Big men in the NBA are truly at a premium, great ones can almost turn the fortunes of teams around by themselves. Coming out of Ohio State, Greg Oden looked poised to dominate at the NBA level thanks to his innate skills at rebounding and interior defense. When healthy, he is extremely intimidating around the basket; few dare to drive to the hoop with him directly in their path.
The operative words of the last sentence are “when healthy”. Greg Oden’s NBA knee injuries are well known, he has even had to undergo the dreaded micro-fracture surgery; a procedure in which the odds of ever coming back close to 100 percent are tenuous at best.Never heard of this before? Get up to speed here. Further studying of his injury history actually shows an even greater occurrence of injuries than initially thought.
All totaled, since the sixth grade Greg Oden has only had one injury free season of basketball. He has suffered an assortment of injuries all relating to his hip, wrist or knees. With this checkered past, the chances of him putting it together and maintaining his health for an entire season appears to be slipping further from possibility with each passing day. Seeing a potentially great big man not live up to expectations is tough, having injuries be the cause of that is even tougher.
