Oden Goes Under the Knife...Again
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At this point in the fall, I'm sure many of us have all put the NBA on the back-burner, and rightfully so. With the NFL season and college football in full swing, we have better things to think about than the Association. That being said, I felt this was at least noteworthy.
Former Ohio State center Greg Oden is apparently going to have the second surgery of his NBA career, this time for exploratory arthroscopic knee surgery. Most of us probably forgot the first time the Portland Trail Blazers' number one pick had a health issue- tonisilitis during his disastrous turnout at summer leagues. Couple that with that pesky wrist injury while at college that ended up helping him shoot better with his left hand, and he's already had a myriad of issues as a young player. Apparently, a timetable for his return from knee surgery will be set shortly.
How does this effect his development though? With all the missed time from this summer, and now this, less than two months before the start of his rookie campaign, I wouldn't think the effect would be positive. In his two summer league contests, Oden scored a grand total of 19 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 19 fouls. Not exactly what the Blazers were looking for, but I tried to wave it off, as I figured the tonsilitis had something to do with it (maybe). Now with this new development, is he going to miss parts of camp or pre-season? This is quite a setback for the guy, who has already been projected for stardom by anybody and everybody who would listen a couple of months ago. I'm not saying he still won't be, I'm just saying that this is an unfortunate development in the scope of Greg Oden gaining valuable experience as a professional player. I guess we'll know the effect of it better once a timetable is set by the team in the coming days.
