Minnesota Sports Forum

I did

WolvesFan21 wrote:Guys are training along with playing and I think simply not giving themselves enough rest. Guys didn't even lift weights in the NBA in the 70's/80's. They had time to rest.

Now guys have to keep up and they are pushing themselves to do so. Even in the offseason guys are practicing new moves, playing pick up games, lifting weights, cardio, etc. Just a culmination of fatigue causing injuries I think. It makes sense that you keep pushing your body it's going to eventually break. So it's kind of a fine line between how much you train and how much you rest.

Heh, yeah, back in the 70s these guys sure as hell weren't training all offseason. They were probably playing some pickup, but otherwise a lot of them were kicking back and living it up. I'm not sure that made things better or not.....

I just think this was a bad, unlucky year and we may never really understand the root causes (despite LeBron's "I told ya so!" rant).

I agree with Kek that it sucks with all these injuries. Hell, Atlanta may even have a chance if they just survive the war of attrition!

My opinion on this is the size and strength of today's NBA bodies are partly to blame. When you see a clip from the 80's or 90's, it is remarkable how different the players bodies appear. All these guys are playing with more muscle mass, and are moving at faster speeds. The problem is as you get bigger and stronger, nothing changes with your tendons and ligaments. They are the same exact package of tissues you had before you added all the mass. Something has to give.

I point to swimmers who tend to have longer muscles, and leaner physiques. They are really strong, but you don't hear about them tearing pec muscles or ripping a bicep tendon. Their joints wear out before their soft tissue does. Maybe someday training will evolve further to build strength without all the mass.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:My opinion on this is the size and strength of today's NBA bodies are partly to blame. When you see a clip from the 80's or 90's, it is remarkable how different the players bodies appear. All these guys are playing with more muscle mass, and are moving at faster speeds. The problem is as you get bigger and stronger, nothing changes with your tendons and ligaments. They are the same exact package of tissues you had before you added all the mass. Something has to give.

I point to swimmers who tend to have longer muscles, and leaner physiques. They are really strong, but you don't hear about them tearing pec muscles or ripping a bicep tendon. Their joints wear out before their soft tissue does. Maybe someday training will evolve further to build strength without all the mass.

Swimming doesn't have the pounding impact that most major sports does. It also is a pretty controlled environment not a lot of drastic movement you want to do mostly the same exact thing over and over again. It would make sense their joints would be what would wear out.

I will also say that while players are bigger than the 80's and 90's...there was a point during and after the shaq era guy were really huge. Players started slimming down after that. I remember Haslem was one guy that decided to drop muscle mass one offseason and it was really noticeable.

Kek, there you go again with the potty mouth. :'

I think this season is a bit anomalous because of Covid. We haven't had the volume of injuries in prior playoff seasons. The difference is the impact of the Covid pandemic. It disrupted the offseason training regimes and dramatically reduced team training camps.

Having said that, injuries generally seem to be more frequent in recent years compared to the 70s, 80s and 90s. Something seems to have changed. Cool might be right about muscle mass and speed exceeding the capacity of ligaments and tendons.

In any event, it's been a real joy-kill to see all these top players go down. The biggest bummer of all is Kawhi. That's in part because I'm a big fan of his game. But it's also because I was viewing the Clippers as the one team that can stop the Nets from winning it all this year. I used to also think of the Sixers as a team that could defeat the Nets, but watching the Sixers surrender 26-point lead and lose tonight, I don't think so. Nice win for the Clippers tonight, by the way.

Some good points here. I guess my conclusion is it's a combination of factors that led to this year's rash of injuries. I agree with Cool that athletes are just much bigger and faster than they were 30 years ago, and we probably don't fully understand the impact the game has on them vis a vis the smaller, less athletic guys of the past. But Covid and chance likely have a role in this too. I hope next year's playoffs aren't a repeat.

But yeah, gritty performance by the Clippers last night. I'm a bigger PG fan than most here, so I wasn't surprised to see him step up last night in a big way with Kawhi out. I can't say I saw Morris Sr's big game coming though. I hate to say it, but the Clips don't win last night without Morris.

Paul George has stepped up to the plate and delivered in this series. He is quieting some doubters, that is for sure.

I generally agree with FNG. This season is a bit of an outlier because of Covid. We haven't had the volume of injuries in prior playoff seasons, so I think the pandemic is the most likely source of uptick in injuries this season. It disrupted offseason training regimes and dramatically reduced team training camps.

Having said that, injuries generally seem to be more frequent in recent years compared to the 70s, 80s and 90s. Something seems to have changed. Cool might be right about muscle mass and speed exceeding the capacity of ligaments and tendons. I also agree that part of it is probably the fact that players used to play through injuries that would keep them on the bench today.

In any event, it's been a real joy-kill to see all these top players go down. The biggest bummer of all is Kawhi. That's in part because I'm a big fan of his game. But it's also because I was viewing the Clippers as the one team that can stop the Nets from winning it all this year. I used to also think of the Sixers as a team that could defeat the Nets, but watching the Sixers surrender 26-point lead and lose tonight, I don't think so.

Nice win for the Clippers tonight, by the way. Paul George has really stepped up and is now playing like the elite player many have claimed him to be. I've always been a Paul George fan and had him high on my draft board. But I've been among his doubters the past couple years. His recent play against Utah has certainly put my doubts to rest.

Q12543 wrote:Paul George has stepped up to the plate and delivered in this series. He is quieting some doubters, that is for sure.

What a great game. If he can do it once more Ill be convinced. Consistency has always seemed to be his issue. I hope he gets over the hump, hes had some great moments in his career but then seems to follow it up with a no show.

You know everyone is complaining about the injuries. Shouldn't part of being a champion is how deep your team is. It's nice to see guys like Morris and Jackson step up for there team and fill the void of Kawhi.

I think we get to swept up in superstars because we're trained to do so.