Greg Oden is the New Sam Bowie
The Portland Trailblazers are cursed, but they can’t be mad at anybody but themselves. In 1984 they did the unthinkable and drafted Same Bowie instead of Michael Jordan.
We all know how that turned out.
But in 2007 the franchise that Bill Walton and Clyde Drexler built were given a second chance. The Blazers now had a golden opportunity to redeem themselves by selecting a skinny kid from D.C. who had just won every college player of the year award; as a freshman.
There was no way that 84’ could happen again could it? Days before the 07’ draft reports started to surface that the Blazers would use their pick to once again bank on a big man, Greg Oden. They wanted an inside presence to pair with LaMarcus Aldridge, as combo guard Brandon Roy would be the perimeter threat to their new young tandem.
The Blazers did as reported, and went with Oden as Kevin Durant sat in the green room.
I remember saying that if the Blazers took Oden over Durant, “It would be one of the dumbest moves in NBA History.” Well, I have been proven right.
On Monday, Oden underwent his fifth knee surgery since being drafted back in 07’. The former #1 pick has also gone under the knife for a fractured left kneecap and three microfracture procedures which included one on his right knee and two on his left. Oden hasn’t played since December 5th of 2009 and has only seen action in 82 games in his career with an average of 9.4 ppg to go along with 7.3 rebounds.
While Bowie played 11 seasons in the NBA, he too stayed in Portland for five years and sustained five knee surgeries in his career. His career numbers are also scarily similar to Oden’s as he ended his career with an average of 10 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.
Your heart has to go out to Oden; the guy can’t seem to catch a break. But in all fairness I’ve never understood what was so special about him. He was a great high school player due to his size and athletic ability, but even in his one year at Ohio State I never saw a game in which I thought he was worthy of the #1 pick. When I watched Durant I was wowed, when I watched Oden I yawned.
There has been no word on where Oden or the Trailblazers will go from here. But as always, someone has to catch the blame and in this case it can’t be Oden. It isn’t his fault his knees don’t work, and the kid didn’t draft himself. So once again the Blazers’ front office has blown it.
Something is terribly wrong in Portland. How is it that you pass on Michael Jordan AND Kevin Durant?
Talk about bad decision-making skills, SMH.
“I ball for real, yall ni***s is Sam Bowie/ and with the third pick, I made the Earth sick/ M.J., him Jay/ fade away perfect”
Jay-Z – “Hola Hovito”
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