Vince Carter – “Mr. Durable”
September 19th, 2008, 3:51 pm by NetIncome
You hear it and see it all the time: Vince Carter’s next injury is just around the corner. He will wince, dog it, and the Nets’ season will be over. It happens all the time, the pundits claim. It’s as certain as summer fading into fall, the winter snows.
But it’s not true.
In spite of all that punditry and conventional wisdom, Carter is not injury prone, at least not since he joined the Nets. Among the top 50 players who’ve been in the league at least four years, Carter ranks fifth in terms of fewest games lost. He has missed only 14 games, tied for fifth with Dirk Nowitzki. Of that total, he’s missed nine with the Nets, none of which the team won. Even if the analysis covered five years rather than four, Carter is still in the top five, missing only 23 games.
Who qualifies as a star for the purpose of this analysis? In putting it together, we looked those who have been all-NBA, all-Stars, Olympians, individual award winners, highest paid players, etc. We think we’ve come up with a list that would cover anyone’s definition of a “star” player.
Here’s the list, broken down by games lost:
0-10:
Tayshaun Prince (0); Dwight Howard (0); Andre Igoudala (6).
10-20:
Ben Gordon (12); Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki (14); Lebron James (16); Steve Nash (17); Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace (19).
21-30:
Jason Kidd (21); Tony Parker (22); Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant Shawn Marion and Ben Wallace (23); Tim Duncan (24); Joe Johnson and Richard Hamilton (25); Antwan Jamison (29); Paul Pierce (30).
31-40:
Carmelo Anthony (31); Allen Iverson (34); Mike Bibby (36); Rashard Lewis and Mike Miller (38); Manu Ginobili (40).
41-50:
Chris Bosh (41); Ray Allen (44); Al Jefferson (47); Michael Redd (48).
51=60:
Lamar Odom (51); Brad Miller (58); Kevin Martin (60).
61-70:
Tracy McGrady (66); Pau Gasol (67).
71-80:
Gilbert Arenas and Zach Randolph (71); Dwyane Wade (74); Andrei Kirilenko (76); Emeka Okafor , Elton Brand and Richard Jefferson (80).
81-90:
Amare Stoudemire (84); Yao Ming and Stephon Marbury (88); Carlos Boozer (89).
91-100:
Shaquille O’Neal (95); David West (96).
100+:
Jermaine O’Neal (122); Stevie Francis (126); Kenyon Martin (129).
September 19th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
This looks like the top 48 playeres plus Marbury and Steve Francis. Seriously, though nice list, and it gives me even more respect for Tayshaun, who many thought was too frail for the NBA.
September 19th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
when you pay guys millions or dollars, you want production, not just on average, but every day.
Some interesting numbers in there, but to me the most interesting point is this: if you look at the Pistons on that list, you understand why they’ve done so well.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Why is Rashard Lewis in there twice. He is in the “10-20″ and also in the “31-40.” Even though ! Feel the nets are gonna do bad and have almost no chance of makint the playoffs I Really want them to prove us all wrong.
September 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
thanks for pointing that out…it’s 38 games.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Very good. You should send it to Sports Illustrated, ESPN Magazine, and all those other condescending, fake NBA writers who frown if it’s not baseball or tiger woods for their weekly deadline.