Philadelphia 76ers Fans Ask: How Much Longer?

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Nov 22, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; Former player Greg Oden (R) sits near the Cleveland Cavaliers bench in the second quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Oden’s Might

The 2007 NBA draft found the first selection falling to the Portland Trailblazers, a team which overcame the 5.3 percent odds to do so. As it happens with teams with lower odds, the record of that team is subsequently better. In the case of the Portland Trailblazers, their record was 32-50.
Joining their team as the top selection of the 2007 NBA Draft was Greg Oden.

Oden was a 7-foot-2 center from Ohio State University, and was hoped to help in the front court, where the Trailblazers were desperate for help. However, Oden injured his knee in preseason, and required microfracture surgery to repair the damage.

Oden would play in the 2008 season, but would injure his knee again in a knee to knee collision with Corey Maggette on February 12, 2009. He would not be the same after that injury. Oden fractured his left patella the following season, just 21 games into the season.

He would try to rejuvinate his career in Miami in the 2013-2014 season, but he was unable to remain on that team’s roster. Greg Oden was chosen ahead of Kevin Durant due to his size and fitting a huge need with the Portland Trailblazers.

Despite the inability to get Oden into the lineup consistently, the Trailblazer did improve to .500 in 2007-2008 and did make the playoffs the following year.

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