June 28, 2007: The NBA Draft is held at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Washington Mutual then had the rights to the venue's name. Best known as the Felt Forum, it is now simply "The Theater at Madison Square Garden."
Among the players chosen in the 1st Round: Kevin Durant by the Seattle SuperSonics (soon to become the Oklahoma City Thunder), Al Horford by the Atlanta Hawks, Mike Conley by the Memphis Grizzlies, Corey Brewer by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and Joakim Noah by the Chicago Bulls.
The Portland Trail Blazers had the 1st pick. They could have used it on any of these men. Instead, they made a historic mistake -- the kind that made Karl Marx say, "History repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce."
Gregory Wayne Oden Jr. was born on January 22, 1988 in Buffalo, New York. In 2007, the 7-feet-even, 250-pound center led Ohio State to the Big Ten Championship and the Final of the NCAA Tournament. The Blazers chose him as the Number 1 pick in the NBA Draft.
But, like previous Blazer big men Bill Walton and Sam Bowie, he was plagued by injury, worse than either of them was. He missed the entirety of what would have been his rookie season. An NBA regular season is 82 games. He played 82 games for the Blazers over 2 seasons, plus 6 more in the Playoffs. He then missed 3 seasons due to injury – and then miraculously played 23 games for the Miami Heat in 2013-14, including 3 in the Playoffs, earning him an NBA Championship ring.
But the injuries came back, and after playing in China in 2015-16, he gave up. He went back to Ohio State, and got his bachelor's degree in sport industry in 2019. In 2022, became an assistant coach under Thad Matta at Butler University. His playing career was a tragedy, but there may yet be a second act.
UPDATE: He left the Butler coaching staff in 2024, to rejoin Edyoucore Sports & Entertainment as the director of player development. He had previously worked for them from 2019 to 2022.
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June 28, 2007 was a Thursday. Baseball was the only sport in season at the time, and these games were played:
* The New York Yankees were leading the Baltimore Orioles, 8-6 in the top of the 8th inning at Camden Yards in Baltimore, when the game was suspended due to rain. It was resumed on July 27, and the Yankees held on to win, 8-7. Andy Phillips hit a home run, Derek Jeter went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs, and Alex Rodriguez went 0-for-4 but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Chien-Ming Wang started, and Mike Myers was the winning pitcher in relief.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-7 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins singled Jayson Werth home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 5-1 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-7 at Dolphin Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-3 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 8-5 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Houston Astros beat the Colorado Rockies, 8-5 at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Carlos Lee hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.
* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-5 at Chase Field in Phoenix.
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