I hope he is able to make it back and have a healthy career in the NBA. I also hope he always has bad games against the Blazers.
Look at the hitch in his step when at the end of that 1st video clip when he's blocking those buttercup lobs...serious hop along cassidy limp there, doesn't look good...!
Interesting that he's not allowed to talk to the media. I don't mean any ill health on the young man but I fully expect him to be once again, the highest paid spectator on an NBA bench. He does have some nice suits now.
Agreed - nothing from that video has me at all concerned that he'll end up being a viable NBA player.
So was he nowhere close to fully recovered before training camp started? Since he played a couple minutes of a preseason game I figured he was nearly healthy enough to play games back then. Either the Heat put him on the court when he wasn't healthy, and risked him getting another injury; or he had a setback of some kind that hasn't been announced. The thing that made Oden elite was his quickness, he ran agility drills as fast as Aaron Brooks. It doesn't look like he has any of that speed now. Plus it takes time in actual games to learn how to transfer that athleticism to functioning basketball contributions. Derrick Rose was rusty as hell after a one year layoff. It's been almost two years since Odens last microfracture surgery, players often come back after 6 months and never longer than a year from those. Oden was never a skilled player. If Oden doesn't have athleticism he won't be any better than Hasheem Thabeet. The Pacers will love to see a player like that get on the court because they'll be able to pick him apart on both ends.
I understand why he's doing it, I just don't think he a chance in hell of being even remotely the player that he was supposed to be. I don't understand how a guy needs four years to recover. Is he waiting for them to develop cyborg legs for him?
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00225 I have it on good authority that this is what Oden has... The condition is exacerbated by heavy drinking; maybe it took 4 years because he was living inside a bottle for three of them.
It hard to watch but like riverman saw, that hitch/dragging his leg at the end of the first video pretty much shows me that he won't ever be able to make a significant contribution to a team for more than a couple of minutes a game. sad after the hope and promise on his arrival in Portland after the draft.
I wonder if any Heat fans are saying "just wait till he gets into game shape!" Guy has had 4 years to get over his knee cap issue, and almost 2 years to get over his last MF. It wouldn't surprise me if he has to have another surgery this year on one or both of his knees. I do feel sorry for him, to an extent, but at the same time I don't care. I never grew that attached to the Roy/LaMarcus/Oden thing. Saw them play together maybe 5 times. He doesn't look bad, but I would've hoped he'd be further along than looking like he's an Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje.
