Back in 1984, the Portland Trail Blazers had their choice of drafting Sam Bowie or Michael Jordan with the second pick of the NBA draft. They decided to draft Bowie with the pick. Bowie played four injury-riddled seasons with the Blazers and was traded after that while we all know what Jordan has done in his illustrious career.
Fast forward to 2007 if you will. The Trail Blazers had the first pick in the NBA draft and had to choose between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant. At the time it was thought that you couldn’t go wrong with either player.
Well my how just a few short months later time has changed. Oden had his summer league session cut short because of a tonsillectomy. Then he was to go undergo knee surgery to repair some cartilage so he could be ready for the rigors of an 82-game NBA season.
After having the surgery, Oden is now out for his rookie campaign. The surgery found torn cartilage and he had microfracture surgery. Microfracture surgery, which stimulates the growth of cartilage, takes anywhere from 8 months to a year to recover from.
So if Durant goes on to have a better career, is this the Curse of Sam Bowie?
Only time will tell.
