[Akileese]

Alright, Grant was merely there to even out the salaries. Shaq makes a RIDICULOUS amount of money so it actually took Oden AND GRANT to balance it out. Plus, Grant was on a horrendous contract as it was. So Grant was an expiring contract that they could turn around and trade...and they did (I just don't remember for what). The real problem wasn't Oden. It was Butler. He just didn't pan out like they hoped he would. The NBA is currently in a state where people are huge on upside potential and less on what they have done. As a UCONN fan (being from CT and all), Butler had a great college career and was a solid player. He had a ridiculous amount of potential. He didn't pan out right and while it is Mitch's fault, yeah, I put more of the blame on Kobe for running Shaq out of town.