Greg Oden’s best day in the NBA occurred on the night he was drafted by the Portland Trailblazers as the No. 1 pick in 2007. Since that night, Oden has suffered two season-ending injuries and has failed to live up to the expectations of becoming a franchise player. His image recently took another hit after a former girlfriend posted several nude pictures of him on the Internet.
But while Oden had the opportunity to pull a Tiger Woods by going into seclusion due to embarrassment, instead he faced the media hours after the pictures surfaced by holding a press conference. –amir shaw
What was your reaction when you first saw the photos online this morning?
My heart dropped. I got a phone call like around 6 a.m. … and I usually have pictures of me all over the Internet, even when they’re not true. So when I actually got up and saw this one, it was very, very embarrassing and hurtful.
Were the pictures meant for private viewing?
It was. It was a lady friend who I was having a relationship with. It was for her. It was definitely meant to keep private.
There are some people that said you should have been more careful and responsible about this. How would you respond to that?
I think I’m trying to be by coming out and definitely letting people know that it was something in the past and it was definitely meant for private reasons. I definitely learned from that a long time ago and I just want to move on from it.
Beyond being embarrassed, can you describe how you’re feeling right now? Betrayed? Violated?
… It was definitely my fault. I definitely shouldn’t put myself out there like that. And I have to learn from that and be careful knowing the type of status that I do have. I definitely have to be careful and move on.
You do a lot of community service and work with kids, what would you say to kids who hear about this?
I would definitely have to tell them it’s an example that you have to be careful who you do that with.
You think this was the best course of action, coming out with a statement, apologizing, etc., early on?
Yeah. I feel, and us as a group, people around me, feel this was the best thing for us. Just to come out in the open and hear it from me before people start to … make up other stuff.
Do you plan on taking any legal action against the people who posted this picture?
I really just want to move on from it. I’ll definitely try as hard as possible to get them off the Internet. But to go that far, I don’t really think there’s a need to. Let’s just put it behind us.
What type of lasting impact do you think this is going to have on your reputation going forward?
It’s going to have a lot. Definitely with sponsors and stuff like that. It’s definitely going to be tough. But I know it was a thing of the past and I know I’ve grown from this and I’m definitely still a really good guy. And I’m going to keep putting that out there. And even if it involves other people, I just hope they learn that you definitely have to be careful with what you do and who you trust.
