OK, this one is gonna hurt.
I play in two fantasy football leagues. Anyone who has played in a fantasy football league is familiar with the nickname fantasy football players have for Fred Taylor of the Jacksonville Jaguars - "Fragile" Fred Taylor. Taylor earned that nickname because he is always getting hurt and being placed on injured reserve, where he can do a fantasy football team absolutely no good.
I am starting to wonder if the NBA's version of "Fragile" Fred is the Portland Trailblazers' own Greg Oden.
Since being drafted #1 overall in 2007, Oden has logged 13 minutes of actual game time. He has 5 rebounds, two turnovers, two personal fouls and is a 0% shooter from both the field and the free throw line. By the way, he has yet to score a point in an NBA game. He also has had tonsilitis. microfracture surgery, a twisted ankle, and now a sprained foot (which will keep him out 2 to 4 weeks -- which means 4 weeks cause the Blazers don't want to rush things, you know).
Think about this for a moment, Oden has as many injuries (4) as he has shots from the field (4). And by the way, don't forget that in Oden's only season at Ohio State University, Oden missed a lot of time because of an injury to his right wrist.
Face it, the guy is injury prone.
And he looked really, really bad the other night, to boot. He looked slow, uncoordinated, and like a rookie who had never been to an NBA game in his life. Tuesday night was not the kind of debut that Oden and Blazer fans were hping for, quite the opposite. It was everything we were hoping would not happen. But it did.
And Oden got injured.
I was - and remain - a BIG proponent of Oden. When the Blazers were holding the #1 overall pick in 2007, readers of The Liver will recall that I was loudly calling for the Blazers to draft Oden. I am still glad they did.
But now it is time for all of us Blazer fans to admit that which we were hoping was not the case - Oden's career and performance is going to be seriously limited by injuries.
Thank God we have Pryzbilla.
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