Greg Oden discusses his five years in Portland, and the time he ‘pretty much became an alcoholic’

In a "shocking" interview, former No. 1 pick and ex-Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden said that bad influences in his life caused him to drink too much a couple of years ago, that he remains befuddled  people are so infatuated with him because he played only 82 NBA games in five potential seasons, and that he may have rushed back too early from his various knee ailments after listening to a Portland medical staff that has been discredited in some outlets.

This is a candid, evocative interview from former AAU teammate and professional [storm]-stirrer Mark Titus, but I hardly think any of the revelations could be termed as surprising. A must-read, to be sure, but who is actually taken aback in discovering that Oden is frustrated, bemused and, in some points, regretful of the series of unfortunate events that have befallen him since the Trail Blazers selected him first overall out of Ohio State in 2007? Here's one particularly noteworthy passage:

It's almost like a cloud has been following Greg since high school. He even had bad luck with the 2007 draft, landing in the same class as Kevin Durant. Experts spent two months comparing them and picking apart Greg's résumé, which didn't stop Portland from selecting him with the first overall pick. That summer, his right knee started bothering him and doctors determined that he needed microfracture surgery. Greg's rookie season was over before it even began. Portland fans, who endured the injury-ravaged careers of Bill Walton and Sam Bowie, freaked out. What those fans didn't know was that Greg's heart was still aching because of [best friend from high school, Travis Smith]'s death; he was already headed down a destructive path of drinking and "doing things I shouldn't have been doing" (his words at dinner). The knee surgery only made things worse.