JFormer No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden said this week he'll be remembered as the "biggest bust in NBA history."

The 7-foot Oden is currently taking classes toward his degree and is a student assistant coach at Ohio State, where he spent one season in college before being drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers with the first overall pick in 2007.

"I'll be remembered as the biggest bust in NBA history," Oden told Outside the Lines. "But I can't do nothing about that."

Oden also reiterated that his playing days were over.

"Don't get me wrong," Oden said. "If I was healthy, I would love to continue playing, but I'm not healthy."

Oden previously had told Sports Illustrated that he was "one of the biggest busts in NBA history" and that "it would only get worse as Kevin Durant continues doing big things."

Oden, 28, played just 82 games in five seasons with the Blazers. After missing his entire rookie season because of microfracture surgery on his right knee, he was averaging 11.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in 2009-10 when he broke his left kneecap. Oden had two more microfracture knee surgeries -- both on his left knee -- in his injury-plagued career.

Oden had 13 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks in his final game of the 2009-10 season before breaking his kneecap, and he was averaging 15.6 points, 9.1 rebounds and 2.4 blocks in the seven games leading up to that injury.

"But I will say that when I was playing, can you say that? ... I don't think I was that bad when I was on the court," Oden said. "I felt like it could have just got better if I had more time on there."

Oden last played in the NBA in 2014 with the Miami Heat, averaging 2.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 26 games. He spent last season playing in China.

Source:
courtesy of ESPN

by Jeff Goodman

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