So I heard the news today. Greg Oden. He had a sore knee. He needed to have exploratory surgery today. Uhhhh...it didn't go so well.
It went horribly wrong actually. If I was writing on paper right now, the ink would be smearing because of my tears. They are saying that he's had micro fracture surgery and will need 6-8 months to heal from it. In short, that means no Oden in the Blazers lineup at all this upcoming season.
D'oh. Ouch. This news hurts.
It's not so much that this means that we have no shot whatsoever to have a good season. It's not like we were placing ALL of our potential success for this season on Oden's shoulders. Portland is going to improve, with or without Oden. The team was already on the way up before they even knew they would have the #1 pick in the draft. But getting the #1 pick, and then drafting Oden meant that our success was going to increase by leaps and bounds. We were pretty much going to be the shizz, ya know, the cat's pajamas as they say. For Portland (the city and the team), this season was gonna be our year to make it back to the playoffs.
Now, with Oden out for the entire year, all bets are off.
And it's really freaky because all I've heard all day are stories of guys who have had this same surgery, and not ever been the same. I mean, this kind of injury is a major deal breaker, or at least has the potential to be. But Oden hasn't even played in an NBA game! This can't happen to this guy. This can't happen to our city. This can't happen to me, dammit!
So he can either turn out like Amare Stoudemire or he can turn out like Jamal Mashburn. In case you didn't know, Jamal Mashburn isn't playing anymore pretty much because of this surgery. It's pretty serious stuff. I just don't get why this has to happen to Portland. We've had MORE than our fair share of franchise trouble. It's not a secret. We've had to put up with JR Rider, Rasheed Wallace, Qyntel Woods, Darious Miles and Zach Randolph, for freak's sake. And some of those guys were on our team at the same time. Why must the basketball gods torcher us so mercilessly?!?
Anyway, it's a sad day here in Portland today.
But check this scenario out...imagine this: Portland plays without Oden this next season, right? Let's say they improve a little bit, but finish with approx the same record as last year. With a record like last year, Portland is going to get another lottery pick. Now it's probably not going to be the #1 overall pick, but we still would get one of the 13 best college basketball players in the land. Wow. Just thinking about the possibility of picking another lottery pick and getting Oden back for the 08 season, makes me all hot and bothered.
Ya know, I am starting to feel a little bit better about this injury already...
