Blake Griffin out for season for surgery

The chosen one for 2009-10 in Los Angeles reportedly has seen his season end, before it even began. According to the latest reports, the LA Clippers' #1 Draft pick, Blake Griffin, will be out for the remainder of the season for surgery. Griffin was injured in the final game of the NBA preseason when he broke his kneecap. Griffin's left kneecap hasn't healed as quickly as intended, so he'll be sidelined with surgery, rest and rehab.

This makes for the second straight year that the NBA's #1 draft pick was sidelined for the majority of their rookie campaign. Previously it was Greg Oden who had microfracture surgery on his right knee, causing him to miss the entire 2007-08 season. He returned in 2008-09 and was classified a rookie, but played sporadically, never quite materializing. In this current campaign, Oden hurt his left knee on December 5, 2009 and is out for the entire season.

As for the Clippers, they'll continue to rely on Marcus Camby at starting power forward, with Craig Smith backing him up. They're near a .500 record, and have Chris Kaman, Baron Davis and Eric Gordon all playing great, but obviously having the talents of Griffin would have propelled them higher. With the draft of Griffin at #1, there were high hopes for the "other team in LA" this season, but now they've been sidelined just like their rookie star. 2010-11 will begin the rookie year for Blake Griffin, and Clippers fans hope this isn't some eery deja vu, shades of Greg Oden just a year ago.

More about the Greg Oden injury at NBA.com

Greg Oden out for Season, again...

It's another unfortunate injury for Greg Oden and the Trailblazers. This time it was a left knee cap injury that will have Oden likely to miss the rest of the 2009-10 season. Although the Blazers won the game, they definitely lost a lot in terms of size and power.

The injury occurred Saturday night in the Blazers-Rocks game when Oden fractured his left knee cap. He was down on the floor clutching at his left knee. The incident happened after the big man collided with the Rockets Aaron Brooks. Trainers and physicians immediately huddled around the Portland center to attend to his injury. He was down for at least 7 minutes, and fans at the Rose Garden let out a "Oden!" chant in support.

Eventually, they moved Oden to a stretcher and wheeled him off court to get have an MRI performed. The report already says Oden will need surgery for this latest setback.

"I'm obviously disappointed having worked so hard to get to where I was. This is a setback but I'll be back. It's in God's hands now," Oden said in a statement released by the team. "I want to thank the fans, my teammates and everyone in the Blazers family for all of their good thoughts."

The early knock on Oden was he might be the #1 pick, but he may mirror the path of another Portland big man, Bill Walton. Walton is still heralded as one of the greats, but found himself plagued by injuries to his legs as well. Similarly, another big man, Yao Ming from the Houston Rockets, has been out this season due to foot problems. It might be true, the bigger they are, they harder they fall...

Story Source: The Associated Press

Yao Ming's Foot Injury Could End Career

The Houston Chronicle discusses the notion that Rockets All-Star Center, Yao Ming, could miss all of next season and possibly even end his career. The problem is that stubborn foot injury which kept him out of the playoff series against the Lakers. Yao is having no symptoms or physical signs due to the injury, but CT scans said otherwise. Apparently the foot's not healing as it should and may require Yao to be benched again next season. The team doctor, Tom Clanton, said the likeliness that Yao plays again depends on the success of whichever treatments are used.

Apparently, Yao had a pin inserted in his foot back in 2006 and played in the Olympics less than six months after that. This current situation while not as serious an injury as in 2006, may require more serious treatment.

From Houston Chronicle:

The surgical treatment options could include placing a pin inside the foot, a bone graft or even realigning the foot to operate differently. Cleveland Cavaliers center Zydrunas Ilgauskas underwent similar procedures, reducing his high arch to a flatter foot position, an option that could be considered for Yao, Clanton said, though his arch is not as high as Ilgauskas’ was.

The Rockets enjoyed a tremendous 2008-09 NBA season and unfortunately met up with the eventual NBA Champs (minus Yao) in the postseason. They still possess a nicely formed, talented group including Ron Artest and Shane Battier, but T-Mac has been an injury question mark as well. Yao's had a plethora of foot injuries during his stellar career, but let's hope this latest one heals and allows the phenom to continue play. If not, the Rockets may have to consider shopping in the free agent market to pickup a new star.

KG absent from 2009 NBA Playoffs?

Devestating news for the Celtics as their inspirational leader and power forward Kevin Garnett may not be suiting up to try to help them win their second straight championship this postseason. Garnett, who injured his right knee back on February 19th only played four games since sustaining the injury. Doc Rivers was hoping to rest his All-Star forward with the Celtics up in the standings, and was also hoping for KG to return to action in the final few games of the regular season. That unfortunately never happened.

According to ESPN.com:

Rivers said Thursday he watched Garnett run at the team's practice facility and said he had to shut him down after 20 minutes because his leg was locking up. Rivers knew he made the right call when Garnett didn't put up a fight.

"He's done everything he could do to get back on the floor," the coach said. "You could tell he was trying to mask that there was pain."

Read full article at ESPN.com

To say this jeapordizes the Celtics' chances at back-to-back trophys is an understatement. KG is an emotional leader who inspires big contributions from the rest of his teammates. That's not to say Ray Allen and Paul Pierce can't effectively put on a shooting and scoring clinic, but the defensive prowess and rebounding skills of KG in the lane is a big plus. The team has been 18-7 without KG this season, which isn't too shabby, but that's not 7 game series against Orlando or Cleveland. Chicago opens against the Bulls whom they should be able to handle despite Garnett's absence. After that it will get tougher, especially with a team like Orlando and Dwight Howard. Unless the Celts can get a big contribution from an unlikely hero like Leon Powe or Glen "Big Baby" Davis, it seems as if there may be a 2 team race in the Eastern Conference. Some even say this gives Cleveland a cakewalk to their second NBA Finals in 3 years.

Andrew Bynum's Playboy Mansion Fun

Los Angeles Lakers Center Andrew Bynum, who's still supposedly rehabbing from knee surgery to help his team was caught in a recent photo from a Playboy Mansion party. In the snapshot here, Bynum is seen with a Playboy bunny seated on his shoulders. The photo and sheer idea of this has outraged many LA faithful already. A blogger over at SI's fannation.com section says it seems Bynum (who was said to be several weeks away from return) is "well on the road to recovery". Bynum's been out of action since February with a tear in a ligament in his right knee.

The Playboy model he was carrying is 34 year old Nicole Narain who was Playboy Playmate of the month back in January 2002. She's been a hip hop honey video vixen for superstar videos from LL Cool J and Fabolous. According to her Wikipedia entry, she weighs just 110 pounds, which isn't a tremendous load for Bynum to shoulder. However the outrage may be more over the fact he was partying it up with alcohol and bunnies rather than resting or rehabbing the injury properly. While it's no Kobe in Colorado type scandal just yet, it definitely isn't the best publicity for the young Center who's part of the Lakers championship hopes in 2009.

Arash Markazi of CNNSI's Fannation.com wrote:

If Bynum isn't healthy enough to play, should he be able to live out his Playboy fantasy in the meantime? Maybe, but while he's rehabbing his injury and the Lakers play shorthanded without him, perhaps it'd be wise for him to keep a low profile and sit out a couple of pajama parties. The grotto and Playmates will still be there. The Lakers can only hope the same can be said for Bynum come playoff time.

On a sidenote, this isn't the first bit of controversy involving Nicole Narain either. Back in 2005, she and Colin Farrel were the stars of a sex tape which became grounds for a lawsuit to prevent anyone from selling or distributing the tape any further. Now Nicole is involved in this much more minor scandal, and it's only with Andrew Bynum. Perhaps this makes it on an episode of Girls Next Door, and if nothing else it's given the former centerfold a bit of a publicity boost right about now. Heff, take note- a Playboy models with NBA stars issue could be a hot seller.

Derrick Rose Cuts out of Practice

Derrick Rose is usually making cuts on the basketball court to avoid defenders and sneak to the hoop for layups. But according to recent reports, the rookie guard missed practice due to a bad cut in his arm. The reason for the incident? Rose explains that he was slicing an apple in bed, got up, forgot he had a knife in his bed, then went to lay back down and cut his arm. The "gouge" in his arm required 10 stitches and Rose to miss Bulls practice on Monday.

Some aren't buying the apple/knife story, saying it sounds far-fetched. Is Rose a cutter, as in non-basketball cutting? Was Rose involved in a knife fight with his other self? Was there some sort of altercation that Rose is covering up? Was he attempting to self-tattoo or even worse? It's hard to speculate on that, but with the recent NFL situation involving Plaxico Burress shooting himself, we now have Rose knifing himself. No suspensions, fines or other penalties have been levied against Rose though. Let's hope all's well with the rookie guard who's been making a great impact in Chicago during his freshman campaign.

On the positive side, here's an article discussing Rose's transition to the leadership role in Chicago:

Chicago Tribune article on Derrick Rose.

Greg Oden's Latest Setback

Starting for the first time in his fresh, new NBA career was Portland Trailblazer Greg Oden. Oden was the #1 pick last year, who had season-ending right knee surgery and rode the bench while rehabbing in 2007-08. In college, Oden was limited to 32 games by a wrist injury. Last night he would be premiering on NBA's opening night and at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, against Kobe's Lakers. However, Oden ran into yet another setback, hopefully this time not as serious as last season's.

Oden clocked in for just 2 1/2 minutes of game play before injuring his right foot on a play. For now the injury's been referred to as a sprained ankle, nothing more. Oden claims he came down bad on guard Derek Fisher's foot, but Fisher says he doesn't recall it happening. So Oden scored 0 points in what was supposed to be his coming out party. The 7-footer was back in the locker room for the entire second half, while his team continued to receive a Lakers' beatdown en route to a 96-76 loss. An X-ray was taken which was inconclusive during game time, so an MRI was done on Wednesday for further results. Let's hope for the best for this young talent, who's starred in ESPN commercials and even played piano for Justin Timberlake at the ESPY's.

Analysts are already questioning if the Big Man has some sort of bad kharma going on. ESPN.com's J.A. Adande has begun comparing this case to that of Bill Walton, only without any championships won. Bill Walton, a big man in Portland just like Oden, was injury-plagued throughout his career, mostly leg injuries also. Will Oden have the same bad luck, or will he overcome the setbacks and help his team become a dynasty? Only time and healing will tell what sort of legend this big man is part of.

Also see: Greg Oden's Delayed Start Comes to a Quick Halt by J.A. Adande.

LA's Hopes Rest with Kobe's Knee

With the 2008-09 NBA Season just around the corner (next week), the biggest question mark is on the reigning MVP, Kobe Bryant. This past Tuesday, Kobe collided with teammate Josh Powell in a preseason game against the Charlotte Bobcats, hyper-extending his knee. The injury forced him to sit out a Thursday night exhibition game, also against Charlotte. According to LA Times, Kobe feels the injury doesn't require an MRI:

"I've got a little bit of puffiness in the back of the knee, which was just from the trauma of landing the way I landed," Bryant said. "So we're just going to knock that out, make sure the swelling is out of there, which it should be soon, then I'm OK."

Bryant still hasn't had an MRI exam on the knee to determine the severity of it and sounded as if he won't get one.

"If I can run, if I can jump, if I can do lunges, if I can do leg curls, if I can do leg extensions, chances are there probably is no structural damage," Bryant said. "If I don't have to walk with more of a bop than I normally walk with, it's fine. So, I'm good. No need of wasting their money."

Coach Phil Jackson seems to want more caution taken regarding the injury and for good reason: Kobe's the team leader that brought them on a 2008 NBA Finals run. Similar injuries have forced other sports mega stars out of action. The Patriots' QB Tom Brady suffered a knee injury during the 1st week of the NFL season. The reconstructive surgery occurred too soon after the injury, and now Brady is dealing with a severe infection. In golf, the biggest start on the planet, Tiger Woods also left for a remainder of his season to get surgery. Will Kobe be following suit? Luckily, it seems like Kobe will be ready for the start of the season, but he definitely needs to guard against a season-ending injury.

Read the full story on Kobe at the LA Times.

Ellis Moped Incident = 30 Day Suspension

The Golden State Warriors high-scoring guard, Monta Ellis, was injured in a motor cycle accident this past summer, hurting his ankle. While that is bad news in itself, Ellis then chose to lie to the team about the incident. Ellis told the Warriors he hurt himself playing pickup ball in Mississippi, but then came clean about the injury days later. Due to his lie, Ellis has now been suspended 30 games by Owner Chris Cohan, which will cost the guard a cool 3 million dollars.

When you see a headline about Ellis being suspended, you'd assume it was due to a fight in a preseason game, using drugs or some sort of off-court arrest/fan altercation. But for something that could have easily been avoided, Ellis has benched himself for almost half of an NBA season. Will the team be hurt by this? They might have been, as he was the second-leading scorer for the NBA's highest-scoring team last season, averaging 20.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists, helping his team try to make the final playoff spot. Ellis underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament and wouldn't be able to return to action to mid-December anyways.

In case you're wondering about the rule book, according to NBA.com: "Ellis violated Paragraph 12 of the NBA's uniform player contract, which prohibits a player from engaging "in any activity that a reasonable person would recognize as involving or exposing the participant to a substantial risk of bodily injury," including "driving or riding a motorcycle or mo-ped."

Other past motorcycle incidents in sports that are well known include Pittsburgh Steeler QB Ben Rothleisberger, and former Chicago Bulls/Duke guard, Jay Williams. Rothleisberger was able to recover from injuries he sustained, while Williams attempted to rehab but never was able to make an NBA return.

Read more about Ellis' Suspension by the Warriors at NBA.com

The Eastern Conference 8 Spot

In the NBA's Eastern Conference, 7 of the 8 playoff spots have been claimed already, with several teams clinching last night. The Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers were among those who will be heading to the playoffs. I'll be the 1st to admit, I just didn't see this Sixers team being worthy of a playoff spot, but then again the East is nowhere near as tough and competitive as the Western Conference.

Here's how things look as of right now:

1 - Boston Celtics (60-15)
2 - Detroit Pistons (54-21)
3 - Orlando Magic (47-28)
4 - Cleveland (42-34)
5 - Philadelphia (39-37)
6 - Washington (39-37)
7 - Toronto (38-38)
8 - Atlanta Hawks (35-41)
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(9) Indiana (32-44)
Games remaining: 6 (4 Home, 2 Away)

(10) New Jersey (31-45)
Games remaining: 6 (2 Home, 4 Away)

(11) Chicago (30-45)
Games remaining: 7 (4 Home, 3 Away)

Right now the Atlanta Hawks are perched at the 8 spot in the East. The New Jersey Nets seem to be falling out of contention despite having the talent of Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Losing a player the caliber of Jason Kidd obviously hurts quite a bit, as he ran the show and basically got the stats needed to help win games. They weren't exactly dominating with Kidd there though. So the Pacers, Bulls and Nets all have a legit shot at the final spot should Atlanta falter along the way. Atlanta, should they make that 8 spot, would be playing Boston first round of the playoffs. A possible preview of that will come April 12th in a regular season contest, in Atlanta. See more about the NBA Playoff picture at ESPN.com

Also in the East, the Milwauke Bucks have lost the services of their rookie Yi for the remainder of this NBA season. The Bucks along with Charlotte, the Knicks and Heat are all lottery bound.

Dirk & Arenas Return to Action!

Two NBA superstars stepped back on the court this past Wednesday night, and their teams definitely needed their presence.

Earlier on Wednesday, it appeared the Mavs All-star Dirk Nowitzki would not be suiting up against the Warriors. But Dirk was surprisingly back in action against Golden State. Nowitzki had 18 points and 5 boards as his Mavs defeated the Warriors 111-86. His newest teammate, PG Jason Kidd had an impressive 17 assists in the win. Jason Terry led the way with 31 points. A Dallas Morning News article discusses how the Mavericks will need Jason "The Jet" Terry to take off, to give them a playoff shot.

Ironically, an ESPN Sportsnation poll actually had fans voting that the Mavs will be the most likely West Conference team to not make the playoffs (of 3 choices). The other 2 choices were Denver and Golden State.

Also returning on Wednesday was Agent 0, Gilbert Arenas for the Washington Wizards who had been absent since November 16th. Gil's been out a lot longer, and in his absence both Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison made the all star game. Butler had especially stepped his game up. Arenas came back as the Wiz faced the Bucks and put in a 17 point performance, as well as 2 key free throws to give the Wizards a late lead. But it was a name you may have not heard before, Ramond Sessions, who was the difference maker though. Sessions hit a buzzer beater jumper to give the Bucks the 110-109 edge.

According to an AP report, Arenas was ready to go 10 days earlier but a team doctor wouldn't give the go ahead. With Gilbert & Dirk back on the hardwood, both their teams have renewed optimism as we head into the final games of the season, and the playoff race heats up.

Dirk Nowitzki Out for 2 Weeks

An unfortunate injury came to Dirk Nowitzki in Sunday's Dallas Mavericks vs. San Antonio Spurs game. The 7 footer went down awkwardly on his left leg with just 3:18 remaining in the 3rd quarter. According to Mark Cuban the forward/center will be out of action for 2 weeks time.

From Sporting News:

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has confirmed that superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki will be out about two weeks after suffering a lower leg injury Sunday afternoon, the Dallas Morning News reports.

The Mavericks lost the game to the Spurs, 88-81. Nowitzki was injured with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter when he came down awkwardly after blocking a shot by Ime Udoka.

"I fell awkwardly, and my left leg got caught underneath me," Nowitzki said in a news release.

Sources close to Nowitzki indicated Sunday night that a post-game MRI exam, like earlier X-rays, turned up no immediate issues with the knee, ESPN.com reported.

The Mavs will need to rely on a "step-up" in play from Josh Howard and Jason Kidd now as they'll be facing some tough upcoming games. According to ESPN Sportscenter, they may get some relief from 2 games against the LA Clippers though..

Dwyane Wade's Shocking Season...

With just 21 games left in their season, the Miami Heat's star player, Dwyane Wade is hanging up his Converse. The superstar has dealt with nagging injury and decided it's in his team and his own best interest to get healthy for the Olympics and next season.

According to The Sports Network :

The team announced Monday that Wade will undergo shock therapy treatment, a non-surgical procedure, later this week. He will then be limited to passive exercise for 30 days before returning to basketball activities.

After missing the first couple of weeks this season while recovering from last May's surgery, Wade has averaged a team-best 24.5 points and 6.9 assists in 51 games for a club that has the NBA's worst record of 11-50 heading into Monday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Miami Heat have just 11 victories this season, putting them far way from the Eastern Conference playoff hunt. Coach Pat Riley even suggested he would give season ticket holders a refund for how dismal a seaason Miami has had this go round.

ESPN's "Cold Pizza" crew had two analysts/personalities debating the issue with one saying he had no problem with Wade's early exit, and the other talking about how NBA teams tank so often. It's hard to tank much more than the Heat have this season. A very dismal record, a big trade of the Big Aristotle (Shaq), and now Wade's ended season have shown a very cold Miami squad. It will be interesting to see if the Heat go after a big man in the lottery to start their quest towards NBA playoff glory once again.

The Rise and Fall of Houston's Yao Ming

The Rockets continued their impressive winning streak on Tuesday night as they dropped the Wizards. However, the Rockets may soon be landing. Unfortunately for Houston it's big man, Yao Ming went down with a serious foot injury which will keep him out for the rest of this NBA season as well as the 2008 Playoffs.

According to USA Today and ESPN, Yao has suffered a stress fracture of his tarsal navicular bone, aka the foot. TNT analyst Doug Collins had the same type of injury in both his feet when he was a player. Due to limited technology it was misdiagnosed as tendinitis. Yao's dealt with the injury bug for the past 3 seasons now, limiting his games play drastically.

USA Today's recent article discussed how Yao "doubts his durability" and how his dynasty as a top center may soon be in jeopardy. The article also discusses how the Rockets have always gone sub .500 when either Yao or T-Mac is hurt. See the full USA Today article here.

It's a shame because the All-star Yao Ming definitely has talent and this season analysts claimed he was becoming quite the imposing defender in the lane. The Rockets had blasted off in the West and appeared unstoppable. Now, yet again Houston's chances to make the NBA Finals seem to have fallen with its big man.

Gerald Wallace KO'd but OK

During Friday night's Bobcats vs. Kings matchup, G/F Gerald Wallace took an inadvertant elbow from Kings' player Mikki Moore. The elbow knocked Wallace down to the hardwood and required he be taken from the game by stretcher. According to ESPN, Wallace was having bouts of amnesia from the blow as well.

From the Charlotte Observer:

"It was Gerald -- you knew he'd get up," said Charlotte Bobcats teammate Matt Carroll, following a 116-115 overtime home loss to the Kings. "Then I saw his eyes were shaking and I knew he was really out."

Out with a Grade 3 concussion, which the Bobcats describe as the most serious. He had a slight case of amnesia after the injury. Following a CAT scan, Wallace was sent home to rest.

He didn't accompany the team to Washington for tonight's game against the Wizards, and there's no telling when the player teammates nicknamed "Crash" will be well enough to play. (SOURCE)

Let's hope for a speedy and safe recovery of Bobcat Gerald Wallace who does just about everything imaginable in terms of stats.

Arenas' Return in February

According to Wizards superstar Gilbert Arenas in his latest blog, he should be 100% and back from injury sometime in mid February. Arenas doesn't want to push things though. He notes that Kobe and Wade have gone through phases after injuries where they had to favor them, and that can hurt the team.

From Gilbert's blog:

" We watched the Miami Heat and I see Wade out there … and I remember seeing Kobe like that … and that’s what I didn’t want to do, to be out there limping and trying to push it, because it don’t look good. You don’t play well, you’re always guarding the injury and you can see Wade right now out there guarding it, and that’s the only reason the Heat are struggling so bad. He’s not being Wade right now. He’s not playing up to his potential because of the injury he’s coming back from.

They say I’ll be at 100 percent around February, mid-February, somewhere around the All-Star break, but I’m just going to be in extra wait mode, just to be sure. "

Gilbert also has an interesting spin on the concept of setting New Year's resolutions. Check it out here.

TJ Ford Hits Court Hard

You may or may not have seen the unfortunate injury of TJ Ford as highlights were shown to open ESPN Sportscenter. In the Hawks vs. Raptors game Tuesday night, TJ Ford was on a fast break with Hawks rookie Al Horford trailing. Ford went for the layup and Horford went for the block. Unfortunately Horford's hand caught Ford ackwardly and Ford came down onto the court in what looked like bad whiplash. Ford's neck/head snapped back against the court, and Ford was taken out from the game on a stretcher in a neck brace. Chris Bosh indicated later it was a relief to see that TJ was moving after the fall.

Horford insisted the play wasn't dirty, but Horford was ejected from the game with a flagrant foul for this. He stated he was fooled by Ford's layup move and when he went to block the ball he caught Ford's head. He later said he's not a dirty type of player and hopes Ford is ok. It's unfortunate for TJ, because he had a previous spinal injury which he was able to recover from. That injury caused him to miss the entire 2004-05 season with neck surgery and recovery. Let's hope this isn't as serious and that TJ is back sooner rather than later.

Read Raptors' Ford takes a hard fall.

NBA News and Notes 11.05.07

Here's some news and notes from around the NBA with the season in its first full week of action.

Elton Brand and Greg Oden aren't the only stars forced to sit out for most of or all of the NBA season. Adam Morrison of the Charlotte Bobcats is now out for the season with an ACL tear in his left knee, probably one of the worst injuries someone can see in basketball or pro sports. Morrison will have surgery on the knee in about 5 days. Despite the injury, Seattle Times reports Morrison is trying to stay positive.

Players of the week for the first NBA week were Indiana Pacer Danny Granger and Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady. Both teams are off to 3-0 starts in their respective Conferences, and perhaps Indiana was the bigger surprise of the 2. Strong play from Granger indicates he may have a breakout season to lead this team, with J O'Neal struggling with injuries. T-Mac is more expected although he and teammmate Yao will need to also stay healthy this season to keep the Rockets contending.

Speaking of Yao, there was the highly-praised game of his fellow Chinese superstar, Yi Jianlian for the Milwaukee Bucks. Yi had 16 points and 8 rebounds in an early game, helping the Bucks record a win over the favored Chicago Bulls. According to reports from China, fans were flipping back and forth between the Houston Rockets game to see Yao and the Bucks game to watch Yi in action. This is definitely great for the NBA as it broadens its fanbase even more. Yao was already very popular there and jersey sales of other NBA stars are as well. Yi is also being heavily promoted amongst Chinese media sources. The question will be do both these guys get a ton of votes come All-star time?

And of course the NBA story everyone loves to hate is that of Kobe Bryant. Will he stay a Laker, or will he leave? It's always good to see a player stay his career for one team, but sometimes it is inevitable and things can't be worked out in their current situation. Kobe seems unhappy with the way the current Lakers team is and it may be justified as he's won in the past. So where will the star end up next? Marc Stein at ESPN.com has the "Take a spin on the Kobe Coaster" article in which he says don't rule out Chicago or Dallas at all. Stay tuned.

NBA Trade & Durant Injured

The big news, if you want to call it that, had the Timberwolves and Heat pulling the trigger on a deal yesterday, which sent Ricky Davis from the Timberowlves over to the heat, and Antoine Walker to Minnesota. Other guys were involved, but those two are the focuses. I guess the idea would be for Davis to provide some scoring relief for Wade, or even be his back up with Gary Payton not really there. In Minnesota, Al Jefferson should shine and Walker may be able to take him under his wing to help improve him even more. Walker's aged and I don't expect him to be a top scorer in Minnesota, but stranger things have happened. Most likely the Twolves will belong to Big Al or Randy Foy this year, as they struggle mightily.

Greg Oden will be sitting the sidelines this season after knee surgery. It seems now that the #2 pick in the draft is now hurt as well, but not as seriously. Kevin Durant suffered an ankle sprain this past Tuesday against Golden State, which may keep him out of the lineup for the season opener next week. Luckily this injury is not as serious as Oden's, so Durant should see time and success this season.

SeattlePI.com has a Supersonics season preview here.

Check back here for an article full of prediced NBA award winners in 2007-08 on Friday.

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.