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| By Kelly Dwyer |
Anyone who caught last night's press conference detailing Greg Oden's season-ending microfracture surgery clearly caught wind of just how beat to hell the Portland Trail Blazer franchise is, right now. Nate McMillan looked a ghost. Trainer Jay Jensen had to catch himself several times as emotion nearly got the better of him (and what an awful turn of phrase that is), while GM Rich Cho had little to offer in terms of answers and/or insight.
How could he? The Blazers, as we know them, will probably fall apart. Before we even got a chance to know them.
Cho's time at the press conference was best served answering a question about Oden's impending restricted free agency next summer:
"Greg is still a part of the team. He is going to be a restricted free agent this summer. I expect him to be a part of the team. He will be restricted, he will be able to look at other teams. As Jay mentioned, his right knee came out strong. If you ask Greg, his knee that he had microfracture surgery on is stronger than it was before he had microfracture surgery on it. So we expect him to still come back."
Yes, yes, of course. I was nodding my head while hearing this, looking forward to Portland eagerly matching some sort of four-year, $20 million deal next summer, or a three-year $19 million deal with two years guaranteed. Why wouldn't they? Even though Oden (at best) will likely miss nearly half of 2010-11 as well as this season, the payoff could be so, so huge.
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