Rookie Trail Blazer Greg Oden Injured Monday

The Portland Trail Blazer's potential glory season took an unexpected turn Monday when it was announced that rookie Greg Oden, the #1 pick in this year's NBA draft, is expected to undergo exploratory arthroscopic knee surgery on Thursday after battling ongoing pain in his right knee. This unfortunate news comes just 3 weeks before the season is set to begin.

The Oregonian reports,

"Blazers officials would not comment beyond a four-sentence news release issued Monday evening that said Oden underwent a magnetic resonance imaging last week and results revealed that he may have cartilage problems in the knee."

Knee cartilage problems are common in basketball, especially in big guys, but they vary. Given that Oden's knee has been hurting for a while, and he's played through it, the likelihood that this is minor is pretty good. MRI results were inconclusive, but as one team source told media, the damage could be as minor as a cartilage injury or as major as a ligament tear.

Major or minor, this is bad news for the Blazers. The city had high hopes when the Blazer's drafted Oden; hopes of contending for a championship, but an injury before the first game could very well trash any playoff hopes this year. While the Blazers return ROY Brandon Roy and have surrounded him with many young, talented players aside from Greg Oden, without his size, it will make the job much harder.

But, even with his importance in this young lineup, I think this is the right choice. The way I see it, the odds that this young team comes together and makes a championship run get better as they get older and spend more time playing together, so it's better to get Greg Oden all healthy as early as possible. They may still be a great team this year, but in 2 or 3 years, with all of them healthy, it wouldn't be wrong to say they could make it pretty deep in the playoffs. So getting Oden checked out earlier than later is the right thing to do.