The Injury List... (February 15, 1999)

I heard that a shortened training camp would really cause a lot of injuries. I decided to check out the injury list and see for myself. I was looking for players who would contribute to their team and not an aged veteran with a big contract who wouldn't play ever again or young players who are on the injury list because the GM doesn't want to cut them, but they aren't good enough to play either. Call them insurance, while their paychecks are being paid by insurance companies.

Just scanning it over, the injury list doesn't seem too long and full of super-stars who got injured because they were out of shape. Atlanta lost Scot Pollard, who was acquired for Christian Laettner. Boston was hurt by the loss of Ron Mercer and to a lesser extent Walter McCarty, but Pervis Ellision has been a walking injury since he left Louisville. Charlotte is probably the team hurt most by injuries. They lost Glen Rice for the first couple of months and Anthony Mason for the whole season. Those two comprise their starting forwards, without them, the Hornets lose their best shooter, rebounder, ball handler, passer, defender and scorer. You can choose which attribute best suits which person. Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver and Detroit all have relatively clean bills of health, although the aforementioned Laettner is out for another month at least with an achilles injury which happened before the lockout.

Golden State lost Adonal Foyle. That doesn't matter, does it? Houston, which is one team which you would think would be affected by a short training camp lost not only two proven veterans, but also two young former starters. Charles Barkley and Antoine Carr both went down. Barkey has been injury prone for the past few seasons. Carr, on Utah, was usually healthy. Matt Maloney and Roderick Rhodes, the former starting backcourt of the Rockets are both on the shelf, although Maloney is expected back soon. Indiana, another veteran team, but one that was working out all lockout, is relatively healthy as well. The only significant injury is to silky smooth small forward, Derrick McKey. He is expected back soon. Haywoode Workman is out, but he's been on and off the injury list for the past few years and isn't even in the guard rotation.

The Clippers lost rookie Brian Skinner and perennial chump Scott Brooks. The Lakers got a scare when Robert Horry was diagnosed with an irregular heart beat, but luckily it was caught soon enough. He isn't expect back anytime soon. The Heat were hit hard with the loss of starting small forward Jamal Mashburn, who was having a great year and shooting guard Voshon Lenard. Terry Mills went down early as well. Riley really pushes his team in training camp. I think without the long camp to work his players into shape, he might have pushed his players too hard too quickly.

Milwaukee and Minnesota are both playing well and not surprisingly both have insignificant injuries. New Jersey, just like last year, has almost half their team on the injury list. Lucious Harris, Sam Cassell and Eric Murdock are all questionable, leaving the Nets with a brittle Kerry Kittles, Kendall Gill and rookie smurf, Earl Boykins. Rony Seikley is also on the shelf. He's out with an ankle and won't be back for at least a month. He was expected to move Jayson Williams back to his natural power forward position. When these guys get back, look out for New Jersey.

In New York, noted choker, Latrell Spreewell went down. In Orlando, backup power forward Derek Strong hit the injury list with a foot. Phoenix put Horacio Llamas on the list, but why they resigned him is beyond me. Portland has a full injury list, but not a player would get significant minutes, unless all the forwards died and them maybe, Carlos Rogers would get in. In Sacramento, Lawrence Funkderburke is out with a foot. Will Purdue won't be backing up Duncan and Robinson for while. Seattle only lost the lost Berry, Drew. Toronto, who is hurting for point guards, have two on the shelf. Michael Williams will never play in the NBA again, but he's still around because Indiana signed him to a long term deal and now he just gets passed from team to team until his contract runs out at the end of this year. Negele Knight sucks. But with Alvin Williams as the starting point guard and Mark Baker as a backup with Dee Brown, even Negele Knight starts looking good.

Utah looks healthy as well. Vancouver has two chumps on the shelf and incumbent starter Lee Mayberry out with ankle surgery. Washington lost Lorenzo Williams and some guy named Evric Gray. Gheorge Muresean probably won't play in the NBA again because of his feet.

So what does all this mean? Did the short training camp really cause more injuries? I don't think so. There doesn't seem to be an epidemic like some people were thinking. Most people on the injury list are chumps anyway. Maybe as the season wears on players will start dropping like flies, but right now, players are relatively healthy.

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