Injury Woes in Blazerland

I sort of promised myself that I wasn't going to go here, but now I would like to touch on an issue surrounding our favorite NBA franchise. Along my stroll through the interwebs this week, I found Trail Blazer fans in a couple of places discussing the truth behind several players' injuries and the trust that the fans currently have in the organization regarding the reporting of injuries. Many are frustrated with the Greg Oden situation and now there are some whispers surrounding Rudy Fernandez and the injuries he suffered in the Laker game on Friday night. People wonder why these two aren't playing yet and it seems that some people feel like the organization is being dishonest and sugarcoating the details of these injuries. The team is in the thick of the playoff race right now, so I understand why fans are on edge and caught up on every detail surrounding their favorite team.

The questions surrounding the injury to Fernandez seem premature and a little paranoid to me. He took a pretty nasty fall following that dunk attempt last Friday. Thankfully the injuries were listed as relatively minor and the team announced that he would be evaluated on a day-to-day basis. It's only been a week and he has said he expects to play Sunday. If he does indeed play against Atlanta tomorrow, then the two games he missed would be in line with the signals that the organization was sending to the fan base. It seems unlikely that he will be on the shelf for much longer than that, so let's all give our rabbit's foot a little more attention tonight and thank our lucky stars that his injuries weren't more severe.

The Oden situation is a little more tricky than that. He banged knees with Corey Maggette on February 12, just before the All-Star break. The team talked Blazer fans down from the ledge by announcing that the chip in his knee cap was a minor injury and claimed he would be evaluated on a game by game basis upon the teams return from the break. The games came and went as fans grew more anxious awaiting Greg's return to the court. On March 2 the team announced that Oden had been evaluated and would be out for at least another 7-10 days. The media and fans began to take out some of their frustration on Greg himself, questioning the merit of his injury and also his desire to play and help the team win games. As it turns out, it was reported that the Blazers and their training staff knew at the time of Greg's injury that his symptoms could linger and keep him out for a month. This particular injury heals in different ways and there was always the possibility that Oden could miss significant time. As it turns out, this is exactly what happened.

It seems to be that the team would have been better served had they been more honest and forthright with the media and the fans from the start. If fans knew of the possibility that Greg's injury could take about a month to heal they would have been more discouraged initially, but the backlash felt by Oden could have been far less severe. Oden has proven he is a hard worker that will rehab relentlessly, doing whatever necessary to get back on the court and contribute.

Let's hope Greg is out there soon as Portland comes down the stretch and pushes toward that playoff berth that everyone in Portland so desperately wants.