The NBA released a report that's all scientific 'n jit, and they gave it to teams and reporters, 'cuz...that's how some of this stuff goes. At least in this case. The NBA is saying that resting a player (AKA "load management") doesn't lead to less injuries. I haven't read the report, but I've read about it. Apparently, if you get to read it, it also admits they don't know if load management works or not. Wha? The lead epidemiologist, Dr. Christina Mack, was quoted as saying, about load management: "We're not saying it's better or worse." So: saying the quiet part out loud: they got nuthin'. Does the NBA have a stake in superstar players playing every game they possibly can? Uhhh...Yep. This reminds me of scientific studies that show 2-3 glasses of wine a day "could be" actually healthy. Or not. Hey, there are these compounds in the grapes called surtuins, see? And they've been linked to long lives in very rich people who also have excellent health care and live in safe, crime-free neighborhoods. And you find out the study was funded, at least in part, by The California Industry of Winegrape Growers. I mean, Come ON, NBA! Look, we all get it: if I have some blue-collar job and splurge and take the wife and kid to ONE game to see our favorite team and superstar player X - (Lebron/Wemby/Giannis/SGA/Luka/Steph or Antman, just some examples) - sit out in street clothes due to load management? It blows. I dropped $475 for this? Still: I think a superstar, his trainer, and the coaches all know that when a guy needs a recovery period and it's not a crucial game, you sit the guy. This ain't exactly like solving the mystery of Dark Matter. Hell: NBA?: if you're convinced a team is holding out a star player: fine the team and give the money to some local charity. Or...OR? Stick with me here, this is brilliant: Hold a drawing for the fine money, open to anyone who bought nose-bleeder seats when the local superstar sat out a game recently. To qualify for the drawing: show your stub. (I know, I know: this shines a spotlight on fans getting rooked and no one would go for it. But I think it's a funny proposal. Just fer kicks.)
lol, nice idea on the drawing. the study is pretty funny. basically, you create an analytic strategy that is underpowered and claim that null findings are reliable. it's a cheap research trick, tbh. they're probably technically correct: we simply don't have the right data to conclude with confidence that rest helps avoid injury. but that's disingenuous, imo. if i get time, i will try to review this report because i think there are better and worse ways to do this (i literally do things like this as part of my job all the time). for instance, classifying the injuries in terms of how likely they are to be connected to repetitive stress seems important to me. rest doesn't save you from sprained ankles (save for limiting frequency of exposure), but if you're trying to tell me it doesn't help with things like tendinitis or these unexplained "effusions", i think you're full of it. was this distinction made? if so, how? how did they determine what constitutes planned rest (are you actually healthy or is the rest because you're partially injured or recovering)? how did they identify or handle outliers (kawhi leonard is a good example here--he rests a lot AND is hurt a lot--if he's not a data point, does it look different?)? there are just so many potential confounding variables, and my sense is the league is capitalizing on that. it's totally scientifically defensible, but again, it's not really done in good faith. i can't think of great solutions for making teams care about regular season games more (neither can darvin ham, apparently). the 500k seemed powerful. what if...at the end of the season, the nba holds a lottery and selects one game for each team out of their 82 games. and if that team won that game, each player who played in the game gets 500k. it's sort of costly (~150 million), but you never know which game might be the one! probably wouldn't work. but you know...something like that.
i know it's not quite fair, but...you could totally make a similar reel for russ in a lakers uniform, right?
That nepotized fool is shaqtin like McGee on steroids (at least McGee could put together moves and looked co-ordinated). If Dominic Wilkens was the human highlight film, this fool is the human blooper reel. The only thing NBA about him is his surname.
The Mighty Pistons went into DC and beat the Wiz by 12, for their 4th win of the year. Bojan Bogdanovic and Cade Cunningham are still injured and didn't play, and DET's new guys, Gallinari and Muscala, didn't play. They won. Anything can happen...esp. if you're playing the Washington Wizards!
the only team more disappointing than us so far this year is golden state. i suppose maybe atlanta, but literally nobody cares about them. i didn't think gs was going to return to form and be a contender, but i had them firmly in the playoff mix, along with us. instead, one or both of us is missing the play-in entirely, it seems.
MIL goes into CLE w/o Giannis, who has a bruised shoulder. Time for Dame and Middleton to step up, right? Middleton: 2/2/2 in 20 mins on 1 for 10 shooting. Dame: 17/2/5 in 25 mins on 7 for 20 shooting. Beasley was 0-3 from long. Bucks lose by 40, 135-95. Lots of talk about Khris/Dame/Giannis as a Big 3 for them. Maybe...but if the Freak ain't playing, I wouldn't count on the other two to step up. I mean, maybe just tell Dame: "We need you to go for 50, maybe 60." Like they did in POR. Meanwhile, CLE and Utah are two of the hottest teams in the NBA right now. WTF?
cleveland had underperformed most of the year, and then garland and mobley both go down...and they start winning? will be interesting to see what happens when they're whole again. seems like the bucks are being very careful with middleton. he only plays 25mpg. makes some sense if you can win that way, but that's a lot of cash for 25 minutes per game.
Thought they were going to have to really protect him physically this first year against being broken. So far ….. WOW ….. not the case.
i was going to say that, too, but they actually are--note the mpg. for him to fulfill his promise, he's going to have to be a regular 30+mpg player. i get that they're not trying to win (they would have signed a starting pg instead of the sochan experiment) and ramping him up to full capacity, though. still, he's barely missed time with injury, which is the big concern on super tall guys.
