That's gotta hurt

Portland had the #1 pick in the NBA last year. Instead of taking the best college player to come out (Kevin Durant) they went with the big man (Greg Oden) because big men are a 'must' in the NBA.

Oden lost for season

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
September 13, 2007

Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 NBA draft, will miss the 2007-08 season after undergoing microfracture surgery Thursday, two league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Oden, a 7-footer from Ohio State, was found to have torn cartilage during exploratory surgery on his right knee and was operated on by team doctor Don Roberts in Vancouver, Wash. Most microfracture surgeries require eight months to a year for recovery.

"Greg had an arthroscopy and a microfracture surgery today," Roberts said in a Blazers statement. "He was found to have articular cartilage damage in his right knee. The area of injury was not large and we were able to treat it with microfracture, which stimulates the growth of cartilage.

"There are things about this that are positive for Greg. First of all, he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery." [link]

Now it looks like they will be without him anyway, guess we know who'll be the favorite for rookie of the year now. It does look like Oden will recover and be able to play next season.