Bill Walton slid off the towering seat on his bicycle, which he rides 50 to 100 miles each day for exercise, to contemplate the injustice of it all.
Walton, the man once projected to be the next great big man in basketball, doesn’t run or walk for exercise anymore because of the toll of more than 30 surgeries since the Portland Trail Blazers made him the first pick in the 1974 NBA draft.
Thursday, the star-crossed Trail Blazers announced Greg Oden, the top pick in this year’s draft and the best big-man prospect in a decade, will miss the entire 2007-08 NBA season after microfracture surgery on his knee.
“So sad and depressing,” Walton said of the similar circumstances that hampered him after he came out of UCLA as one of the most touted and successful big men in college basketball history.
He did win an NBA title with the Trail Blazers in 1977, but Walton never played a full season for them and injuries soon cut short his career.
The Oden situation seems an eerie coincidence for a team that drafted center Sam Bowie second overall in 1984 only to have him injured much of his career, picked center LaRue Martin No. 1 in the 1972 only to watch his career fail to develop and selected center Arvydas Sabonis in 1986 when he was arguably the world’s best big man but didn’t get him until 1995 when his knees were wrecked.
“It’s the curse of Bill Walton,” Walton said. “They can’t get rid of it.”
Though Oden will miss the season, Trail Blazers officials said during a conference call with reporters Thursday that they are optimistic Oden can return within six to 12 months and have a bright future.
“We drafted him on potential,” coach Nate McMillan said. “We feel he’ll have the same potential to be a dominating center in this game. He is only [19], so he [has the time] to grow and mature and develop.”
Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard said doctors who performed the surgery predicted a complete recovery because of it “not being a degenerative situation.”
He pointed to Amare Stoudemire, Zach Randolph and Jason Kidd, all of whom had the surgery and have returned to play at a high level. But the surgery, which is an effort to produce new cartilage growth, has been the most frightening to NBA players because it effectively has ended the careers of players such as Penny Hardaway and Allan Houston.
While Oden is young, the surgery raises the question of his vulnerability to injuries. He has had a broken wrist that never quite healed in a full year at Ohio State, a bulging disc in his back discovered during his NBA physical in June and a sinus infection and tonsillitis that forced him out of summer league after an unimpressive debut.
“He is going to have this injury-prone tag until he proves it wrong,” Pritchard said.
Walton and Bowie had similar injuries during college that shortened their careers, and the Trail Blazers are understandably sensitive, especially about Bowie, whom they selected ahead of Michael Jordan in the 1984 draft.
“The comparisons with Sam and Bill are very unfair,” Pritchard said. “Everyone is an individual. It’s irresponsible to make that comparison, [but] only time will tell.”
Even Walton agrees.
“Patrick Ewing (who was drafted No. 1 in 1985 and had knee surgery as a rookie) and I were in the same boat,” Walton said. “But Patrick was able to turn it around and have an incredible Hall of Fame career. I could never sustain. Oden, he never has exhibited any of these problems. But it’s heartbreaking for the fans who were so excited in Portland; it was all going to be so perfect. That’s why they call it the breaks of the game.”
It’s somewhat of a mystery how all this happened as Oden said he first noticed knee pain getting off his couch while on vacation this summer, though there were rumors during the June draft physicals of knee inconsistencies. Pritchard said the team first became aware of a problem last week, though Oden said he has had knee swelling all summer. Pritchard said there were no problems detected during Oden’s physical with the team after Oden was selected ahead of another touted freshman, Kevin Durant.
The surgery is a blow not only to Oden and the Trail Blazers, but also to the NBA, which has been riddled with embarrassing issues this year. The arrival of a potentially great center with an outgoing personality was viewed with excitement as the Trail Blazers, with an exciting young core of talent, were scheduled for numerous national TV appearances, including Christmas Day against Seattle and Durant.
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“He looked at me [when informed about surgery] and said, ‘I’m sorry,’ 15 or 20 times,” Pritchard said.
If there’s a positive, it is that perhaps the Trail Blazers again will get a high lottery pick and a shot at talented young wing players expected to be in the 2008 draft such as Derrick Rose, O.J. Mayo, Eric Gordon and Chase Budinger. Walton’s Trail Blazers missed the playoffs when he played just 35 games his rookie season, but then were able to draft Lionel Hollins, a key player in their 1977 title run.
“He’ll have to fight depression and sadness,” Walton said knowingly. “You cannot help but feel you let the team down, everyone. Some guys, Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), Michael, Magic (Johnson), they play an unbelievable number of plays and years and other guys can’t. You never can tell.”
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