Greg Oden to have another Microfracture surgery; out for season

[Cman]

Once again I can't help but think how lucky the Celtics were not to have won that lottery.

Terrible news. When healthy he looked like he could have been the real deal too. What a shame. He has to have either the worse luck in the world or some major structural problems in those legs.

But Danny was/is on record saying he preferred Durant to Oden.  Mind you, not that I want a do-over, I am quite happy with the outcome (2 Finals trips in 3 years, 1 Championship).

And Doc pretty much refuted that, saying something like, everybody likes to say they would pick Durant now, but he wanted Oden and so did most everyone else.  The majority of people thought Oden should be the #1 pick.

Yes, but the point is that before the draft Danny said he would take Durant as #1.  Perhaps it was a smoke screen, and Danny was hoping it would help Oden drop to #5, but the point is that Danny said it before the draft, and therefore before people had the 20-20 hindsight they now have.

[MBunge]

I don't think you can lump injured players in the "bust" category.  It's not fair to put Oden in the same bunch with disasters like Kwame Brown or Michael Olowakandi or guys like Darko who fooled a GM into picking them much higher than they should have gone in the draft.

Mike

[RJ87]

I disagree it's sad. When you do roids and HGH at the age of 16 or 17 these things happen. Plus you get millions to do it.  It's sad for Portland fans, but not him.  Or maybe he just suffers from gigantism.  But I have my doubts.

What makes you believe he did anything like that?

I remember reading an article years ago that Oden seemed older than he was. I think it was TSG who wrote about he looked like an old man walking, and compared him to some other 7-footers who almost glide effortlessly, given their size.

He probably has some sort of bone/growth problem. He won't be the first player with constant injury problems at such a young age. There's no reason to allege he is/was doing something illegal, unless you know something most don't.

It's truly sad for him, the organization, and the fans. I hope someday he is able to string together a solid stretch of NBA years.

You never like to hear about these types of injuries, but to someone like this, it is almost gut-wrenching.


I will probably never forget that lottery night in 2007, and how awful I felt when we missed out on both Oden and Durant. It's truly astonishing what happened since.

When players do absurdly amazing things like...oh I don't know...survive cancer and then go on to be by far the best athlete of their time....or ...they go to the NFL combine and run like  a wide receiver and put up more weight than any player by a lot despite being nowhere near the biggest....then I decide that instead of believing the fairy tale, since i have a basic understanding of the human body I come to the conclusion "that's probably not right".

Especially now that they catch guys left and right.

I look at Oden and he doesn't look right now, never did, and gets injuries consistent with abuse of substances.  He looked like he was 40 when he was 18. 

I could be wrong. I hope I am.  But I don't trust athletes as far as I can throw them anymore when it comes to these things.

so by your standards, give KG's knee problems in past seasons and the resurgence now, should we believe it's because of steroids?

You kind of sound like a conspiracy theorist - a sort of bitter one at that. I've never heard anyone suspect Oden of steroids until now.

[Overrated]

Really sad news for both Oden and Portland. It’s too bad everything happened the way it did, but once he’s healthy I think he’ll find a new home in the NBA. I’m pulling for him.

[barefacedmonk]

He has to have either the worse luck in the world or some major structural problems in those legs.

His right leg is one inch longer than the left..maybe thats the reason for his recurring injuries.

[Jon Niednagel]

Or maybe he just suffers from gigantism. 

Must... resist making... crass joke... about texting photos. Frontal lobes... please work! 

[Eja117]

I disagree it's sad. When you do roids and HGH at the age of 16 or 17 these things happen. Plus you get millions to do it.  It's sad for Portland fans, but not him.  Or maybe he just suffers from gigantism.  But I have my doubts.

What makes you believe he did anything like that?

I remember reading an article years ago that Oden seemed older than he was. I think it was TSG who wrote about he looked like an old man walking, and compared him to some other 7-footers who almost glide effortlessly, given their size.

He probably has some sort of bone/growth problem. He won't be the first player with constant injury problems at such a young age. There's no reason to allege he is/was doing something illegal, unless you know something most don't.

It's truly sad for him, the organization, and the fans. I hope someday he is able to string together a solid stretch of NBA years.

You never like to hear about these types of injuries, but to someone like this, it is almost gut-wrenching.


I will probably never forget that lottery night in 2007, and how awful I felt when we missed out on both Oden and Durant. It's truly astonishing what happened since.

When players do absurdly amazing things like...oh I don't know...survive cancer and then go on to be by far the best athlete of their time....or ...they go to the NFL combine and run like  a wide receiver and put up more weight than any player by a lot despite being nowhere near the biggest....then I decide that instead of believing the fairy tale, since i have a basic understanding of the human body I come to the conclusion "that's probably not right".

Especially now that they catch guys left and right.

I look at Oden and he doesn't look right now, never did, and gets injuries consistent with abuse of substances.  He looked like he was 40 when he was 18. 

I could be wrong. I hope I am.  But I don't trust athletes as far as I can throw them anymore when it comes to these things.

so by your standards, give KG's knee problems in past seasons and the resurgence now, should we believe it's because of steroids?

You kind of sound like a conspiracy theorist - a sort of bitter one at that. I've never heard anyone suspect Oden of steroids until now.

I agree that I think the incidence of peds in pro sports is probably shockingly high. But KG didn't get knee problems at the age of 18 and you could see the gradual deterioration of the knee and the gradual recovery, so I didn't specifically suspect that.

I did however think Jerry Rice's return in season from an ACL snap was absurd, especially considering he was about 35 or something.  And yes. I'm in amazement at Wes Welker's recovery.