Last week Portland basketball collectively sighed when news broke that Greg Oden would miss his rookie season following knee surgery. Oden was the number one pick in the draft this year and Portland fans had all their hopes riding on him. It didn’t take long for pundits, local and national to begin making comparisons to Sam Bowie, the chronically injured center that the Blazers took ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.
Funny thing is, I made that comparison on the day that Oden arrived in Portland, well before he had even injured his knee during summer league play. Was it a prediction or did I put the whammy on him?