The Pacers have had incredible luck with injuries this season. Their starting lineup has missed a grand total of two games to injury and illness thus far. That got us thinking: how many games have the Nets lost to injury? What other indices are out there to measure just how bad the Nets luck as has been? It's an ugly story, probably the worst this year in the NBA.
Oh yeah, after earlier being listed as "probable", Anthony Morrow is now out vs. the Pacers with a bruised right shoulder.
First we started with the 133 games the current roster has lost through the Jazz game to injury, illness and personal issues. Then we added the 46 games that Mehmet Okur and Shawne Williams lost before being traded to the Trail Blazers. Throw in the two games Keith Bogans missed between his season-ending injury and being waived. That's 181, or an average of 3.54 players lost to injury, etc. PER GAME (181 games lost divided by 51 games).
You want other data points? The Nets have had four-season ending injuries (Damion James, Okur, Bogans and Shawne Williams) and could add two more, Brook Lopez and Jordan Farmar. Okur's injury appears to be career-ending. It's all forced the Nets to use 20 different starting line-ups, call up five D-Leaguers (Dennis Horner (twice), Larry Owens, Andre Emmett Gerald Green and Jerry Smith) and pay 21 different players, near a team record. And it will get worse. James will miss all 15 games left and Lopez and Farmer are expected to miss at least another 10. That's just shy of 200. Last year, in an 82-game season, the Nets lost 129 games to injury.
As they say in the trainer's lounge: Get Well Soon!