Pieces of the Puzzle: Miami Heat Activating Greg Oden One Limb at a Time

Pat Riley's confirmation yesterday that Greg Oden has been activated shocked players, coaches, analysts and iron-lung manufacturers all across the NBA landscape.

'Activated', though, is a relative term.

According to several insiders, the Heat are taking a particularly cautious approach to the center's comeback.

"We're doing one body part at a time, just to see where he's at," confided team medico Dr Kevorkian. "We got his left arm going today. Barring setbacks, we'll add the right arm in six to eight weeks."

"By the playoffs, we anticipate at least one full leg and possibly even the foot of the other one will be seeing action."

"It's a process."

Any chance the knees hit the court this season?

"Good God, no. He doesn't even have knees any more. We threw them in an open grave at Brandon Roy's funeral."

Is the left arm expected to get any minutes tonight against the Wizards?

"We believe so. The opposing big is Marcin Gortat, so it seems like the perfect opportunity."

At the time of this writing, Greg Oden's left arm had indeed taken the court against Washington, notching six points and two rebounds in eight minutes of action.