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When team president Larry Miller envisions the Trail Blazers bringing the NBA Championship to Portland, he does so with the image of

playing center.

So on Wednesday, the Blazers took the first steps toward ensuring Oden remains in Portland, extending an $8,788,681 qualifying offer to the oft-injured center, who becomes a free agent on Friday. By extending the qualifying offer, the 23-year-old Oden becomes a restricted free agent, meaning the Blazers have the right to match other offers.

The amount of the offer is set by league rules, which dictate the offer to be 125 percent of the player's last salary. The Blazers had until 9 p.m. on Thursday to extend the qualifying offer.

“We are committed to him, because we think a healthy Greg Oden helps this team,'' Miller said. “We've invested a lot in Greg, and him being healthy is one of the keys to us being able to bring a championship home to Portland.''

The commitment comes after the Blazers have paid more than $19 million in salary to Oden over four injury-riddled seasons, during which he has played 82 games, the equivalent of one regular season. Three times his season has ended because of knee surgery, twice ending his season before it began.

“At the end of the day, it's not Greg's fault that he has not been able to be healthy,'' Miller said. “He has caught some bad breaks. But we still believe in Greg.''

Oden on Wednesday was examined by Dr. Richard Steadman in Vail, Colo., and was determined to be on schedule in his recovery from November microfracture surgery on his left knee. Steadman performed the surgery, and estimated a 12-month recovery period. Oden is entering his eighth month of rehabilitation.

Miller said he spoke with Oden shortly after the doctor's appointment to notify him of the team's decision.

“Greg was extremely excited about getting the offer and he reiterated to me that he wants to be in Portland and help the organization win,'' Miller said. “He appreciates the fact that we have stuck with him.''

Wednesday's qualifying offer does not guarantee Oden will remain with the Blazers. Once the NBA labor dispute is settled, teams can make offers to Oden, after which the Blazers will have seven days to match. Miller said the Blazers have not established a threshold for how many years, or how much money, they will match.

“At this point, we are not going to give up on him,'' Miller said. “When we drafted him, we believed – as did most people around the NBA – that he is a game changer. And he has shown us in some of the games when he was healthy, we still believe that he can help us win. So based on what we believe Greg can bring to the table, it was not a difficult decision for us.''

Still, It has been

since Blazers fans stormed the Rose Garden court after the Blazers selected Oden with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, ending a monthlong debate of whether the Blazers would take the mammoth center who led Ohio State to the NCAA Championship game as a freshman, or the lanky, high-scoring forward from Texas, Kevin Durant.

Oden was welcomed to Portland like royalty when he was introduced to an overflow crowd at Pioneer Courthouse square shortly after he was drafted. But Oden never made it to training camp, undergoing season-ending microfracture surgery on his right knee in September. There was no acute injury that prompted the surgery, as Oden said he woke up one day with a swollen and sore knee. During the exploratory surgery, doctors determined he needed microfracture, a procedure that drills holes into the bone to cause bleeding and stimulate growth.

Oden returned the next season, playing 61 games, but it wasn't without injury trauma. In his first game, the season opener at the Lakers, he rolled his right foot in the first quarter and played only 13 minutes. He missed the next six games with a right foot sprain.

He returned and played in 45 consecutive games – the longest streak of his career – during which he showed glimpses of dominance, like the January night he had 24 points and 15 rebounds against Milwaukee. But in February, he banged knees with Golden State's Corey Maggette in the last game before the All-Star Break, and the collision produced a bone-chip in his left knee, causing Oden to miss the next 15 games. He ended the season averaging 8.9 points and 7.0 rebounds in 21.5 minutes a game.

His third season, Oden began to emerge as the force the Blazers had envisioned. He had 24 points and 12 rebounds in a November rout against Chicago and 13 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks in a December loss to Miami.

The next game, Dec. 5 at home against Houston, he rose to contest a shot by Rockets guard Aaron Brooks when his left knee exploded despite experiencing no contact. It was a ruptured left patella, ending his season after 21 games. He was averaging 11.1 points and 8.5 rebounds when he got hurt.

Oden never fully recovered from the patella surgery, instead having to undergo another microfracture surgery – this time on the left knee - in November.

Oden has been training in Los Angeles, and as he enters the eighth month of his rehabilitation, Oden has just been cleared by doctors to run on an Alter-G machine, which allows a person to run while supporting only a controlled percentage of the person's body weight.

In October, the Blazers declined to offer a contract extension to Oden, making him the first No. 1 overall pick not to earn an extension since Kwame Brown in 2001.

If Oden does not receive offers from other teams and signs the Blazers' one-year offer, he will be an unrestricted free agent entering the 2012-2013 season.