Seems strikingly similar for the Blazers...
Terrible news for Portland. It seemed like he was a player that was going to make a positive impact in Portland. I remember hearing on ESPN a few weeks ago that Oden had taken charge, and the team had been practicing together voluntary, and meshing together extremely well.
That much talent, playing as a team, playing good basketball, and staying out of trouble would be fun to watch.
Jarrett Jack, Greg Oden, Darius Miles, Steve Blake, Travis Outlaw, Brandon Roy, Channing Frye, LaMarcus Aldridge isn't a terrible line-up.
The one positive out of this is... McRoberts is just as good as a backup. ::)
Imagine having a commercial about to start featuring the top 3 rookies this year where he is featured heavily
:'(
Scramble time....sigh.
I wonder if Portland did an MRI of his knee prior to drafting him. Oden said in his blog that the first time he felt anything wrong with it, he was getting up off the couch.
Microfracture surgery isn't pretty. Amare came back and seems fine from it, but he was/is in pheonomonal shape. I'm sure Oden will come back from it, but that is a real tough surgery to rehab.
microfracture is rough.....that's what kept Amare out for a season, and has nearly killed other careers (Kenyon Martin comes to mind). what a shame
here u go
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons
oden will be fine. the portland trailblazers will be fine. they might get another good draft pick this offseason and is so, look out for next year. wouldnt it be cool if DJ got drafted by portland and got to play with oden next year?
Oden's career is "over" as I fear it will be injury plagued. Knee injuries are roughest on the big guys as their weight and constant pounding takes a toll on their elongated frames.
Amare came back from it but he was pretty youthful...Oden looks like age has already settled in.
And Portland knew it:
"Our doctors saw some early signs of arthritis in his knees,'' an executive with that franchise recalled Thursday after news of Oden's microfracture had come out. "They were also really concerned with his hip and his back as well. The way they explained it, all of those problems are linked: The knee hurts because the back is doing this, and the back hurts because the hip is doing that. The doctors thought there was some inter-connectivity between each issue, so that basically his body was working against itself.''
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/09/13/oden.surgery/index.html
Oden will be a very good NBA center----better than Bowie----but that said, not at the level of Shaq, Jabbar, Russell , or Wilt.
Watche Oden a number of times----didn't seem to have the necessary stamina-----also vanilla offensive moves-----Hibbert was able to intimidate him on his stationary jump hook-----has to learn to step away off the drag dribble and hook (skyhook) against the big boys!