Cursed?In all seriousness, today might be the biggest day in the history of the Portland Trail Blazers franchise. Really. Greg Oden is going under the knife for his exploratory knee surgery, and the results just might make the difference between him being the next Patrick Ewing or the next Sam Bowie. (And don’t start with the “Dime cover jinx” thing.) Hopefully the injury is minor and we get to see a full-strength Oden this year, but you know every Blazers fan and person associated with the organization has a big knot in their stomach right now. We were looking at G.O.’s blog where he posted the following: “On my vacation earlier this summer I got up off the couch and remember my knee having a sharp pain in it. That was about a month ago. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to seem like I was complaining or making excuses for anything, plus I wasn’t doing anything at the time I realized it hurt, so I figured it couldn’t be anything big.” By sitting on that piece of information for as long as he did, how much time on the sidelines might Oden have caused himself? We’ll know a lot more hopefully later today and at least in the next couple of days … Speaking of surgery, LeBron underwent Lasik eye surgery over the weekend, reportedly improving his vision to 20/15. The better to see Cleveland’s mediocre shooters open on the perimeter, it seems. The Cali doctor who did LeBron’s surgery has also operated on Rip Hamilton and Cuttino Mobley … The Mavs inked Devin Harris to an extension that’s believed to be in the 5-year, $40 million range. If this was last summer and Devin was coming off that ‘06 postseason run, we like the move. But he didn’t do a lot to distinguish himself this year despite some OK numbers (10.2 ppg, 3.7 apg, 1.2 spg). Is he worth $8 million a year? … We do know Devin is worth more than Allan Houston, though. After holding a workout for any teams interested in him this week, H20 got a non-guaranteed contract offer from the Nets — which he likely won’t take, we would imagine. In addition to Jersey, the Cavs, Heat and Knicks were among the teams who came to watch Allan … While their No. 1 target, P.J. Brown, is slow-walking with his decision on whether he’ll play another season, the Suns are auditioning big men. First up: Vitaly Potapenko, Michael “Throw it Higher” Ruffin and Elton Brown (whose claim to fame is being the No. 1 overall pick in the D-League draft last year). Next week it’s Brian Skinner, Mike Sweetney (NO WAY he can play in Phoenix’s system), Clippers lottery bust Yaroslav Korolev and FIBA Americas star Esteban Batista. Out of that group we like Skinner the most, or maybe Brown, who isn’t bad. We’re still not sold on Batista … Meanwhile, the Bucks have been looking for a third PG in case Charlie Bell bounces. So far it’s between Dee Brown, Mike Wilks, Royal Ivey and Scoonie Penn. Where’s he been? … We know you’ve been waiting for this, so thank us later: “American Gladiators” is back, and they’re having an open tryout this Saturday in New York. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Brooklyn’s Paerdegat Athletic Club will host a tryout for those who wanna either be Gladiators or be a contestant … Tyrus Thomas held his celebrity golf tourney in Baton Rogue, La., last week, drawing Big Baby and P.J. Brown among others. Gotta wonder if Tyrus approached his golf game with the same zeal he approached the Dunk Contest? Or did he just tee off, get the check and go home? … Overheard in the office the other day: “I would go to the Westminster Dog Show wearing a Mike Vick jersey.” … We’re out like Sweetney in a Suns uni …
Related posts:
September 13th, 2007 at 7:37 am
buckets says:
first and foremost..fuk yea american gladiators..fuck yea
Scoonie Penns been in the euro league..i cant remember wut team he plays for..i wanna say olympiakos but i think that jus might b one of the only team names i remember..i kno hes been killin it out ther tho.
houston goin to the nets???naa…didnt rod thorn’s bitch ass say he would NEVER sign allan houston a couple weeks ago..im from jersey but im never jumpin on that bandwagon
September 13th, 2007 at 7:40 am
E-ROC says:
Where has Scoonie Penn been? It’s been a minute since I’ve heard about him. What are the Bucks doing?? Just give Charlie Bell his money.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Milan says:
Scoonie’s been playing in Europe for years now, in Serbia, Croatia, Italy and Greece. I think he played the best while in Serbia and Croatia though, he played for Olympiakos last season in Greece, a great contributor everywhere he played.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Jas says:
Scoonie played in Croatia a couple years ago and tore it up.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:25 am
João says:
DH got pay !!! 40 million ? I dont now ,,,
September 13th, 2007 at 9:50 am
jay says:
first off….i hope GO is ok but yeah…this is not good. as i said yesterday for a dude that does not have a lot of mileage on those legs…surgery even exploratory is never a good thing! hope it is not serious and just cleaning loose debris but yeah if i am portland i am scared for my life right now..especially seeing durant live in the blue/white game..he is going to be legit!!!
September 13th, 2007 at 10:07 am
chrisGO says:
anyone know if GO’s knee problem might be somewhat related to one of his legs being longer than the other?
September 13th, 2007 at 11:14 am
JodysOldMan says:
…as far as Durant goes, I always thought he should be taken over Oden. 95% of the league can’t or won’t play Defense anyway, so take an unbelievable scoring talent instead. They made a big deal about him not benching 185, but shit……how much does a basketball weigh??? that’s all he needs to know.
September 13th, 2007 at 11:57 am
James Wright says:
Westminster in a Vick jersey. That’s priceless.
I think I’ll go offer to volunteer at the Humane Society in a Vick jersey. Think they’d take me?
September 13th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Tbest says:
Done for the Year. Dime Jinx!!!!
September 13th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
mjax says:
Mann, I am from P-Ohh, and you are right, Blazer fans are terrified right now. Folks are immediately thinking Sam Bowie right now, which believe it or not, was not the worst choice we’ve made at #1. -Check your LaRue Martin archives!!!- I personally think Wise Lebron’s older brother will be kool, just an odd mix of events. We finally get the #1 pick again and he’s tainted just like the times before.
September 13th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
CHI-C says:
Greg Oden-C- Trail Blazers Sep. 13 - 1:59 pm et
Yahoo! Sports, citing two league sources, has reported that Greg Oden will miss the entire 2007-08 season after undergoing knee surgery on Thursday.
What a tough break for the No. 1 overall pick and the Portland Trail Blazers. The Ohio State star underwent exploratory surgery on his right knee on Thursday in Vancouver, and while the extent of the damage was not immediately known, Oden is expected to miss the entire season. Yahoo! reports that the Blazers will be making an announcement shortly.
September 13th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Bron42 says:
Celebrated Trail Blazers rookie center Greg Oden, the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, will likely miss the 2007-2008 season after undergoing knee surgery Thursday, the team said.
“Greg had an arthroscopy and a microfracture surgery today,” team physician Dr. Don Roberts, who performed the surgery, said in a statement posted on the Trail Blazers’ Web site. “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.
Guess they better hope channing frye is nicer than he was in new york. I think its good and bad.
A) Oden wasn’t gonna dominate right away anyway, so if he pulls an amare and comes back better than its all good and hes pretty much redshirting.
B)sucks for all the blazers fans who bought season tickets just cuz of oden. Although if your real fans it shouldnt matter and the team wasn’t gonna suddenly jump into the playoffs anyway.
C)Unless durant suddenly pulls the sonics into the playoffs (he won’t be doin it himself though) its still a good pic with oden if he comes back healthy bionic man style
September 13th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Bron42 says:
not to mention.. lets say they suck again…bam another lottery pic and you get derrick rose or mike beasly to play along side a hopefully recovered oden.
September 13th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
Stallion says:
About Oden…that sucks, and is pretty ironic. About LeBron, so anyone can just go in and get surgery to be able to see better than normal? It sounds like a SuperHero or something…