C Greg Oden (Portland Trailblazers)

[ScriptOhio]

Assessing the impact of Greg Oden's injury

The stunning news that Greg Oden will probably miss his rookie season after being diagnosed Thursday with a microfracture knee injury raises a number of questions for him and the Blazers.

1. How did this happen?

Oden's agent Bill Duffy told me this week that Oden couldn't pinpoint exactly when or how his knee had been injured, that it started hurting suddenly and for no apparent reason.
You may recall that 10 days before the draft last June we broke the news that some teams were concerned about Oden's physical status. One team in particular was worried about a number of problems.
"Our doctors saw some early signs of arthritis in his knees,'' an executive with that franchise recalled Thursday after news of Oden's microfracture had come out. "They were also really concerned with his hip and his back as well. The way they explained it, all of those problems are linked: The knee hurts because the back is doing this, and the back hurts because the hip is doing that. The doctors thought there was some inter-connectivity between each issue, so that basically his body was working against itself.''
What makes all of this complicated -- as anyone with a serious medical issue will attest -- is that different doctors will have different opinions. Provide the 30 NBA franchises with the same MRIs and medical results, and their team doctors will arrive at a variety of diagnoses and predictions.
Based on what Duffy had been told, Oden entered the draft with no pre-existing knee concerns. "Portland did more due diligence than anybody and their doctors saw nothing wrong with his knee,'' Duffy said.
The point of this is not to accuse one doctor of being superior or inferior to another. This is a cautionary moral: As the medical tests become more intricate and sophisticated, the harder it becomes to read them -- and to apply those results with perspective.

2. What is next for Oden?

A long comeback is ahead. The best-case scenario was established by Phoenix center Amare Stoudemire, who missed all but three games in 2005-06 after undergoing microfracture knee surgery in the preseason. He returned last season to play in every game while showing steady improvement, becoming a far more dynamic player in April than he had been in November.
So if everything goes well, Oden is probably looking at a two-year window to recover his athleticism and confidence.
But Kenyon Martin, Chris Webber and Oden's fellow Blazer Darius Miles can tell Oden how difficult an injury this can be, as none of them has regained full health since undergoing microfracture knee surgery.
Oden's recovery will require a lot of work, as Stoudemire was relentless in his rehabilitation. The cutting-edge approach of the medical and athletic training staff in Phoenix was for Stoudemire to strengthen the areas of his body whose weaknesses contributed to the injury in his knee. Their approach helped Stoudemire return in record time -- only Jason Kidd has done as well in his recovery from microfracture knee surgery -- while also, in a roundabout way, confirming the suspicions of Oden's longterm prognosis that we first reported in June.

3. How will the Blazers do without him?

Entire article: SI.com - Writers - Thomsen: Assessing the impact of Oden's season-ending surgery - Thursday September 13, 2007 4:59PM

[OregonBuckeye]

I just read Simmons' blog and I think I gagged. He should be writing for the onion, not ESPN. He's already written off Oden's career and proclaimed Durant as a hall of famer. What a [censored]in' douchebag.

[BuckeyeMike80]

Originally Posted by OH10

Well, it didn't take long for Bill "I love Kevin Durant's nutsack" Simmons to chime in:



Ok, first of all. The surest thing to come into the league since Jordan has been Tim Duncan, with Lebron and Shaq close seconds. Simmons needs to get off that trip.

Second of all, Oden's career isn't over. His first year might be, but if the Blazers get blitzed in the Western Conference (likely), then that team will be lottery bound again with a chance to pick up another young stud to contribut with Roy, Aldridge and Oden. This may be a blessing in disguise for the Blazers. I sure hope it is. I want bad for Oden to [censored] and [censored] on his critics' faces.

well if you have the unfortunate opportunity to read the whining him and another Pats fan did about the cameragate thing (like making excuses and changing the subject to OTHER teams that cheated), what do you expect?

[sandgk]

Sniping at Simmon's aside, this is a truly tough break for Oden. The best consensus opinion is 8-12 months for physical recovery. The best consensus opinion for full contribution is probably another season into his interrupted career.

First he went through the injury that delayed his entry to collegiate ball, now this. One can only hope that Oden's doses of bad luck are done with.

[OH10]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeTillIDie

That Simmons is a real scum-bag to write something like that this soon.

What a little prick. He probably enjoyed the news when he heard it.

He probably bruised his shoulder blade patting himself on the back so hard. Notice how he made sure to quote himself as if he's some sort of prophet. He used to be funny and refreshing. Lately, he's just become a self-loving prick.

[ScarletBlood31]

This sucks.

But its not the end of the world. Oden will have time to recover, and hopefully will come back strong.

[Steve19]

I hope that this is his last injury. Disappointing, I really had hoped he would get out of the gates and make a real statement. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

[Best Buckeye]

I hope it is his last injury too , at least for a while. I hate it when an athelte of his stature has a string of injuries and gets tagged as being injured more than he plays. I don't want to happen to Greg.

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Blazers' Oden to miss rookie season
Top draft pick from Ohio State has surgery on right knee
Friday, September 14, 2007 3:39 AM
By Michael Lee


THE WASHINGTON POST

Greg Oden's highly anticipated rookie season with the Portland Trail Blazers has been shelved for 2007-08, after the No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft underwent surgery yesterday on his right knee.

Oden, the starting center on the Ohio State team that lost to Florida in the NCAA Tournament championship game in April, is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks. Recovery will take six to 12 months, the Trail Blazers said, but Oden's agent, Mike Conley Sr., said Oden would not return until the start of next season.
"I don't expect that he'll come back any earlier," Conley said. "The fact of the matter is, he may be able to play basketball before a year, for sure. But Greg wants to come back at 100 percent. And that's going to take a year."

Continued......

[Buckskin86]

Rehabbing injuries not new at OSUposted: Friday, September 14, 2007 | Print Entry

Ohio State coach Thad Matta isn't worried. Sure, torn wrist ligaments aren't the same thing as microfracture surgery on a knee, but still, he knows Greg Oden.

Last season, Oden sped up his recovery, returning in early December after missing just seven games for the Buckeyes. Originally, he was told the wrist injury would keep him out until January.

So don't think for one second that Matta sees Oden slacking off during rehab, as he attempts to comeback after undergoing major surgery to repair his knee.

Matta and Oden traded messages Thursday before finally talking late Thursday night.

"He was devastated," said Matta, who coached Oden to the national championship game with Ohio State last April.

"But I told him that Greg is 19 years old and he's probably going to play this game until he's 34, 35 or 36 years old. I watched him in his rehab at Ohio State. I watched him get his wrist better. He'll do things to get healthy.

"I don't know the specifics [of the microfracture rehab] but he will do things to be as healthy as quickly as possible," Matta said.

Matta said the athletic training staff at Ohio State had told him that they had never had someone like Oden.

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog...2=stateChanged

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Link

MENU
Is No. 1 draft choice Greg Oden already a bust?

YES
Greg Oden hasn't played a single game for the Portland Trail Blazers, and he already has fans in the Pacific Northwest thinking bad thoughts - Is this guy the next Sam Bowie?
Oden is expected to miss the entire 2007-08 season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his knee. Oden was the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft.
Bowie, of course, was the center the Blazers selected with the No. 1 pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. Chronic knee problems plagued Bowie throughout his NBA career. He averaged 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds over 11 seasons - not bad, but not worthy of a top overall draft pick.

Continued.......

[muffler dragon]

Originally Posted by OSUBasketballJunkie

Link

My G-d!!! Already labeling him a BUST. I hope when he comes back that we get to tag all these dillweeds with "I told you so".

[OSUsushichic]

From the Portland Tribune:

O-Damn!

[Best Buckeye]

Originally Posted by OSUsushichic

From the Portland Tribune:

O-Damn!

Thanks for the article Sushi, Glad you all had a great time and got to meet some BP'ers. I know I am glad I got to meet some at the poker party.

[MaxBuck]

I wish these dolts ("journalists") would do their homework before going off on tangents like this.

"Microfracture" is a surgical technique, not an injury. Microfracturing is used to address several kinds of injury, most commonly for cartilage damage. Bone adjacent to torn cartilage is "microfractured" to encourage new cartilaginous tissue growth, thereby allowing damaged cartilage to self-repair.

Most cartilage damage has the primary symptom of pain, rather than threatening the long-term structural soundness of a joint. Consequently, if this surgery fails, then Greg is likely to have joint pain -- but is unlikely to have his career end.

This is the upshot of information I get from the orthopedic community.

Microfracture surgery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia