This past weekend was one dedicated to celebrating the world’s greatest basketball players, and showcasing their abilities. Likely not present in “Nola”, but once considered one of the next great players like many that were at the All Star Festivities, Greg Oden, has found himself back in the news lately. Speaking out on his past incidents that may be the reason he isn’t on a roster now, telling of his present and future endeavors, and discussing one of the most controversial basketball issues ever, that just so happens to involve himself, Oden still makes for quite the story.

I remember seeing Greg Oden live and in person at an AAU tournament around my sophomore year in highschool, which was around 2006. It was in the state in which he would graduate high school and obtain “Mr.Basketball” honors, Indiana, as he dominated the competition along with his “Spiece Indy Heat” basketball team. Although some of the best basketball players period from across the country were present at this tournament and in his particular age group, he was still a man among boys and was clearly something “special”. After dominating high school, and then clearly standing out in the college ranks at Ohio State to a tune of nearly 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks per game, Oden was taken with the number 1 overall pick in the NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazers.

Some would say this was the beginning of the end for the big man that was full of talent as he could never quite pull it all together for sustained periods of time while in the NBA. It started first with the Blazers as he would never play a complete season with them, and then with the Miami Heat in his comeback attempt as a domestic incident was more than likely the reason he wasn’t brought back there, and with the latest situations being a string of injuries that caused him to miss out on a what was looking like a productive season in the Chinese Basketball Association.

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Oden is seemingly back on track now though, as he looks to stay involved with sports and the game he grew up playing. He is currently a student assistant with the Ohio State basketball team and is earning a degree in something related to the “sports industry”. With all his current success before him though, it almost begs of a question about his past, is he the biggest bust in NBA history?

Some will argue that the man is, but I would have to differ in opinion. Based on the knowledge I have gathered over the course of my life, a “bust” is a player taken with high expectations and never quite lives up to that potential. This is simply not the case with Oden. In fact, when Oden was on the floor he gave everything that you believed he could offer your team, but the issue for him was simply staying on the floor. For the reason outlined in the prior, I wouldn’t consider Oden a bust. A bust is someone who has ample opportunity, and for some reason just doesn’t live up to the hype, while Oden was well on his way it appeared and never had the opportunity to finish due to injury.

There are many things that we all wish we could do over, and I am sure things are no different with Oden. One thing for certain however is that he has experienced a lifetime’s worth of high’s and lows, and seems to be all the better for it as he gets his life in the order that he wants it. We established that he wasn’t the biggest bust of all time, but perhaps one of the most robbed players ever by injury, but either way, Oden seems happy with wherever his journey is taking him.