He missed the entirety of the 2007-08 season with microfracture surgery on his right knee and now he has a chipped left kneecap which has bitten a good chunk out of this season. The Trail Blazers mishandled the injury, calling it “day-to-day” when in fact it should have been labeled from the start as a potential long-term injury. Jason Quick of The Oregonian does a nice job of breaking down the timeline and Oden’s resulting frustration.

All the while, questions, both inside the Blazers locker room and in public mounted: What is going on? Is he really trying to get back? Why isn’t he playing by now?

Oden was stung by the mounting criticism. A national radio talk show called him a “lemon” and a “bust.” He thought a local columnist questioned his desire to return.

“I get portrayed wrongly, like I don’t have a heart,” Oden said. “But I sit there and I try to explain to people what is going on, and it’s like they aren’t listening to me.”

There is pain, Oden says, and not just any pain, but biting pain. He said it so many times in interviews that he started saying it more demonstratively, in hopes that his louder tone would finally get someone to believe him.

“I don’t know how else to put it: There’s a difference between sore and painful, and this is painful,” Oden said.

He says if the team pushes him to play, he will do it. He just doesn’t know how effective he would be. He can’t run as fast, he can’t jump as high and he is not as agile.

“Look, I’m tired of sitting; I want to get out there,” Oden said. “But damn, if I did go out there and play, it may be worse having me out there. They’d be playing four-on-five most of the time.”

“To this day, there’s still no real timeline,” Oden said. “It’s 7 to 10 days and then see how it feels. Yeah, well, what if the 7 to 10 days comes and it doesn’t feel good? I’m sitting here like everyone else going. ‘What the …?’ I hope one of these days I don’t feel it, but right now, I do.”

I’m really rooting for this kid. He has had a rough go of it in his first two years, but he definitely flashed some potential this season. Keep in mind that he’s just 21 and if he can ever get his knees straightened out — that’s a big IF, I know — he has the ability to become a very good starting center in this league. He’s averaging 9.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks this season and if he can get enough experience and figure out how to stay out of foul trouble, he could be a force. (His PER of 17.80 is 12th amongst centers, ahead of Al Horford, Marc Gasol and Andrew Bogut.) Moreover, he seems a like a thoughtful, worldly guy, and I’d like to see him succeed.