Why Is Greg Oden Still Sidelined?

No news is good news, right? Not if you're a Trail Blazers fan. The last time we checked on Greg Oden, he was sidelined indefinitely. Eight days later ... he's still sidelined indefinitely.

The Blazers announced earlier this week that Oden's knee would be re-evaluated in another 7-10 days, but considering he's already missed three weeks for an injury originally expected to sideline him a few days, no one really knows if that will be enough time. Is this just a case of a player being injury prone or slow to heal? Perhaps. But while it's easy to blame a player for taking longer than expected to return, maybe we should also fault the training staff for providing false hope in the first place.

From Dwight Jaynes, a retired Portland sports editor who now blogs independently:

There are some factors at work here with Oden's knee injury that some people may not have considered. The foremost is that the Blazers' medical staff is having a bit of an unlucky season.

Martell Webster was originally thought to be out for six to eight weeks. Then he was actually thought to be healed and was given the green light to return to action. He played five minutes and now is out for the remainder of the regular season.

Steve Blake had a shoulder injury, was given permission to return to action but suffered a setback and then had to miss more games.

That's not a bad theory, and is just as plausible as veiled accusations without proof by one Blazers beat writer that Oden might be partying too heavily, or the conspiracy theory that Oden actually needs surgery but the team was holding off on making the announcement until after the season ticket renewal deadline. (For what it's worth, Kevin Pritchard flatly denies the suggestion Oden needs to go under the knife.)

The only times fans ever talk about a team's training staff is after it develops a reputation for working wonders (see: Suns, Phoenix; and Pistons, Detroit). But for every above-average staff, it stands to reason there's one on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Does that describe the Blazers? I'm too far removed to say one way or the other, but it's interesting how snake-bit this team has been with injuries the last few years. (In addition to Oden's current predicament, Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge each missed significant time their first two years in the league, though they've managed to stay healthy this year.) When a team consistently loses, the players and coaches take the blame. When a team is consistently injured, why shouldn't the training staff feel the heat?

(via Blazers Edge)