Remember Zach Randolph, the guy so many people claimed was fat and lazy and blah-blah-blah? Compare his recovery from MF surgery to Oden's. It doesn't take a hardcore pessimist to be concerned by the contrast.
Actually, Oden's recovery from his first microfracture surgery was very similar to Zach's. Zach's production was down the season he was injured, was even lower the season after he came back from microfracture surgery, and did not take off until the second season post-microfracture surgery. Oden struggled his first season post microfracture, but was really showing great improvement early in his second season post microfracture. But then he fractured his patella and that ended what was shaping up to be a very productive season with significant improvement. At the time he fractured his patella, Oden was leading the league in FG%, TRB% and BLK%. His problem wasn't a slower than normal recovery, it was that he suffered additional injuries that set him back to square one - twice. Zach has been healthy and productive since his one, and only, microfracture surgery. Hopefully, Oden can eventually get healthy and can provide the kind of production longer term that he showed at the beginning of the 2009-10 season. That's the big question mark. There's no doubt he can be productive when healthy, but can he ever be healthy for an entire season? BNM
because all knee injuries that are treated with microfracture are exactly the same... thank you for weighing in with your expertise doctor STOMP
The team doesn't even place timetables on his various returns from injury anymore. It's just my opinion, anyhow.
Exactly. Some people heal more quickly than others from the procedure. Slow healers, for example, will have a longer time to recover. Plus, only rec league players can compare their experiences with injury and fatigue to that of a professional athlete.
What sad for me is Oden news doesn't really have an impact on me anymore. I wish I could relate with him and somehow see him as a Blazer, but other than hearing how much he rehabs, I haven't really read much or heard much from him that would make me feel like he is a big part of this Blazer organization. He is sitting on the bench these days during games. His way of picking up his play in his contract year. Hope Oden proves me wrong, but if I were a betting man, I wouldn't bet on the guy.
Then again, I might be needling those folks who claimed Zach was "lazy." Maybe Zach (gasp!) worked hard at his rehab?
Oh no, not that crappy Canzano article again. We had a good-sized thread about it. I noted that to put out a column of no news and all opinion, he used a conversation from weeks earlier (which had already given him an earlier column). You have to read closely to see that the only new event was that he hung around while Oden ignored him, so he got nothing new to base this new nonstory on. It's just his recycled opinion. Notice that HoopsDaily carefully leaves out the byline in its reprint so you won't know who wrote it?
I can't believe my ears. All we have to do is wait 5 months for the decade-long dynasty of championsips to begin--and one of you said How can you turn your back on our dynasty? I can't believe someone in this very thread had the gall to say Why does it have to be either/or? This isn't our money we're wasting. This is Paul Allen's and I'm sure he doesn't care. He loves to throw away money on a benchsitter. He doesn't want another signing like Wallace. He'd rather fill the slot with Oden. How can you be so cruel and callous as to say What will we do if we don't have Oden to kick around anymore? Allen will have to spend more on mascots.
oh please, it reads like the same glass completely dry take on Greg you offer up 2-25 times a week. I can recall the glowing reports of Zach's hard work in his rehab and specifically the article with him busting it up Portland hills on a mountain bike that countered those folks just fine back in the day. Similarly there have been umpteen reports of Greg's stellar efforts at his rehab to counter any current Debbie Downers... and again the 5 more months is on the initial schedule that his Orthopedic Surgeon put out just after he had the surgery. If you have anything factual to point to either guy being ahead of or behind their respective rehab schedule (especially if thats do to effort or lack there of) I'm sure we'd all be interested. STOMP
It would be poetic justice if the half season starts in January 2012. Greg comes back slowly, but is dominating by the playoffs. We sweep the Mavs, then the Spurs and finally in the WCF we dominate game 7 of a tough series with the Lakers. We then go up 3-1 against the Bulls with game 5 about to tip off in Portland... When a giant solar flare fires outwards from the sun, everyone is sent home and we spend the last hours of our lives wishing they would have just played the damn game so we could at least see a Blazers championship before we go.
