Greg Oden Interested In Joining Miami Heat
Ugly As This
Despite Greg Oden saying recently that he plans on taking off the entire 2012-13 season to rehab his knee, his agent, Mike Conley, told the Miami Herald that Oden may be ready by December.
Oden, who was released by the Portland Trail Blazers in February is interested in playing for the Miami Heat, Conley said.
“Greg has talked about Miami,” Conley said. “He has interest. He’s not retiring.”
A center of Oden’s caliber—with a big assumption he’s healthy—is something the Heat obviously lack. With Ronny Turiaf and Joel Anthony carrying the load in the middle—and coach Erik Spoelstra sometimes starting the currently-injured Chris Bosh at the five—the arrival of a new big man can’t come soon enough in Miami.
Marcus Camby Says Portland Trail Blazers Believe In Curse
Sticky
The Portland Trail Blazers undoubtedly have been one of the NBA’s most star-crossed franchises over the years.
This is, after all, the team that picked Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan and saw 2007 No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden’s Portland career end after just 82 games because of injuries.
And this season has again been marked by injuries, turmoil and upheaval in Portland. Before the season began, Brandon Roy — the 2006-2007 NBA Rookie of the Year and a three-time All-Star — retired due to chronic knee issues. And All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge’s season ended early when he had surgery on his ailing right hip.
Those and countless other examples have led some to talk about a “Blazers Curse.” And apparently it is not just fans and media members discussing the possibility.
“They might not want to admit it, but when I was there, my goodness, people were saying, ‘Are we really snake-bit? Are we really cursed?’ ” Camby said. “Doubts and talks like that came about. Everybody just tried to brush it to one side and remain positive, but it was hard to escape because everybody was talking about it. It’s hard to argue when it keeps happening year after year after year.”
Greg Oden Has Another Knee Surgery
Ugly As This
Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden underwent an arthroscopic procedure to “remove debris” from his right knee, his fourth surgery since Portland selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft.
The often-injured 7-footer had microfracture surgery on the same knee before the start of his rookie season, forcing him to postpone his NBA debut for a year.
Since then, Oden has appeared in just 82 career games for the Blazers, averaging 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds. Oden hasn’t appeared in a game for the Blazers in two years.
The latest procedure took place Friday afternoon in Vail, Colo. The Blazers said it was successful and that Oden remains out indefinitely. He will become an unrestricted free agent following this season.
Greg Oden Received Counseling To Deal With Injuries
Should Have Drafted Kevin Durant
Portland Trail Blazers Greg Oden, the former No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, has received professional help to deal with the mental aspect of recovering from his numerous injuries according to Bill Duffy, president of BDA Sports agency which represents Oden.
“Counseling, therapy, interventions, just to let him understand all the pressures, not to put too much pressure on himself,” Duffy told Portland radio station KXL. “Everybody needs that. Not just an athlete but someone to talk to and share your thoughts and your concerns and just get reassurance. If you do things the right way, stay patient, keep your eye on the prize, you’ll be fine.”
Oden, who can become a free agent later this month, has played in 82 games in his four year NBA career with the Trail Blazers. He missed his rookie season and the 2010-11 season while dealing with microfracture knee surgeries and a broken patella. Oden had his latest microfracture surgery in November, and the procedure typically takes a year to heal.
Portland Trail Blazers Greg Oden Out For The Year Again & Wears Perfect T-Shirt To Tell You
Perfect
Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden and former number one overall draft pick, which Calvin Casey said was a good one at the time, will have microfracture surgery on his left knee and will not play this season. Oden has only played in 82 total games since being drafted number one in 2007. The Blazers picked Oden instead of Kevin Durant, who went to the Oklahoma City Thunder and has blossomed into one of the NBA’s best players.
Oden hasn’t played since last December because he needed surgery to repair a fractured left patella. The Blazers say this operation, will repair damaged cartilage and is unrelated to the patella injury.
The Blazers announced last month they would not offer Oden a contract extension. He was the first No. 1 pick since Kwame Brown not to get one at the end of his rookie contract. Oden will be a restricted free agent next summer and the Blazers will be able to match any offers for him.
The center has already earned over $15 million dollars and will earn another $6 million at the end of this season bringing his average per game to $265,811.24 in the 82 he has only been able to play in.
By the way look at Oden’s shirt in the above picture, pretty much describes everything.
NBA TV Bobblehead Commercial
No this isn’t a commercial for NBA Jam but don’t bobbleheads make just about anything funnier.
Portland Blazers Greg Oden Has No Timetline For Any Kind Of Return
More Time To Unleash On His Furries Fetish
Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden will not play in any preseason games and has no timeline on returning from knee surgery. Oden has been out since last December. Oden arrived in advance of the start of practice on Tuesday with word that he would not be available for preseason games because he was still not fully healed from surgery on his right kneecap last December. In fact, Oden won’t likely be available for the season opener, and perhaps well into the season.
Oden broke his right kneecap during a game last December against the Houston Rockets. It is one of several injuries the 7-footer has suffered since he came into the league. Oden missed his rookie season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee. The next season he sat out six games after injuring his right foot in the season opener against the Lakers, before missing 14 games after the All-Star break with a bone chip in his left knee. He finished the season averaging 8.9 points and 7 rebounds. Last season Oden averaged 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks as a starter before breaking his kneecap.
The Trail Blazers will have a tough decision at the end of the season on whether to let Oden walk and sign with another team or sign the former No. 1 overall pick that has been injury prone his whole pro career as he is a restricted free agent. The cost to keep the often injured Oden at season ends would be $8.7 million.
Portland Trail Blazers Rudy Fernandez Fined $25K For Comments
Put Me In Coach
Portland Trail Blazers guard Rudy Fernandez was fined $25,000 by the NBA for making statements “detrimental” to the NBA. On Wednesday, Fernandez’s agent Andy Miller told Yahoo Sports his client doesn’t want to play in the NBA and would rather play in Europe.
“He has indicated he would like to return to Europe to continue his basketball career,” Miller said. “He is more comfortable in Europe. He’d rather be in Europe than the NBA.”
Miller went onto say that Fernandez is willing to sit out the season. Portland coach Nate McMillan has said that Fernandez hasn’t returned any of his calls. It also looks as if center Greg Oden won’t be available for the start of training camp just six weeks away.
Dallas Cowboys Mike Hamlin Exposes His Dong
Greg Oden, George Hill, Santonio Holmes, Martellus Benntt Are Not Impressed
Yesterday we posted the story of Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett exposing his dong through his iPhone and now just less than 24 hours later we have another Cowboy exposed. The latest to send dong pictures is safety Mike Hamlin.
I guess America’s Team is gearing up for Christmas and trying to put out a naked Cowboys calender for 2011. An excellent stocking stuffer for that die-hard Cowboys fan.
Dallas Cowboys Martellus Bennett Exposes His Dong
Greg Oden, George Hill Are Not Impressed
Dallas Cowboys tight end Martellus Bennett hasn’t even hit the field in San Antonio yet, due to his sprained left ankle that he hurt prior to camp, but once again is making headlines for off the field activity. This time Bennett is the latest athlete that thinks its necessary to grab his iPhone and snap pictures of his Alabama black snake.
The one on one bathroom modeling session was suppose to stay in the senders hand but instead people from San Antonio to Norway to South East Asia with see how he likes to spend his free time. Does this extra exposure bother Bennett? Judging by his previous internet videos not likely.
Portland Trail Blazers Greg Oden Won’t Be Back For Playoffs
More Time To Unleash On His Furries Fetish
Portland Trail Blazers Greg Oden has given up on any return this season. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2007 NBA draft says he won’t be able to recover from his knee problems in time to help Portland in the playoffs.
Oden has missed all of 2007-08 after knee surgery, played 61 games last season and was good to go for only 21 this season.
“I’m sorry everybody, but I don’t think I’ll be playing this year. It’s going to take a little bit more time than expected to get ready and also get in shape. And with the mental part, it’s just being able to go out there and believe that I can compete with the best of the best. That won’t be in the next couple of weeks. It’s going to take some time, but I will be ready for next season.”
This begs the question what is the Trail Blazers suppose to do when his contract is up after next season. Oden is on the books for $6.7 million next season then Portland has to ponder on letting the number one pick walk and wash their hands of the situation or give him a qualifying offer of $8.7 million for 82 games of work in three season.
What the Trail Blazers do is quickly find a Hot Tub Time Machine and draft Kevin Durant with the number overall pick.
Hair Wars: Greg Oden
Brother Dreads
Portland Trail Blazers Greg Oden is calling his new hairstyle “brother dreads” and will try to go full dreads by the summer. I call it nasty.
(Diss It)
Blake Griffin Has Season Ending Surgery
Stay Off The Leg
The Los Angeles Clippers had told the world just recently that Blake Griffin was just weeks away from making his NBA rookie season debut, now it seems an injury that was reportedly only suppose to take six weeks will now cost him his entire season.
Griffin, the number one overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft out of the University of Oklahoma, will have surgery on his left knee and causing him to miss the rest of the ’09-10 season. After feeling some discomfort during his rehab in his pool sessions, he was examined by team doctors, who determined that his knee hasn’t recovered like they hoped.
The NBA said Griffin will retain his rookie of the year eligibility for the 2010-11 season because he did not appear in any regular-season games. Greg Oden of Portland had a similar situation when he was eligible for rookie of the year voting in 2008-09 after injuries forced the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft to sit out the entire ’07-08 season.
So does that make Griffin the next Greg Oden?
The Clippers have had two winning seasons in the last 30 years and just one playoff series victory since moving from San Diego in 1984.
Rash Of Injuries To Portland Trail Blazers Could Cost Playoff Spot
Ouch
Right now it’s dangerous to be a Portland Trail Blazer and Joel Przybilla is just the latest to find out when he sustained a ruptured right patella tendon and dislocated patella in the first quarter of Tuesday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
The Trail Blazers are trying to respond to a 2008-2009 season in which they went 54-28 and it looking harder and harder to do with the rash of injuries they have suffered. Przybilla, who got the start because the Trail Blazers are already without Greg Oden, who out for the season with a fractured left patella, went up for a rebound and came down awkwardly on his right leg with 3:12 left in the first quarter.
Portland has already lost Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw and Nicolas Batum are missing extensive time for the Trail Blazers this season.
Even coach Nate McMillan hasn’t been immune, sustaining a ruptured right Achilles tendon in practice on December 7 that required surgery.
Rudy Fernandez Out 4-6 Weeks
Hoopster
Dam the Portland Trail Blazers where hit some more bad news after learning that Rudy Fernandez will be sidelined from 4-6 weeks after undergoing successful surgery to alleviate pain in his right leg. The microdiscetomy procedure relieved pressure from a nerve root in his lower back that caused discomfort in the leg. This comes on the heels of the Trail Blazers losing center Greg Oden for the season.
“The procedure was successful and we can now turn our attention to getting Rudy healthy and back on the court” Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said.
Fernandez is a hoopster and hopefully he can return to full form, however till I see it, this will cast a shadow of doubt with me since it involves the back. I’m not a doctor nor do I have medical proof in this theory but I do believe that a injury that concerns the back is more of a downfall to an athlete than say his legs, believing that the back is the core of the body.
Hopefully this shadow of a doubt is erased in 4 to 6 weeks.
Greg Oden Done For The Season
Greg's Halloween Costume
As much as Trail Blazers fans hate that the name Sam Bowie and their organization is forever linked, it looks as they may have a new poster child for the next generation with center Greg Oden. The man who was compared to Boston Celtic great Bill Russell has gone and lived up to that comparison with his body seeing how it does resemble that of 75-year-old Russell.
Oden is out for the rest of the season after suffering a fractured knee cap, which occurred after he collided with Aaron Brooks in the first quarter in a Portland victory against Houstn. He laid on the court for nearly seven minutes before being wheeled out on a stretcher. An MRI was taken almost immediately after and it is now clear that he will need surgery.
Oden has been plagued by injuries ever since being drafted in 2007. The 7-footer missed his rookie season after undergoing micro-fracture surgery on his right knee. Last season, Oden sat out six games after injuring his right foot in the season opener against the Lakers, then missed 14 games after the All-Star break with a bone chip in his left knee.
Back in 2007 on draft night, I know two out of three members of the Sports Grind Entertainment team thought that Portland was making the wrong pick and felt strongly that they should have selected Kevin Durant, but hey what do we know.
