Oden to Miss Rookie Season

An unfortunate news story for the Portland Trailblazers, the NBA and Greg Oden. Oden had to have surgery to repair damage to his knee.

From America Online Sports:

"Doctors found cartilage damage during an exploratory procedure, and team physician Dr. Don Roberts performed microfracture surgery to repair the damage.

"There are things about this that are positive for Greg. First of all, he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal," Roberts said in a statement. "All those are good signs for a complete recovery from microfracture surgery."

The 7-foot center is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks. Full recovery likely will take six to 12 months, the team said.

Oden was the No. 1 pick in the June draft out of Ohio State, where he averaged 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds.

The Blazers scheduled a news conference Thursday to discuss Oden's situation.

"Certainly this is a setback, but our future is still incredibly bright," Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard said. "Is it disappointing? Yes. However, this is a great core of talent and players of strong character and will continue to be." (Read full story here)

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This is a definite setback for the young rookie's career as well as the Trailblazers plans to start building that championship foundation up and achieve ultimate NBA success. However, it's better that the problem was fixed sooner rather than later. Hopefully Oden can enjoy a great career starting next season. Also, let's hope this won't be a continual problem with Oden's knees throughout his career. Last thing Portland wants is to have to re-evaluate their drafting of this great potential talent. Best wishes to the rook on a speedy and successful recovery.