BackerMan Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Celebrated Trail Blazers rookie center Greg Oden, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, will likely miss the 2007-2008 season after undergoing knee surgery Thursday, the team said. Doctors found cartilage damage during an exploratory procedure, and team physician Dr. Don Roberts performed microfracture surgery to repair the damage. "There are things about this that are positive for Greg," Roberts said in a statement posted on the Trail Blazers' Web site. "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 microfracture surgery." The 7-foot center is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks. It likely will take 6 to 12 months for full recovery, the team said. The Trail Blazers will hold a 4:30 p.m. ET news conference to discuss Oden's situation. The procedure was performed in Vancouver, Wash. "Certainly this is a setback, but our future is still incredibly bright," Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said. "Is it disappointing? Yes. However, this is a great core of talent and players of strong character and will continue to be." Oden described the knee pain in an entry Tuesday on his personal blog: "On my vacation earlier this summer i got up off the couch and remember my knee having a sharp pain in it. That was about a month ago. I didn't tell anyone because i didn't want to seem like i was complaining or making excuses for anything. Plus i wasn't doing anything at the time i realized it hurt, so i figured it couldn't be anything big. "After a couple of weeks, i had to finally tell someone so i went to St. Vincent's Sports Performance (where i worked out at before draft) and got my knee looked at. That was right before i moved to Portland for good. My knee was swollen since i was there. I finally just said that i need to tell my trainer because this is not normal. We went to the doctor's the next day to get a MRI and that night me and my mom ended up in the doctor's office being told that I have to get surgery. It's a light one, just a scoop, but still it's just another setback. I would like for me to be playing and not seem like i'm a high-maintenance player, but things just keep popping up." If Oden does not play this season, he would become only the second player in the common draft (1966-present) to be selected No. 1 overall and not play in the year of his selection. David Robinson was drafted by San Antonio in 1987 but instead honored his Naval commitment. This is Oden's second health problem since the Blazers drafted him in June. He had a tonsillectomy in July after struggling in two Las Vegas summer league games. Oden, despite being hampered by a wrist injury during his freshman (and only) season at Ohio State, averaged 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds in leading the Buckeyes to the national championship game. He had 25 points and 12 rebounds in the loss to Florida. The Trail Blazers were the surprise winners of the NBA draft lottery and chose Oden over Texas forward Kevin Durant, who went to Seattle. Portland opens training camp on Oct. 2 and its regular-season opener is at San Antonio on Oct. 30. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3017538 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cause Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Wow i Feel bad for the blazers. That's a lot of money for a rookie who ant even gong to play. The blazers are already rebuilding now this happens. I was looking forward to seeing Durant and oden play against each other OH well next year then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackerMan Posted September 13, 2007 Author Share Posted September 13, 2007 yeah I live closer to portland blazers like 15 mins from my home. oh well, that's suck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krueger Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 wow i was looking forward to see him play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I King Pin 0 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Wow talk about a major setback. Portland must be bummin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkpanfa Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Zach Randolph must be laughin his ass Off right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nbag3 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Randolph can laugh all he wants the Knicks situation is a nightmare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k_dog Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 That suck. Greg was a Buckeye. Was eager o see him get his start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick G 42390 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Wow, this is a dissapointment. I was really looking forward to watching Oden play this year. Oh well, gotta wait 1 more year now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gr0infro Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I knew it was too good to be true. My Blazers can't get a freakin break anymore. The city was actually getting behind this team for the first time in about 8 or 9 years. Ugh.... so dissapointed. I hope this goes the way of amare.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veritas347 Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 That sucks because I would have loved to see him play and get owned by Kevin Durant Go UT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graf1k Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Knee problems before he's 20 years old? Injury prone much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gr0infro Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 Lots of players have knee problems before they are 20.. i had knee problems from basketball when i was 17... it happens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graf1k Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Lots of players have knee problems before they are 20.. i had knee problems from basketball when i was 17... it happens You had micro fractures? Because a sore knee is not what Oden has. A season ending knee injury isn't the same as a sore fucking joint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gr0infro Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 No, i wasn't talking about a fuckin sore knee. You generalized knee problems...holy crap... so did i. isn't that strange? And no, i didn't have a sore knee. i tore two ligaments, and fractured it. a little different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarKnight80 Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Yeah, this is a real disappointment. I was looking forward to seeing Oden play with Roy, last season's NBA Rookie of the Year. I think they are going to make a good combination... but I guess we will have to wait until next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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