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Posts Tagged ‘Greg Oden’

Greg Oden on KD playing well: “It bothers me a lot actually”

May 20th, 2010

Today, Henry Abbott has a post up of him talking to Greg Oden about his injuries and issues he’s faced in his short career. Henry asks Oden if it bothers him to see Kevin Durant playing so well. And Oden responded, “It bothers me a lot actually.”

It’s kind of hard to tell if Oden is joking here because he smiles and says “But nah. Kevin’s good and that team is good and him being the captain of that team… he’s playing well. And when I see him playing well I get mad at myself.”

I don’t know Greg Oden well enough to know if this was dry sense of humor or if it genuinely bothers him to see KD play well. Which is understandable for the reasons Oden listed. It’s not like Oden has played poorly and underachieved. He’s just had horrible luck. And Oden knows he will forever be compared to KD, so to be held down by injuries while the guy drafted behind him is winning scoring titles at age 21, it surely has to get to him.

Oden finished up with this: “[Durant] is playing very well and I’m proud of him. He’s a friend of mine. Though I’d definitely like to be out there and maybe block his shot a few times.” Well, I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY GREG. (gets up from desk and pretends to be KD dunking over Oden)

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Rejoice you have Kevin Durant and about nothing else

December 6th, 2009

Oden InjuryThey’ve been forever linked together. Because of one year, one draft, one general manager’s decision, whatever happens, Kevin Durant and Greg Oden stand to be compared for the rest of their respective careers.

Is it fair? I don’t really know. Is it perfectly natural? Yes, yes it is. Oden was taken ahead of Durant in what some considered a bad pick, even at the time. Oden, the conventional dominant big man or Durant, the once-in-a-lifetime college superstar? Eventually, Oden won out, at least in Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard’s mind.

But in 2007, Durant won out, at least in the minds of most every NBA fan. Oden sat on the sideline, watching every game of his rookie season without playing a minute. He had microfracture surgery on his right knee before even sniffing a minute of real life run in the NBA. Durant meanwhile went on to glide to the Rookie of the Year Award. Read more…

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