I felt like I needed to get the joke out of the way in the headline, because it’s mind-blowing that this keeps happening to Greg Oden.
Trail Blazers center Greg Oden will undergo an arthroscopic procedure today in Vail, Colo. to remove debris from his right knee, the team announced. It is his fourth knee surgery since becoming the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft.
Blazers interim general manager Chad Buchanan said it’s too early to say today’s knee procedure will end Oden’s season.
Do I need to run through the obligatory numbers?
Greg Oden was the first pick in the 2007 draft. He didn’t play at all that season. In the four NBA seasons since that draft, Oden has played in 82 games. This will be his fourth knee surgery.
He’s snake bitten. The once promising career has just been derailed by horrific biology. His genetic makeup just won’t allow for his NBA career to ever take shape.
Greg Oden will make $1.5 million dollars this year, and then he’s as good as gone from Portland. His saving grace, which may also be his biggest problem, is his giant frame. He’s only 24 years old, so some team somewhere will bring him in for a workout. And even if he doesn’t get a long-term deal, he’ll get some money to try to play basketball next season.
At this point, you want to see him get healthy somehow… some way… just to see him reach some level of potential. His per 36 minute numbers look great. It’s too bad that it doesn’t seem that his knees will ever let him play 36 minutes of NBA basketball again. Hopefully, for Oden’s sake, they can soon be convinced otherwise.
