Is Greg Oden This Generation’s Sam Bowie?

I hate to go there, but there’s a correlation here that can’t be ignored. In the season opener last night against the L.A. Lakers, Greg Oden’s big debut with the Portland Trailblazers was cut short by yet another injury.

Oden left the game in the first half after scoring zero points and taking only four shots. He snagged five rebounds, blocked a shot and committed two fouls in the span of 13 minutes.

The injury has been called a “sprain,” yet we won’t know what it really entails until an MRI is done.

Here’s the recap of Oden’s basketball career thus far: A one-year college career restricted to 32 games by a wrist injury. A rookie campaign wiped out by microfracture surgery on his right knee. And now a professional stat line that reads like this: 12:51 of playing time, five rebounds, two fouls, one blocked shot, 0-for-4 from the field, 0-for-2 from the line. (Provided by ESPN.com)

Is Oden just unlucky or what? Or is he as injury prone as Sam Bowie was and, unfortunately, won’t have the time or the physical health to develop as a solid NBA player?

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