Ack...I just read the Columbine book, and an-ex gf went to the other high school in Littleton (where Columbine is), other than that, no. not too soon...
some really silly threads lately Kingspeed we can assume nothing with the health of any player. We can assume that more injuries will happen to Trailblazers forever as it's a rough game... pretty much everyone who has ever played suffers them. Greg's run of injuries the last few years may be the last major injuries he ever sustains. They may be the result of just dumb luck, but for sure we will never be in the know of whats what until his playing days are over and are looking back at his career. In the meantime we can take some solace in the fact that none of his setbacks should limit him physically once he's good to go again. When he went down last week I thought he'd torn multiple tendons alla Shaun Livingston... what actually happened was much much less severe. STOMP
I disagree. Not every player is built the same and some players are more prone to injury than others, particularly big men. We can expect Greg to get injured again. Can we argue that this will be the last major injury he ever sustains? Sure, we can. We can also just as easily argue that it won't be. He's building a rep for injury. He still suffers from foul trouble, limiting his minutes... The only solution to which is experience... which requires him to stay on the floor... which requires him to be healthy. It's a vicious cycle but what is certain is that we can't depend on him.
It has nothing to do with Greg Oden... and everything to do with... THE CURSE. We need a better name really... the Portland Bigman Curse... or actually... I think I know what it is... I have seen it in my dreams... tall... big... lumbering... what is that... an Axe? "THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!!!!" It is the curse of The Curse of Paul Bunyan. The statue of course. Paul Bunyan Statue Joel Przybilla was spared... evidently, because of his resemblance.
my point was we can expect most every player to get injured again. no one is arguing that reputation means jack. At 37 years old Grant Hill seems to be relatively healthy these days years removed from being written off as injury prone. Joel Przybilla seems to have shaken the bad rap as well. Shit happens, it's a rough game. STOMP
Duly noted. But Joel never had his knees operated on. Most of his injuries were of the nagging variety. Those are easier to come back from. He has worked really hard on his conditioning and accomplished a big goal of his by playing in all 82 games last year. I can't even imagine Greg doing that - that would be sweet.
That's too easy an argument. It's like saying we can expect everyone to die one day. Some players get injured with much more frequency then others (i.e. Greg vs Kobe). My point is reputation IS significant because it's the ONLY way we have of predicting the FUTURE. For every Grant Hill injury free career turnaround, there is a Sam Bowie. Since Greg's had several significant injuries already, it is MUCH easier to wager that he will get injured again. The alternative to this is to completely disregard what has happened up until this point in his career and make a wishful prediction as to his health down the line... based on hope.
Joel Przybilla, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Rik Smits are all big men who had injury problems early but overcame them. Ilgauskas's were arguably more serious than Greg's. Smits and Przybilla lost a good deal of weight to do so. Greg lost some weight, but maybe he could afford to lose more. On the downside, there's Yao Ming. But he is 6 or 7 inches taller than Greg.
and yours is much too simplistic. To be sure, some people are more likely to be injured then others because of the way that they are built. Certainly bigger guys suffer more injuries then smaller players for several obvious reasons. Training and nutrition hold some sway as does style of play (i.e. Laimbeer vs Greg). But as Rasta's post above only starts to illustrate, history provides us many shades of grey examples to counter your expressed view that Greg must suffer more injuries then whats average for a Big from here on out. We're all beautiful unique snowflakes History may be "the ONLY way we have of predicting the FUTURE" but history provides us with many examples of guys who've suffered injuries who've enjoyed long stretches of health later in their careers. What we know is that history doesn't unavoidably link early injuries with more-to-come by a longshot. Again some of what you're saying has merit, you're just taking things a few steps too far. Yes a player that has suffered injuries early on in their career is more likely to again, but that percentage is far under the 100% chance you're suggesting. Hell, I'm recalling some of these same arguments applied to Roy and Aldridge not so long ago. Of course the club goes forward with wishful thinking towards his health down the line... are you suggesting that they cut him? Regardless of who he signs his next contract with, it will reflect that there are concerns about him and that team will be hoping he stays healthy. Hey, maybe Portland will actually have enough capspace to resign Batum and Rudy after all STOMP
Could I make the very simple point that none of us are doctors, let alone orthopedic surgeons, and therefore we really don't know how Greg is getting hurt?
Hey crandc! Good to see you posting again! But being the voice of reason isn't going to get very far in here...
This is absolutely my read on things. It's like a bank robber who is also chief of police. Of course they will CYA. If and this is a big if, IF Oden's bones shatter from jumping then his career will be short and brutal. I think it's the medical staff bullshitting. I've never EVER heard of a patella splitting from a jump. Never. I'd love to see some more examples of it so we can know more about it. Seems coincidental beyond reason that his same knee injury repeats this time with zero contact. I think it must have been cracked deep inside and over the months it cracked more, before finally splitting from a jump. That seems infinitely more likely then it just exploding for no reason. I've never heard of such a thing. This isn't a foot we are talking about. It's not weight bearing bone, it's a bone that gets pressure from flexing. I just don't see how Oden's bones wouldn't be exploding constantly during weight training if they are so frail. Magette injuring it and then it going unnoticed and him receiving bad advice (like Blake, Martell, Rudy and Batum) seems infinitely more likely. Fire the medical staff. No fucking seriously.
His leg is shorter than the other. In fact, he measured an entire inch taller when they fitted him with a custom insert in his right shoe to make up for that 1/2" lost from his hip surgery.
Agreed, but if I was KP I'd get a second opinion, if not a third, from doctors unrelated to the Blazers medical staff. If I was KP I'd be taking a big long look at our roster, that is our MEDICAL roster.
