http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2007/09/oden_hurts_knee_will_undergo_e.html


Oden hurts knee, will undergo exploratory surgery Thursday
Posted by jfreeman September 10, 2007 19:32PM

The Trail Blazers promising season took an unexpected gloomy turn Monday, just three weeks before it officially was set to begin.

The team announced that Greg Oden, the talented rookie center who was selected No. 1 in this year's NBA draft, is expected to undergo exploratory arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday after enduring ongoing pain in his right knee.

Blazers officials would not comment beyond a four-sentence news release issued Monday evening that said Oden underwent a magnetic resonance imaging last week and results revealed that he may have cartilage problems in the knee.

A team source told The Oregonian that the MRI results were inconclusive and that the damage could be as minor as a cartilage injury or as major as a ligament tear. The source added that if doctors find something more severe, they would operate immediately Thursday.

Oden's agent, Mike Conley Sr., told The Oregonian that Oden does not recall a specific incident that caused the injury, only that he experienced nagging pain last week.

\"He cannot remember injuring his knee at all,\" Conley said. \"I guess he just felt some discomfort. Greg can't remember when he hurt it.\"

The Blazers selected Oden ahead of Kevin Durant with the top pick in June's NBA draft, a move experts believed would shape the team into a championship contender in the coming years.

Oden is expected to team with other gifted young players such as 2006-07 rookie of the year Brandon Roy and NBA first-team all-rookie selection LaMarcus Aldridge to form one of the league's best young teams.

Any severe injury to Oden would greatly derail the Blazers' rebuilding efforts.

A timetable for Oden's return will be set following the arthroscopic surgery, which will be performed by Trail Blazers team physician Don Roberts at Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver.

I just read this and was going to post it also. You are too quick though. This could really suck for the Blazers but be good for the Wolves. Could change our season completely.

mwithers wrote:
How so??

BonK wrote:
I agree... how so?

P.S. Withers, don't worry about not being able to post this. I am a posting machine. A once in a lifetime creation...

College Wolf wrote:
If this affects Oden being able to play, it will affect their record. Maybe not enough to help us but it could be. They are in our division. If we actually are a .500 team it could help us move up a spot in the division. I guess it only affects us if we are good and if the Blazers could be good. Just a bunch of 'ifs' but either way they are in our division. It could mean that there is one less team ahead of us at the end of the season. I am probably putting too much into this, but I always think in terms of how it could affect the Wolves. Just me I guess.

Well, since nobody obviously knows how serious this injury is and how long Oden will be out for the Blazers, I guess it would be highly speculative to imagine if the loss of their Top-Rookie will hurt the Blazers and help the Wolves...

...hmmm...highly speculative? That's what sports forums are made for right ?

But if you would want to hear my opinion, I would prefer if his injury wasn't serious. Not only because I would never wish this apparently nice guy anything but the best, but also in the interest of the Wolves. Since I do expect this and even maybe the next season to produce nothing more than trips to the lottery for the Wolves anyways, I would surely hate to see the Blazers loose a lot of games they could have won because of Oden's presence, only to win yet another top pick in the upcoming draft, adding to their already strong young core with a hopefully healthy Oden back in the lineup for 2008 - ? , creating an obstacle for the wolves on their road to a playoff spot for the next decade or so. That would suck! But who knows...maybe even if the Blazers lost a lot of Games without Oden and miss the playoffs, maybe they will be looser of the next year anyway...who knows?

Another thing: Weren't there rumors regarding Oden's knee prior to the draft? I believe I heard something like that...or maybe it was his foot, but there was something for sure. Caveat emptor, I'd say!

That sucks! I was really looking forward to watching Oden play this year!! Hopefully its not too serious as he and Durant are a big reason to watch the upcoming season. I think Oden not playing this year would be a blow to the NBA overall, even if it does slightly help out the Wolves by giving them a chance to win 1 or 2 more games.

Like I said, I hope its not too serious.

whiskeydizzy wrote:
Agreed........... It will be a blow to the NBA. It doesn't just help the Wolves in that standpoint though, it will help the Wolves if the Blazers cannot put together wins without him. I do not wish an injury upon anybody though. I hope he can play, it will be fun to watch him and Aldridge play side by side.

You're right. A less competitive Portland team will help us in the rankings overall.

Does anyone else think this is the beginning of Greg Oden the bust???

whiskeydizzy wrote:

Nope.

Also, I'm not sure this helps us. Maybe we win 2 extra games against Portland? The standings shouldn't flucuate much, if at all, because of *maybe* a few games that Portland loses that they *might* have won had Oden been playing.

This would only help us if we're a playoff contender and it knocks Portland out of the playoffs. Otherwise, we're actually better off losing if we're not going to the post-season.

I'm not saying that we should tank, and I want us to try and win. But in retrospect you're always better off losing as many games as possible if you don't make the playoffs.

I don't think Oden will be a bust, but I'm not sure he'll be a completely dominating force either. Oden's place in history may have a lot to do with how well Durant does.

DeROK wrote:

Pretty good sentiments... I'd tend to agree with you on that one.

College Wolf wrote:
True. Are you one of the people who think Durant is the next MJ and Oden's the next Sam Bowie??

I don't think this is necessarily the beginning of Oden the bust either. He has way too much physical talent, but its always a little worrisome when your big guy has a history of nagging injuries.

whiskeydizzy wrote:

No, I don't think that's the case at all in terms of MJ and Bowie.

Secondly, I don't think Oden is \"injury prone\" or anything like that. First off, his wrist injury was a freak injury that could happen to anyone. I was reading an article earlier today where it said Oden played in almost every High School game as well. I think he'll be just fine. This is just exploratory surgery... not like it's actual microfracture surgery or something.

As long as Greg Oden doesn't foul out of every game he won't be a bust.