Oden and Joel both practicing before the game and on the road trip

This idea about what benefit does it help to put a timetable on it?

Well what benefit is there to put a timetable on any player yet they always seem to do that. The franchise relies on fans, don't they have some kind of moral obligation to keep fans posted about players and when they think they will play.

Again, why put timetables on any injuries?

 

for what its worth i have oden sitting on my bench for my fantasy team and his little side note says "blazers officials are aiming for a late november return." i dont know where they heard that but that would be pretty nice

 

Greg made it fairly clear (at least to me) in the interview last night that they didn't want to put a time on his return because if there was any hiccup in that agenda it would create a media hysteria that would become a distraction for the entire team. I was reading a bit between the lines, but that was my take.

Players do set time tables, but not everyone is equal in the NBA. Some guys don't have the uber hyper attention so there isn't much interest if the time frame slides, some guys get a microscope shoved up their ass. Greg is the latter partly because he was the first pick with mega hype and partly because of his terrible injury record, so I totally understand his thinking. When it happens it happens, and I've no doubt it will happen, until then I'm happy with how things have started.

 

I understand the pressure of a timetable and I understand GO is in a unique enough postion that he can be the exception to the rule (most players have timetables when it comes to injuries).

There is also a rumor that GO and management have differnt timetables . . . which would also explain why no there is no official timetable. It's just all very wierd to me and can't remember the last time when the official statement about a player's injury is there is no timetable. But heck, I'm like everyone else and just waiting for Oden to get healthy and back on the court.

 

Seems like I remember Arvydas having no timetable on some of his injuries. Seemed like you never knew if he was coming back in a week or if he was done for the season. Could be that his body was so fucked that it just wasn't predictable....

 

Well if you have read almost every article there is on Oden, listened to his interviews for three years, observe his actions and demeanor for the past 3 years . . . and then listen to the interview. Yes I think Blazer fans can have a relatively informed guess as to what Oden is thinking.

I read a little more into not having a timetable than you do . . . but I get most don't think it is a big deal.

Overall, if I was ever going to try to guess what is going on in the mind of an athlete, I think getting the opinion of die hard fans is a good place to start. I'm guessing poeple on this board know a whole lot more about Oden and his personality than any other NBA fans and many national media writers.

 

Speaking of the interview, did anyone find it strange that GO's advise last year to Griffin was to stay connected to the team while injured?

I mean staying connected with the team was not exactly Oden's high points last year.

 

I negotiate a lot for a living so I almost always have to guess what people are really thinking based on conversations with them.. I don't know if they are accurate reads, but I guess if you are doing it all the time, it starts to become second nature (to at least try and figure out if there is more there than what is being said) And I will say with confidence I do know what my sisters, mother and father are generally thinking and I'll extend that to my best friend (we have spent so many hours sharing thoughts, I know their thought processes . . . and they know mine)

With regards to Oden . . . just using everything I know about the guy to try and read through the lines. Obviously a very guarded interview, so you got try to read through the lines. But yeah just guessing based on what we know from 3 years as to what he says and what he does.

 

I guess that's what I was trying to say. He's possibly afraid of looking foolish playing at less than 100% (what, 80, 85, 90%?) and would rather wait until he's feeling no discomfort -- trouble is, he may never be able to play the game of basketball completely free of discomfort ever again after all of the knee problems he's accrued; we could be waiting a really long time for a pain free Oden.

 

Awesome dude, very humble and very true. Repped for class and making a much deeper point, thanks.

 

I will say I'm a huge Oden fan, obviously, and I am worried not about the injury but about his psychology right now. I have no idea what he's thinking, but his body language seems off somehow. It could be that he's uncomfortable talking to the media and that's certainly the simplest explanation. I just want to see him feeling ok on the court. The confidence will come with the dominance. God I was DYING to see Oden in against Phoenix. We would have won by 40. I was pissed we didn't go to Camby more for god's sake! That's how doughy soft they were in the middle.

Last night I wanted to see him playing against Kaman and Griffin.

Griffin by the way, complete stud, holy shit he's built like a fucking tank. He's an absolute beast and SOOOO fast for his size. I was totally blown away. Anyone else?

Back on topic, I expect Oden back around mid-November and I think he will do well, but not as well as he will starting May of next year. I've studied his Jyotish chart and actually posted about November of this year as a turning point for him, the one in May is much bigger and better. We'll see what happens. Let's hope we are deep in the playoffs then.

 

Well, if he doesn't come back this season, he'll likely have at least the beginning of the 2011-12 season off as well due to a lock-out. So, if the Blazers shut him down for this year, and then don't start play again until sometime in 2012, that would give Greg over two years off. I reckon if he can't get healthy with that much rest, it may not be in the cards for him.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/heat/2010-10-12-dwyane-wade-injury-update_N.htm

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-nuggets-martin

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3288772

http://www.nba.com/mavericks/news/InjuryReport.html

There's many more examples (Shaq, McGrady, Arenas, etc) but you get the idea. I hope.

Instead of pretending you know Greg's inner workings, and trying to read between the lines, just go to Google, type in "nba injury no time table" and realize this really isn't a unique statement. In any sport.

I think the fact Greg practiced 5 on 5 should be a little more important than there's no public time table.

 

The other day Roy mentioned that Greg is a lot closer to coming back than a lot of people think. There had also been talk of Roy helping him through this, as he felt it was similar to last year when he had to learn to trust his body after his injury.

 

You can measure progress without a timetable. Progress is being able to do more and with less pain. He may not know at what point in that progression he actually gets on the floor, but sometimes that's unknowable. It may be a judgment call by the doctors that they can't make ahead of time. Only while monitoring his progress.

 

You just praised EdO for saying he doesn't know what his own friends are thinking much less GO and then you go on to guess what GO is thinking.

Did you just do that?

 

Good finds for the no timetable. Although looking into some those players, for instance Arenas, this is what they say:

Arenas was in a walking boot and missed his fourth straight practice Wednesday. Wizards coach Flip Saunders said Arenas will be reevaluated by doctors but will be out Thursday at Orlando and Saturday at Atlanta.

“He’s definitely not going to play these two games,” Saunders said. “We’ll evaluate and hopefully both of these days in the boot will let that, right now the tendon is inflamed, we got to get that thing to settle down. Once it settles down and some of that fluid gets out of it he’s going to have a better chance at playing.”

Seems more definite than what is said about Oden, but you are right the no timetable is used more often than I thought. I also think the 5 on 5 is much more important than a timetable and even better apparently he is doing OK today.

Only thing I said about Oden is to me it doesn't seem like he is anxious to get on the court (do you know that when Oden was asked why he went 5 on 5 that day his answer was because the coach called my name to get in there). I don't know, but Oden has never come across to me as someone chomping at the bit to play basketball . . . I'm sorry this offends you and others. I hope I'm wrong about this feeling.

And why should I google things when I have you around.

 

Why would that offend me? I just think you're wrong.