NBA: Greg Oden to Miss the 2007-2008 Season [J. Mark English]

Well, this is never good. You gotta feel bad for Portland.

This is from the NBA:

An exploratory arthroscopic surgery performed on Greg Oden today revealed cartilage damage to the Portland Trail Blazers rookie’s right knee. Oden is likely to miss the 2007-08 NBA season.

"Greg had an arthroscopy and a micro fracture surgery today," said team physician Dr. Don Roberts, who performed the surgery. "He was found to have articular cartilage damage in his right knee. The area of injury was not large and we were able to treat it with micro fracture, which stimulates the growth of cartilage. There are things about this that are positive for Greg. First of all he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery from micro fracture surgery."

Oden is expected to be on crutches for up to eight weeks. Recovery time from micro fracture surgery varies from person to person, but generally takes between six and 12 months for full recovery.

"Certainly this is a setback, but our future is still incredibly bright," said Trail Blazers General Manager Kevin Pritchard. "Is it disappointing? Yes. However, this is a great core of talent and players of strong character and will continue to be."