Oden Remains Optimistic About Return

[NJNJ]

Portland center Greg Oden remains optimistic that he'll make a successful return to the court this coming season.

 

Oden fractured the patella in his left knee on Dec. 5, which forced him to miss the remainder of the 2009-10 season.

 

"It happened in a game against the Houston Rockets," Oden said. "I was going up to block a shot [by Aaron Brooks]. I jumped in the air and my kneecap just broke in half. There actually wasn't that much pain. The look of it was actually worse than the pain. They [doctors] told me that if I had kept my leg straight, I could have walked on it right after it happened. There was really nothing I could have done. They said the force of my jump — the way I jump, how my legs were — was at least 400 pounds.

 

"I got surgery the next day. I'm still in rehab, but I'm getting really close to where I want to be for the start of the season. [The rehab process] has been very long — a lot of ups and downs, good days and bad days. But things are looking good."

 

Oden didn't go into details about the actual rehabilitation he's been doing, but stressed that he's focused.

 

"I've just been working out," he said from his hometown of Terre Haute. "I've been here and Indianapolis. I've been working out really hard with some people who are really good for me ... basically changing my lifestyle, just getting myself right and being around people who I know and grew up with.

 

"Doctors have told me that I should be 100 percent by the time it's all healed. I can't predict the future, but I know I'm preparing myself right now to be an [NBA] All-Star."