FanShot

Oden's recovery vs. Griffin's

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It's interesting to compare Oden's recovery to Blake Griffin's. Blake was hurt during the preseason last year. Most of the NBA's major prognosticators are predicting big things for Griffin this year--they're not flipping out over the speed of his recovery (unlike some folks with Oden). And yet, it sounds like he's at best a little ahead of Oden right now, which makes sense since he's had a lot longer to recover. Of course, I realize that not all kneecap injuries are the same, and Griffin's may have been worse than Oden's. From the Sporting News: "Of course, there’s still the issue of whether Griffin is completely healthy yet. Del Negro put Griffin at about 75 percent, and said the Clippers have no plans to hurry him along." "'It’s still a one-day-at-a-time process,' Del Negro said. 'The biggest thing you have to battle is Blake’s anxiety, or his excitement to get back on the court and play at full steam. He wants to play, but we have to slow him down and stick with the plan. There is plenty of time. We still have the rest of August, all of September, and then we can start getting him up to 100 percent in October. I anticipate him being ready for opening night.'"