Derrick Rose tore his ACL on Saturday, as did Iman Shumpert. Both of these injuries come in the wake of a lockout condensed NBA season. Many critics have complained that the stress of too many games in such a short time led to these injuries, although the AP put out a story saying there is no evidence ACL tears can be caused by a season’s wear and tear, and are more likely freak accidents. This season the NBA played 66 games in 124 days, with a few back-to-back-to-back sets. This season, the majority of baseball teams will play 162 games in 181 days. During this season players will play many stretches of 15+ games in a row. By comparison the condensed NBA season seems easy.
Conventional wisdom holds that for most players a basketball game will cause much more physical exertion than a baseball game. In my opinion, I would put catchers up there with most starters in a basketball game and everyone else who plays significant minutes in a basketball game with the starting pitcher (who only plays one out of every five games so it’s not the same). The fielders exertion is definitely way below everyone who plays in the basketball game. However, in both these sports the professional athletes do much more physical exertion than what the common fans know about. In both sports, hours upon hours of physical work is done before and after games, and these hours take a toll on the players. With all things considered, this NBA season is more comparable to the grueling MLB season then a normal NBA season.
Why is this important? And how does this have anything to do with Rose and Shumpert’s injuries? Every year an injury report comes out from an MLB team that has people laughing at a professional athlete. Sammy Sosa brought on back spasms when he sneezed too hard. Wade Boggs once missed seven games because he strained his back while trying to put on a pair of boots. An MLB season has been compared to a marathon, or a grind, and there is truth behind those comparisons because those things wear on a body’s ability to function correctly and cause injuries.
Now I am not saying that the condensed NBA season was the reason for Rose and Shumpert’s injuries this year, and I am not saying that Ricky Barnes injuring his back while getting out of a chair while watching TV in the clubhouse isn’t funny. But there do seem to be many more injuries to NBA players this year, including a back injury to Superstar Dwight Howard, that seemingly was not caused by anything in particular, and the players are complaining about the condensed NBA season.
Perhaps the NBA should listen to their players so they don’t have anyone strain their elbow by flicking sunflower seeds like Greg Harris, or blow out their knee while shoveling snow, like John Vander Wal.
-David Ringold
