Injuries

[Lipoli390]

NBA injuries continue to pile up. Jokic and Collins are the two most recent examples, joining a long list of others, including but not limited to Millsap, Griffin, Gallo, Conley, Leonard and Fultz. We have our own injured guys -- Belly, Teague and Patton.

Doesn't it seem as if there are more injuries in the NBA than we used to see 10+ years ago?

In any event, a big part of success in the NBA these days is simply winning the war of attrition -- i.e., staying healthier than your competitors. So far, the Wolves have been very fortunate with injuries limited to the three I named above. The Wolves seem particularly vulnerable to key player injuries. We already got a taste of what happens when we lose Jimmy Butler. We're particularly thin at the wing positions, which means losing Butler or Wiggins would be a server blow to the team. And we have no one to replace KAT's combination of points AND rebounds.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

Bjelly needs to start getting some minutes at the 3 spot.

He played some last year, I don't see why he isn't this year. Unless bjelly is on some minutes restrictions because he's injury prone.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Yup, injuries are a big, big deal. I generally agree with your assessment that losing Butler, Wiggins, or KAT would be a big deal. I don't even think Wiggins is that great, but the problem is how big of a step down it is to Bazz or Crawford.

I almost feel like we could weather any other guy being out for a fairly long stretch. But keep in mind, I think this a .500 team and I factor some amount of injuries into that prediction, so when I say "weather", I basically mean keep on playing around .500 ball or slightly below.