Oden Out for Season
Sure enough, the Trailblazer’s bad luck run continues. The AP reports that Portland’s new face of the franchise, Greg Oden, has undergone microfracture surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right knee. Now, Portland must seriously be wondering if they were so lucky in the draft after all, and if Oden is too fragile to handle the rigors of the NBA. Oden missed the start of his only year of college ball with ligament damage in one wrist, and then missed some summer league games when he had his tonsils removed.
There’s no doubt that, when healthy, Oden is a beast on the court. Against Florida in the championship game, Oden was good for 25 points, and 12 boards. Of course, talent-wise Florida was probably not far behind some NBA teams, so Oden certainly can hold his own from a basketball perspective. Oden is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks, and a full recovery could take anywhere from six months to a year.
The next time the Blazers have a top pick, they may very well be better off trading it. If past history is any indication, the next poor guy chosen by Portland might do well to look for a job elsewhere. In 1974, the Blazers drafted Bill Walton with the first pick of the draft, only to see him miss most of the first two seasons with a broken foot, nose, leg, and wrist. Portland again had a high pick in 1984 and, what many call the worst pick in history, used it to take Sam Bowie in front of Michael Jordan.
The Blazers were certainly counting on having Oden and being able to build team chemistry between their young players, but without the big man, their building plans will have to be postponed. All of this just begs the question, if the Blazers stink this year, and end up with a lottery pick in next year’s draft, would they use the pick and try to overcome their streak of bad luck, or trade it for a healthy veteran?
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