by Timmy Duncan

Created on: May 21, 2010

When Greg Oden was chosen with the first pick overall in the 2007 NBA draft, the league had high hopes for him. He was an enormous seven footer with a huge wingspan and incredible rebounding skills. For lack of a better term, he was the next big thing. But all of that hope turned into uncertainty when Oden needed microfracture knee surgery the summer before his rookie season. Since that time he has dealt with the microfracture, an ankle injury, a foot injury and now a fractured kneecap causing him to spend the majority of his career in the NBA watching from the sidelines in a suit.

It is hard to evaluate Oden’s abilities given that in his entire career he has only played a total of 82 regular season games and 6 playoff games. He has incredible talent and strength but when a player is so plagued with injuries, you have to wonder if perhaps their bodies were just not intended for the kind of abuse they must withstand while playing professional basketball. Oden insists that it is merely a matter of bad luck and nothing more, but the team doctors aren’t so sure.

A fractured kneecap is no joke but it is certainly not a career ending injury. It is not so much the injury itself that has doctors concerned, but rather the way in which the injury was sustained. Oden was  in the act of jumping and when he came down, the force of his own muscles snapped his kneecap. There was no contact whatsoever. This is the sort of injury that you might consider a fluke if it didn’t seem to happen so often to him.

As good as Greg Oden has looked at times during his short career, there are just as many times where you watch him run and forget that you are watching a kid in the early years of his career. Oden runs like an older player who is on the way out.

He is not alone here. Big men seem to be more of a crapshoot than smaller players. It is a flip of the coin. Their bodies are either made to handle the NBA or they are not and there’s no way to tell until they’re there. It seems incredibly unfair. Yao Ming has unbelievable talent but his feet seem unwilling to support him through an entire NBA season. Bill Walton had an incredible game but his body betrayed him and ultimately destroyed his career. We are now left to wonder if we are watching the same thing happen to Greg Oden. Medicine has advanced since Bill Walton. If there is a way to give Oden a shot, they will find it. But ultimately he may not be able to continue.

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