From Bill Walton and Sam Bowie to Greg Oden: Is Portland Cursed?

December 7th, 2009 by Matt Smith Leave a reply »
Injuries are a part of sports, but the latest injury to Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden was just plain sad.

He was looking every bit the dominant center he was projected to be, leading the NBA in blocked shots and improving in all phases of the game.  

When he went down, it made me wonder if Portland should ever use an early draft pick on a big man ever again.

I'm usually not one who believes in curses, but, from the 1970s to now, the Portland Trail Blazers have had a history of highly-drafted centers.

Three of them have had their careers marred by injury.  

Bill Walton was drafted No. 1 by the Blazers after a stellar college career at UCLA, and it seemed he was destined for a long dominant career.

Walton battled injury his first two seasons breaking his nose, foot, wrist, and leg, and he did keep it together long enough for one magical run, winning the NBA championship in the 1976-77 season.

Winning that title helped to ease the pain of the disappointment that Walton's injuries brought, but from here it got worse.

In the 1984 draft, the Blazers had the second pick in a star-st ...

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