Greg Oden: The Case of the Misunderstood Manchild

(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

Greg Oden has been called just about everything.

Coming out of college at Ohio State University, he was called a "beast", "the next Bill Russell", the "most prized Ohio State basketball recruit in the school's history", and "dominant".

Two years after being drafted number one by Portland and two injuries, critics added such labels as "the next Sam Bowie", "bust", "fragile" and "injury prone".

In a 2008 entertainmentinsider.com article, the collegiate Greg Oden was described as living:

"...up to the hype. He was simply a dominating figure, he had a soft shooting touch, could clog up the middle and block shots, and he was as intimidating of a player as there had been in recent memory. He, along with that heralded freshman class ran rough shod through the Big Ten conference.

"In the conference tournament, there wasn't a team who came within 10-12 points of beating them. Oden was his usual monstorous (sic) self, blocking shots and imposing his will. He eventually led the team to the NCAA Tournament final, where they lost to repeat champions, the Florida Gators."

Later in that same article, the author concludes:

"Oden may prove me wrong, but as of right now, October 29th, 2008, I will declare that Greg Oden is a draft bust up to this point. When you are supposed to be the next Bill Russell and all you have to show for it in your first 18 months of the league is 1 1/2 quarters played and two large injuries, that is a crushing disappointment that is hard to shake."

This is where I have a fundamental difference of opinion from the critics.

Most of us can agree that the NBA has never seen the anticipated Greg Oden—the one who dominated at the collegiate level, and the one projected by nearly every NBA scout and talent evaluator to do the same thing at the NBA level. 

I believe this is primarily due to the following three factors.

First, about the surgery.

Portland fans nearly had a meltdown when it was announced that Greg would have to undergo microfracture surgery.

Although it had been performed before on other elite athletes, including some who had played in the NBA, and it was and is considered to be a minimally invasive and minor procedure, not all outcomes had been positive.

By Sept. 30, 2008, some 30 NBA athletes had undergone microfracture surgery.

Two additional players, Spencer Hawes and Doug Christie, had the procedure performed prior to entering the NBA. Notables included players such as Amare Stoudemire, Allan Houston, Tracy McGrady, and John Stockton.

Recovery time has taken as little as two months (Stockton, Hardaway, Najera) and as long as 16.5 months (Kittles).

Greg Oden was out for approximately 12 months.

It is noteworthy that the microfracture surgery that Greg Oden underwent was considered to be highly successful, and relatively minor when compared to other cases. The team exercised great caution in bringing him back, allowing him to sit out the entire 2007-2008 season. Doctors described the outlook as follows:

"The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery from micro fracture surgery."

Fans of the Blazers and Oden should take comfort in the knowledge that the microfracture surgery performed on Greg appears to be completely successful, and that no lingering problems directly associated with the surgery have been noted.

There is every reason to believe that Greg Oden's knee will not affect the quality of his career.

The second point has to do with conditioning.

While at Ohio State University, Greg was usually described as being between 7'0" and 7'1", and weighing roughly 250 pounds. Through the magic of YouTube, we can go back in time and see what a 250 pound Greg Oden looks like.

The season following his microfracture surgery, Oden never got back into "game shape."

This was attributed to the Blazers coaching staff not allowing him to put weight on his affected leg for nearly the entire year. He lifted weights to stay in shape.

While he added strength, his conditioning suffered.

To complicate matters, a foot injury sidelined him for the first two weeks of the following year. His conditioning was delayed even further.

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