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I said that yesterday, and got some cranky emails from people saying, essentially, yes he is!

Here's the deal. Sam Bowie was a Blazer for five years. During that time, the Oregonian's Jason Quick tells us Bowie had five major leg surgeries, and averaged just 28 games per season. He also had major leg surgery in college, before he was drafted. The story of Sam Bowie is a story of the most unbelievable chronic leg problems ever.

Greg Oden has never had leg trouble before. He has been kicking a-- all over the basketball court since he was tiny. He missed eight games because of a wrist injury in one season. Otherwise, he has been winning, winning, and winning some more. He has anchored top teams in middle school, in AAU, in high school, and in college. He is only 19, so his track record is not extensive. But for what it is, he could lecture most of us on reliability.

Now Greg Oden has had one major leg injury. And unrelated tonsil surgery and wrist surgery.

If we call him "Sam Bowie" now, what label do we get to use when some Blazer big man has four more surgeries?

Think about Greg Oden this morning. Waking up in massive pain, in some bed somewhere. Probably kind of pissed off. Probably pretty sad. Probably wishing it would all go away. And probably with a newspaper within reach.

Is he supposed to open that thing and be told that he's the second coming of the most tragic series of chronic injuries ever? While he's 19 and with a good prognosis?

Just because they wear the same uniform?

Give me a break.

Look, I'm not naive here. I know Greg Oden faces a long and tough road. But if you want to compare him to someone, compare him to people who are in his situation: people who have had one microfracture surgery. Thanks to Kevin Pelton of SuperSonics.com, we know the list is as follows: John Stockton, Anfernee Hardaway, Brian Grant, Kerry Kittles, Terrell Brandon, Eduardo Najera, Allan Houston, Chris Webber, Jamal Mashburn, Matt Harpring, Pat Garrity, Karl Malone, Jason Kidd, Alvin Williams, Andrew DeClercq, Zach Randolph, Kenyon Martin, Amaré Stoudemire, Bryon Russell, Dijon Thompson, Rashad McCants, Darius Miles,
and Kenyon Martin.

Some of them made it back strong, and some of them didn't. But no one called any of them Sam Bowie. They're just basketball players with painful knee trouble, trying their best to be effective through the challenges. In retrospect, Sam Bowie, bless him, had hard and fast physical reasons why he simply could not be effective in the NBA. Greg Oden does not.