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.

mwithers wrote:

Dang you, just barely beat me to this! Well played Withers, well played.

College Wolf wrote:
Don't worry about not posting it before me.

Sucks to be the Blazers or Greg Oden! Great to be everyone else...I guess.

daddyfatsax wrote:
They are saying it's microfracture surgery?!?! WOW... where did all this come from??? I wonder what happened and why they just found out now?

Didn't McCants' surgery kind of come out of nowhere too? yea, WOW is right. If I were the Blazers front office I would do two things: 1) Refund everyone's money, and 2) Kill myself.

Is this Bill Walton or Sam Bowie all over again???
This also puts a lot more pressure on Durant to perform and be a savior. Sucks for the NBA, sucks, sucks, sucks.

Bill Simmons weighs in on Oden's microfracture surgery:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/page2/blog/index?name=simmons


Ahhhhh Daddy, you nailed it. This truly does SUCK for the NBA. I'm pretty disappointed as well.

Do you think Portland knew about this before the draft? C'mon, they had to have known that something was up... didn't they?

That's unbelievable! Has this ever happened before, where a #1 pick is out for his entire first year?

Man, Portland was really throwing up a smoke-screen with the whole \"exploratory surgery\" crap. They made it sound like they were going to make a small cut and go in with a scope just to take a peek. All of a sudden he's out for the year with micro-fracture surgery? I think they were just trying to save face in case the surgery was a miracle and any of his season could be spared.

By the way, I would just like to give a giant Nelson \"Ah-ha!\", to all those Portland trolls who were ripping me to shreds when I proposed the KG for Oden trade. Would you do that trade now fellas? Like I said, there's no such thing as a sure thing.

That being said, I hope Greg has a good recovery cause he seems like a really nice guy.

I have said most I had to say in the first thread (\"Greg Oden to have knee surgery\") already...

~ Bad for the Wolves if the Blazers would get another high pick and a somewhat healthy Oden back next year.

~ Case of Stoudemire shows that for a young player, who does not rush back too quickly, even microfracture surgery must not destroy his career. It might take up to two years and and iron will to bounce back from it, but is is possible, even for players whose game depend more on athleticism than the ones of Jason Kidd, John Stockton or even Zach Randoplh does (of whom I believe had microfracture surgery as well).

~ I feel really sorry for this guy.

~ But what I am still wondering is that I am pretty sure to have heard some rumors of Oden to be a liability because of knee issues prior to the draft with the Blazers using those rumors as a smokescreen to create the impression they were seriously considering to take Durant with the first pick. If there were such rumors, I guess the Blazers had far better info than the average internet reader...and if so, why did they gamble on Oden when Durant was as sure as the evenly good pick with possibly more upside even without those injury rumors? But its always easy to judge decision after they have been made...

~ And as far as I know...that were not the only health problems Oden has had (the hand, the tonsils, the fatigue, etc.)...and the guy is still that young. How will he look when he gets older? I just hope he is not one of those guys who, despite their superior physique, seem to be always sick or injured. I know such guys personally...

WOw this is crazy. Sad for the Blazers, and for Oden, who seems like a real good dude. And it definitely throws a wrench into my Western Conference Only Keeper Auction Fantasy Basketball League!

This is a SUPER big disappointment for all NBA fans, no matter who you cheer for. I agree with you Sanyarin....(cough) Bust! (cough)

Sanyarin wrote:

Good post, but I think he'll make it back ok. I mean, as far as I know I haven't heard of any other previous knee injuries for Oden. (Have any of you guys?)

Anyhow, his young age should help the recovery efforts, and also the doctors are getting better and better at this procedure over time.

I hope he makes a full recovery to his dominant self.

P.S. How much do we pay for Oden now in the Western Conference Only Keeper Auction League?

Well, I guess you have all read the most easily accessible internet information about Oden and his surgery, so I will not bore you, but right now, it appears that there have been indeed some serious doubts about Oden and his health - for now and for the future. I recall this line by this \"anonymous Eastern Conference GM\" (or whoever that was) who stated that their docs had had a look on Oden's MRI and considered the state his body similar to one 30 year old veteran, not of a 19 year old freshman.

But like I said: If you'll ask 3 doctors, you'll get 5 opinions and it is always easy to jusge a decision after it has been made...

Sanyarin wrote:

Here are two good articles about your comment and the belief by the Blazers that Oden was healthy when they drafted him:


http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/sports/118990951654800.xml&coll=7

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070917/SPORTS05/109170074/1005/SPORTS&template=printart