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Greg Oden shares the fans' disappointment in the way his career has gone.
The 7-foot center was limited to just 82 games by injuries after the Portland Trail Blazers took him over Kevin Durant with the first selection in the 2007 draft. Portland waived the former No. 1 overall pick Thursday after an injury-plagued five-year run in which he averaged just 9.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots. He recently underwent his third microfracture knee surgery, the second on his left knee, ending his season.
"He feels bad for Portland and the team, more than anything, more than he did for himself," Oden's agent, Mike Conley Sr., said Friday. "He felt he could have made an impact, and he knows they were counting on him."
Oden's knee problems have drawn comparisons to Sam Bowie, the injury-plagued post the Blazers took ahead of Michael Jordan in 1984. Bowie played in 76 games as a rookie but appeared in just 63 games over the next four seasons because of injuries. In all, he had five operations. That history has made Oden's situation a particularly sore topic for the Trail Blazers, who also have had to deal with Brandon Roy's premature retirement due to injury.
"It is kind of closing the chapter on Greg Oden," Blazers interim general manager Chad Buchanan said. "Between Brandon Roy, Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge, we had kind of built the team around those three. We've lost Brandon to retirement, and we've lost Greg to injury -- and we have nothing to show for it. We don't have an asset, we don't have a draft pick, we don't have a player. And that's hard to come back from."
Read more: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7696992/oft-injured-greg-oden-committed-playing-again