OT: Oden's tonsils restrict him from playing all summer

[spiral97]

sounds like even hockey is out of the picture for him ... golf ball sized?! 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2931319

From ESPN:

Portland-area hospitals may wish to stock up on ice cream for the arrival of a very big patient.

The Portland Trail Blazers will shut down rookie center Greg Oden's summer league season after two games so the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft can have his tonsils removed, The Oregonian of Portland reported.

There's no excuses, because I was out there playing. And if I'm playing, I'm playing, so if I have a bad game, it's not on my tonsils, it's on me.

According to the report, the team has decided Oden's swollen tonsils need to come out in the next three-to-four days because they are obstructing his breathing, which in turn is limiting his stamina.

"Right now, it's more of a thing that they are so big, that when I'm running up and down the court, it's hard for me to breathe," Oden said Monday after scrimmages with the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers, The Oregonian reported. "I can't get any air in there."

While a final decision on surgery has yet to be made, it appears likely Oden will have the procedure done late this week, after taping the ESPY awards show in Los Angeles on Wednesday, the newspaper reported. According to the team and Oden's camp, he is expected to recover in about two weeks.

Oden had struggled in his two summer league appearances, fouling out of his first game and scoring 13 points in the second. But he did not use his tonsils -- which team general manager Kevin Pritchard said are the size of golf balls -- as a crutch for his performance.

"There's no excuses, because I was out there playing," Oden said, according to The Oregonian. "And if I'm playing, I'm playing, so if I have a bad game, it's not on my tonsils, it's on me. A lot of it is I just have to get used to this game, that's what everyone is telling me."

I wish him all the best.

[muarmy81]

Will the surgery reduce some of the swelling in his face?

[ozmetal71]

I've never had my tonsils out, but does it take that long to recover?

Granted, apparently Oden's are in bad shape, but that seems like a long time to be out.

[spiral97]

I believe the NBA summer league only goes through July 15th so while he might recover quick, he will still likely miss the remaining games.

NBA summer league schedule link:
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/schedules/index.jsp

[ozmetal71]

OK.  I could have sworn that I saw on the ESPN crawler that he was going to be out weeks.

Yuck, I wouldn't want to have golf-ball sized tonsils.  Good luck to Oden on his recovery.  He seems like a nice young man.