brooklyn Nets with Brook Lopez and Kevin Garnett.

Oden can ease his way back into shape and will most likely start the season as the third-string center behind Chris Bosh and Chris “Birdman” Andersen. That should be just fine. Come playoff time, when the Heat need a big body to bang with Hibbert, Noah, Duncan, or Dwight Howard, Oden should be up to the challenge.

Derrick Rose and John Wall are products of the one-and-done system that is currently in place in the NBA. (Getty Images photos)

Once the old collective bargaining agreement expires at midnight EST on June 30, NBA owners and players need to take a hard look at the current state of the early entry draft.

The way things are currently constructed, any American player who is 19 years of age and at least one year removed from high school can apply for the draft. With this option, the majority of high school standouts play one year in college and bolt for the NBA.

In the last five drafts, four one-and-done college players were the No. 1 overall selections: Greg Oden (2007), Derrick Rose (2008), John Wall (2010) and Kyrie Irving (2011).

Yahoo! Sports NBA writer Marc Spears wrote earlier this year that several high-ranking NBA team executives say they wouldn’t be surprised if the age limit in the new CBA is pushed to two years in college and 20 years old by the end of that calendar year. Spears said that one NBA general manager says about two-thirds of teams are in favor of that change.

That makes total sense because now the NBA and its owners have a vested interest in the college game thanks to the new14-year, $10.8 billion TV deal the NCAA inked with CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV to broadcast the men’s tournament.

Before the billion-dollar deal, the NBA could care less about players jumping to the league. With TNT now in the mix covering March Madness, it now becomes a major player in college hoops and would love to feature its college stars. Even though the NBA and TNT are two separate entities (wink, wink), they are in business together and what’s good for business is having more college All-Americans stay in school for at least two years to help to boost the ratings. At the same time, it keeps the teenagers out of the Association for a little longer, which means more jobs for the below-average NBA veterans.

As much as basketball analysts say college basketball is all about the names on the front of the jerseys instead of back of the jerseys, what attracts the non-hardcore basketball fans are the big-time athletes on the big-time teams.

High schoolers Martell Webster, Gerald Green, Eddy Curry, Sebastian Telfair, Dorell Wright and J.R. Smith would have benefited greatly from a year or two in college, but then again that argument gets swept away when you mention Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwight Howard, Kevin Garnett and Amar’e Stoudemire. All of these phenoms were able to make the jump from high school to the pros with ease, and absolutely destroys the argument that you need to play college ball to be successful in the NBA.

So, what should Commissioner David Stern and the owners do about this one-and-done dilemma? Keep it or lose it? The answer lies in the dollar, and the new NCAA tournament TV deal makes the current early entry rule a chip the players could lose on the bargaining table.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter at: twitter.com/onemanfastbreak.

Before his year was cut short, Oden was among the league leaders in field goal percentage (60 percent) and blocks (2.3) and was averaging 11.7 points per game. He missed his entire rookie season because of microfracture surgery and sat out 20 games last season due to foot and knee problems.

Oden’s latest setback is just one of several injuries for the depleted Blazers. Forward Nicolas Batum has yet to play after shoulder surgery, forward Travis Outlaw fractured his foot in mid-November, forward Rudy Fernandez is out 4-6 weeks after undergoing surgery to alleviate pain in his right leg and head coach Nate McMillan recently ruptured his right Achilles tendon during practice.

McMillan was participating in practice because the team is so short-handed.

Despite all his shortcomings and inability to stay upright for an entire season, the Portland Trail Blazers are still a better team with Oden in the lineup.

In the 61 games Oden appeared in 2008-09, the Blazers were 40-21 and gave up just 94.1 points per game, which is 2.2 less than what they allowed during the season Oden sat out after microfracture surgery.

“The potential for this team is all going to depend on how fast Oden grows,” said NBA TV analyst Eric Snow. “The faster he grows the closer [Portland] gets to the championship. That’s how important he is to this team.”

During the preseason, Oden averaged a team-high 13.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. I know it’s the preseason, but Oden needed to start somewhere. He is still very raw on offense, but he is moving better and seems to have the spring back in his legs.

The Blazers’ defense and rebounding have been stellar this season thanks to Oden. Portland is holding its opponents to 90 points per game (second behind Charlotte) and has a rebounding margin of 5.2 (tied for first with Memphis).

Now, the Blazers must push forward the rest of the season without their young franchise center.

Rookie center Greg Oden has been in and out of the Portland lineup this season because of an unsteady knee. (GETTY IMAGES)

The comparisons are justified and the start of their careers are becoming eerily similar, leading me to believe that Greg Oden is the HD version of Sam Bowie. Ouch!

Back in the 1984 NBA draft, the Portland Trail Blazers committed a basketball sin when they took Bowie, a 7-footer out of Kentucky, and passed on some really good shooting guard out of North Carolina, who just wowed everyone during the ’84 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

Hakeem Olajuwon was the first player taken in the draft and then the Trail Blazers selected Bowie over Michael Jordan. The Blazers reasoned that they already had a budding stud at shooting guard in Clyde Drexler and clamored for a big guy.

Portland has not been able to live down the selection of Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.

Blazers management asked for the opinion of Jordan’s Olympic coach, Bob Knight, to get a feel for their option 1A. Knight told Blazers brass that Jordan was the real deal and he’s a can’t miss prospect that could become super, super star. Portland gave Knight the same reasoning, saying the ballclub had a pressing need at center. Knight replied: “Put (Jordan) at center. He’s that good.”

Fast forward to the 2007 NBA draft where the Blazers were caught in the same predicament. The consensus choice was to take the 290-pound center from Ohio State, Greg Oden, instead of the wiry high-scoring forward out of Texas, Kevin Durant. So far, Oden hasn’t had enough court time to warrant a debate. Durant is the modern-day George “Iceman” Gervin while Oden can’t seem to escape the shadow of gimpy Trail Blazers big men such as Bowie and Bill Walton.

Whether it’s some sort of curse or just really, really bad luck, the last 30 years has not been good to Trail Blazers’ centers. Walton helped the franchise win its only NBA title but his career has been rendered incomplete because of a chronic foot injury. Bowie’s plight has been well documented, then came the tragic death of Kevin Duckworth last April. He was just 44 years old.

Oden never had any knee problems in high school, and although he missed nearly half of his season at Ohio State because of torn ligaments in his right wrist, his knees were sound during his one season in Columbus. But just months into what would have been his rookie season in the NBA in 2007, Oden went to have his knee scoped but doctors discovered that he needed microfracture knee surgery to repair the damage.

The injury bug just kept following Oden. In his first NBA game, he sprained his ankle during a nationally televised game against the Lakers. Then, his knee started swelling up, causing him to miss two weeks.

That’s when the Bowie parallels became surfacing.

Statistically, Oden and Bowie are equals. In fact, Oden’s stats are slightly lower than Bowie’s. In 48 games, Oden is averaging 8 points and 7 rebounds. He has missed 21 games this season. Bowie averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds during his rookie year in 1984-85. He played 76 games that season. The next three seasons, Bowie’s leg gave out and he was limited to 38, five and 20 games, respectively.

Frustrated by the injuries and his inability to live up to the massive hype bestowed upon him since draft day, Oden has looked lost, at times, and can’t seem to stay upright long enough for Blazer fans to feel good about his future.

The future is bright for Portland, with young studs such as Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Fernandez blazing the trail. Just not sure if Oden will be a part of that future.

Portland has waited a year to see Greg Oden on the court.

One is a gifted scorer while the other is a major presence on defense. One is a 21-year-old who is starting his third NBA season while the other is a 20-year-old No. 1 pick who has yet to play an official NBA game. One is coming back from a broken kneecap while the other is returning from microfracture knee surgery.

Andrew Bynum and Greg Oden may play the same position but they have different personalities. Bynum looks young but once you meet him he is firm and confident. Oden looks old but once you meet him he comes off as childish and outgoing.

They do have two things in common: Bynum and Oden both command great attention and both can be classified as game-changers.

Bynum is a 7-footer with a wingspan of a condor. He has worked his way up to 285 pounds three years after the Lakers took a chance on this skinny high school kid from New Jersey.  He has shown flashes of brilliance, teasing the Lakers with numbers only reserved for all-star centers. At one point during last season, Bynum was averaging 13 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks and a Shaq-like 60 % shooting from the field. He was headed for a breakthrough season until his kneecap popped out of place. The Lakers are monitoring his rehab before signing him to the maximum contract of $80 million. Against Utah on Oct. 7, Bynum looked sharp on offense and seemed healthy.

Oden is a 7-footer who was already 285 pounds when he left Ohio State after one season. He was selected No. 1 overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2007 NBA draft but missed all of last season because of a knee injury that required microfracture surgery. It is the same injury that forced Amare Stoudemire to miss a year and a half for the Phoenix Suns. However, based on what we saw in Oden’s debut on Oct. 7 at the Rose Garden (or the Garden of Oden) the big man looks strong, adding 10-15 pounds to his large frame, and ready to make an impact for the Blazers. Oden appeared determined on offense and stout on defense. His presence alone could be enough to lead the Blazers into the Western Conference playoffs.

So, if you became NBA general manager and won the lottery, which center would you take: Bynum or Oden?

The NBA loves a matchup of great big men. Wilt vs. Russell…Kareem vs. Wilt…Kareem vs. Moses…Ewing vs. Olajuwon…Olajuwon vs. Robinson…Shaq vs. Olajuwon…Shaq vs. Robinson…Shaq vs. Yao. Now, we can add “Bynum vs. Oden” to the thread.