More bad news for Greg Oden

Portland may offer him only a 7 million dollar contract for next year.

 

I'm genuinely saddened as this story continues to play out.

Disclaimer: I am, ostensibly, a Blazers fan. I grew up with the team and, although I have mostly abandoned my bonds thanks to this business, still follow them closer than any other pro franchise. Since somebody has to win, I dearly hope it will eventually again be the Trail Blazers.

I feel worst for Oden because, by all accounts, he has done nothing wrong. In five seasons, he has been limited to 82 games. He didn't have a true rookie season. He was showing the skills in 2009 of being the player he was drafted to be then his knee failed against Houston.

In some ways, Oden injuries are worse than those that ended Brandon Roy's career. Roy's career ended too soon. Oden's never began.

It's just sad. You watch Oden when things are good (don't blink) and he's the embodiment of an NBA player you can root for. He's gregarious and cheeky and full of skill. But it's a career that will never be fulfilled, even if he signs in Memphis or Houston or Orlando as a free agent and manages a couple hundred games in the rest of his career.

The best part about being a sports writer, I've always thought, is occasionally sharing the building with great moments. I look at Oden, and I just see a wobbly 7-foot shadow devoid of greatness.

And it's not even his fault.

 

Reminds of baseball's Matt White as a guy who really wanted to play, and his body just wouldn't let him do it. It's not as if he's laughing all the way to the bank.

 

Oden was a rim-rattling psycho at Buckie.

Now, his knees rattle when he walks.

 

He averaged 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in a 10-year career.
He had three very good years with the Nets, showing that he did actually have talent.

http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BOWIESA01

Not MJ or Hakeem by any stretch of the imagination, but hardly a total bust. Right now, Oden looks like a total bust. Which is sad because, as someone said earlier, he does look like he had some talent. He just got followed by a guy who looks like a future Hall of Famer.

 

Anyone remember when TMZ saw Oden outside a nightclub and started talking to him as if he was LeBron James? It was borderline heartbreaking. As Harry Doyle said, he seems like a decent guy whose body betrayed him way too young. He could have been a fun guy to build a league around. Hopefully he does get that second act where he plays 10-15 mins a night in relative obscurity, just so he can go out on his own terms.

 

Should he have been picked over Jordan? Hell, no.

Was Sam Bowie a bust? Hell, no.

 

That's being pretty kind to Bowie. He went #2 in a deep draft.

He was drafted ahead of Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Charles Barkley, Kevin Willis, and John Stockton, among others.

 

OK, a good number of people chosen below him in the draft turned out to be all-stars.

That isn't, or shouldn't be, the basis on which to judge Bowie's career. He was a solid 10-year pro. That's not a bust, regardless of his draft spot.

 

Are you a bust if you never got a real chance? Not sure bust is the right term when perpetual injury is the cause.

 

I don't think Portland is half as pissed as Seattle watching Durant drop 50.

 

It really has to be tough for him. Forget the money, I'm sure he would give everything paid to him to date for two functioning knees.
Supposedly Portland has just had a bad run of luck when it comes to injuries, but I think I'd change the training and medical staff just the same to be sure. No free agent worth a damn is going to want to risk their career on such a vexed team.