This upcoming December will be the 3-year mark where Greg Oden hasn’t played a single NBA game. Think about that; he’s been in the league since 2007 and has played a total of one season (and 6 playoff games) .. one! And yet he’s still only 24 years old. Had things gone the way they have been for lets say .. Kevin Durant, Oden very well could be the best center in the league right now. Instead his knees continue to fail and the weight of wonder rests heavily on his shoulders. Injuries like that can place a person in a state of mind that some can’t back out of. We know that Greg is extremely private, but how many times have you ever heard him speak outside of basketball? The last four years headlines all across the web read “Greg Oden done for the season, again.” And just like that, it’s over.
Either we’ve become so accustomed to Oden’s injuries happening year after year of he just does everything possible to avoid talking about them.
Lucky for us, there happens to be one person who was able to peel back some of Greg’s layers so he can speak on a few things we never knew about: Former teammate and Grantland writer, Mark Titus.
For those who are die hard Ohio State Buckeye’ fans, most of you will probably remember Mark during his days as a bench warmer (you can purchase his book here). Aside from Titus getting Oden to speak on the basics such as his legacy, his photo scandal, the feeling of being rushes during his rehab process, whether or not he wants to play basketball again and how it hurts to see Durant’s success, one thing that stood out was Oden admitting to becoming an alcoholic during his second-year in the league.
“If you know anything about guys in the Air Force,” Greg explained, “it’s that they drink a ton. My cousin got wrapped up in the NBA lifestyle and threw parties at my house all the time. So I got wrapped up in it too. When I played well, I’d drink to celebrate. And when I played poorly, I’d drink to forget. That second year in Portland I pretty much became an alcoholic.”
When you’re a 21-year-old millionaire living downtown, which he was at that time, it’s extremely easy to get caught up in the NBA lifestyle if there’s no one around you that can provide guidance. You’re stuck trying to figure things out on your own. Mark went on to say that after Greg’s drinking binge all season long, during the off season he hired a personal chef to cook him healthy meals throughout the day and he came back in the best shape of his life (which is when he averaged 11.7 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in 20 games before getting injured again).
As I’ve said before and will always continue to say: I truly hope that Greg Oden somehow finds a way to revive his basketball career. Timing really is everything. Maybe Oden wasn’t meant to play basketball for the long haul, but at least we now know one thing:
He’s just a humble kid trying to get back what he loves most.
