ESPN Story The Worst Case Scenario for Greg Oden
September 13, 2007 2:10 PM
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo is reporting:
Greg Oden , the Portland Trail Blazers' No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, will miss the 2007-2008 season after knee surgery on Thursday, two league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Oden, the 7-footer out of Ohio State, underwent exploratory surgery on his right knee on Thursday in Vancouver. The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but Oden, one of the most celebrated young players in years, will be lost for the season.
The Blazers are expected to make an announcement shortly.
I have confirmed the same miserable thing with a source in the know. The team will be announcing it any second.
I'll be updating this post in a second with some thoughts.
UPDATE: From Blazers.com:
An exploratory arthroscopic surgery performed on Greg Oden today revealed cartilage damage to the Portland Trail Blazers rookie's right knee. Oden is likely to miss the 2007-08 NBA season.
"Greg had an arthroscopy and a micro fracture surgery today," said team physician Dr. Don Roberts, who preformed the surgery. "He was found to have articular cartilage damage in his right knee. The area of injury was not large and we were able to treat it with micro fracture, which stimulates the growth of cartilage. There are things about this that are positive for Greg. First of all he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery from micro fracture surgery."
My first thoughts:
First of all, remember this: for you and me, the NBA is playland. Our entertainment. This might hurt YOU. But it's nothing, really. This is a blow to Greg Oden, who I have heard is really pretty down about the whole thing, as you'd expect. For us fans? This season will be surprisingly good. Just not as good as we had thought.
Greg Oden is a nice guy, and this is a really hard day for him and his family. The funnest year of his life so far just became likely the worst. They still have the new salary, I guess, but not as much as they would have had: some of his endorsement deals are not signed, and could now be lost. Not to mention instead of blocking Shaquille O'Neal's shots, now he'll spend weeks on the couch fighting depression (every one I have ever known who was confined to a bed for a long time got depressed), followed by days and days riding stationary bikes. Be tough, young man. It'll get better.
Praise be to Amare Stoudemire. And Zach Randolph. And Jason Kidd. And the many other players who have played well after microfracture knee surgery. The only downside of what we have learned from them: a year isn't really enough time to get back to top form, typically. (The team says full recovery typically takes six to twelve months. Name me a player who has played well six months after microfracture surgery.) I think it's good to plan on two years, and then be pleasantly surprised when it only takes 18 months.
Yes, we all have to worry about his longevity. That's the worst thing to me. I have him pegged for 15 years of high-level contributions. I'm no doctor, but doesn't it feel like today a year or two came off both the beginning and the end of his career?
Don't even talk to me about Sam Bowie.
Resist the urge, Blazer fans, to feel all sorry for yourselves. This is not a cursed franchise. This is a young and promising franchise. If you ever start to feel blue, read Mike Barrett. He's a human Blazer happy pill, and I thank him for it every day.
This has nothing to do with Kevin Durant either. Portland could have had him. You know what? One time when I was a kid, I almost got hit by a truck. But I didn't. Life goes on. Don't tally the things that almost happened. Oden and Durant were both amazingly good choices. The Blazers made a good pick. There's nothing to learn from second-guessing. And I'd way rather be a Portland fan than a Seattle fan, because they may have a player they're not so worried about, but we have a team that's certainly sticking around.
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Greg Oden OUT For The Season! 
4:20 
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