From Shock To Sorrow Greg Oden will not play this season after team doctor Don Roberts performed microfracture surgery Thursday morning on the highly touted center's right knee. Microfracture surgery, which consists of making tiny fractures in the bone around the knee to stimulate cartilage growth, is the most serious and risky of knee surgeries, and typically takes six months to one year from which to recover. It was a stunning and deflating development for a team that had been riding a swell of positive momentum that crested in May when the Blazers defied huge odds to win the NBA's draft lottery. Oden, who is considered the type of franchise-changing center that comes along once every decade, was widely viewed as the right pick at No. 1, a player who would change the Blazers from a developing team into a contender. -- The Oregonian Elation Becomes Deflation For Fans The euphoria that giddy Blazers fans enjoyed in late spring has been supplanted by the sense of doom in late summer. The news Thursday that No. 1 draft pick Greg Oden will likely miss the entire 2007-08 season sent fans around the city into a collective funk and may require the combined self-help services of Oprah and Dr. Phil. "I was shocked. That's a bummer for Blazer fans," said Ralph Austin, a 42-year-old driver and delivery man for Pepsi. "He's gonna be out a whole year. That's a tragedy for us." -- The Oregonian </p> Coaches Forced To Go With Plan B When the shock subsides and the disbelief dissolves, reality will set in for the Trail Blazers: Training camp still opens in less than three weeks and a nationally televised season opener at reigning champion San Antonio still remains. Greg Oden is gone. But the season will continue. "One thing we have to do is move on," coach Nate McMillan said. "Greg was a big part of this team, but he was a part. And we have 14 other players that have worked their behinds off this summer to get ready for the season." -- The Oregonian </p> Blazer Fans, The Sky Isn't Falling Yes, Greg Oden probably will miss what would have been his rookie season. Yes, you're going to be hearing from a lot of people that the Blazers picked the wrong player in the draft. Yes, they will say Oden is going to be dogged by injuries throughout his career, another Bill Walton, or -- heaven forbid -- Sam Bowie. Yes, this news was a big-time shock. People who saw Oden in a social situation Wednesday night, on the eve of his surgery, say he wasn't even limping. Hard to believe the injury was that serious. But it was -- so we move on. And I would beg for a little perspective here. Please. One season doesn't make a career. We don't know what his career will be like. -- Portland Tribune </p> With Oden Out, Blazers Have Big Shoes To Fill Microfracture surgery isn't a death knell for a pro athlete, but the Blazers' estimate that Greg Oden's right knee could be fully recovered in six to 12 months appears to be hopeful and optimistic. Many NBA players Jason Kidd, John Stockton, Chris Webber and Amare Stoudemire among them returned to top form, but it took all those stars at least two seasons to put the knee problems behind them. Others, such as Terrell Brandon, Brian Grant, Allan Houston and Penny Hardaway, never fully recovered. Former Portland forward Zach Randolph underwent micro-fracture surgery on his right knee in March 2005 but said he didn't feel like his old self on the court until nearly two years later. -- Portland Tribune </p> In World Of Troubles, This Rates Barely A Blip So the Trail Blazers are snakebit, right? Well, meet The Birdman. His wife died in 1996 in a car accident. He raised their two boys by himself and, now, most days, he eats a donated lunch at a downtown church a few blocks away. On Thursday, he found himself kneeling in the same spot where Greg Oden was welcomed to this franchise by 6,000 fans a couple of months ago. While the rest of the city cursed basketball fate, and questioned reason, and said things such as, "Good God, who needs a drink?" Birdman knelt and fed his pigeons, calling them "Hopper" and "Peeper" and the other pet names he's given them. Tragic day for the basketball franchise, right? -- The Oregonian </p> Another Big Man Breaks Trail Blazers' Heart "So sad and depressing," Walton said of the similar circumstances that hampered him after he came out of UCLA as one of the most touted and successful big men in college basketball history. He did win an NBA title with the Trail Blazers in 1977, but Walton never played a full season for them and injuries soon cut short his career. The Oden situation seems an eerie coincidence for a team that drafted center Sam Bowie second overall in 1984 only to have him injured much of his career, picked center LaRue Martin No. 1 in the 1972 only to watch his career fail to develop and selected center Arvydas Sabonis in 1986 when he was arguably the world's best big man but didn't get him until 1995 when his knees were wrecked by injuries. "It's the curse of Bill Walton," Walton said. "They can't get rid of it." -- Chicago Tribune </p> Oden's Season Is Lost, Blazers' Future Is Not As far as twists of fate go, this one was a doozy. The Portland Trail Blazers got a nasty surprise yesterday when they learned no. 1 overall pick Greg Oden will miss the entire season as a result of microfracture knee surgery. While it had been known that Oden needed some work done, the microfracture diagnosis came as a surprise -- an eerie similarity to the surprise microfracture surgery Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire had two years ago. Of course, Oden has other parallels with Stoudemire, and those are positives. Until Oden, Stoudemire was the youngest player known to undergo the procedure, and the fact that he came all the way back and made first-team All-NBA last year has to be an encouraging sign for the Blazers. And as in Stoudemire's case, the lesion on Oden's knee was considered quite small, improving his odds for a full recovery. -- New York Sun </p> He Can Rebound -- Can He Recover? No one can speak with any certainty about this. Not the surgeons, not the trainers, not the Trail Blazers, not even Greg Oden. The micro- fracture surgery that Portland's prize rookie underwent Thursday is a medical marvel, but it's also an indiscriminately confounding, mysterious procedure. Who recovers? Who recovers fully? For every 10 NBA players who reclaimed their mobility and considerable skill set, resuming productive careers after lengthy, grueling rehabilitations -- and Amare Stoudemire, Zach Randolph and Jason Kidd come quickly to mind -- every general manager in the league can swiftly recite another 10 who were never the same. -- Sacramento Bee </p> Oden's Life Isn't Action-Packed Oden filmed the contents of his refrigerator, including a half-eaten watermelon. The 7-footer also used one angle most of us don't normally see, the view looking down onto the top of the refrigerator, where he kept "my favorite cereal, Cookie Crisp." In what might prove to be a meaningful moment, he gave a tour, dead-panning, "This is the couch." Whether that was the same couch he was getting up from when he felt a sharp pain in his knee isn't clear, but that too probably will be examined. Reported ESPN's Ric Bucher: "Goes to show that if you don't have ergonomically correct couches and you're that big, you run a risk." But take heart, Portland fans: Now that this has happened, the Trail Blazers might have a chance to get the No. 1 pick two years in a row -- though with a star-crossed draft history like Portland's, that might not be good. -- Los Angeles Times </p> Oden Likely Out For A Year Trail Blazers officials said they don't expect Oden, 19, to play this season. But the team and Oden's agent, Mike Conley Sr., said they remain confident he will become a franchise center in the NBA. They estimate the time for a full recovery at six to 12 months. Others aren't so sure. "If you don't have good cartilage in that area, as soon as you run, jump, pivot, what's to say it won't happen again?" said Michael Kaveney, orthopedic surgeon with Northside Orthopedic Center in Carmel. "This is Jonathan Bender all over again, unfortunately for Greg." Bender was drafted by the Indiana Pacers at age 19 but played just 237 regular-season games, never a full season, due to deteriorating knees. Oden's camp sees a much different picture. -- Indianapolis Star </p>
