Erik Spoelstra doesn’t think it’s too coincidental that the NBA is seeing more injuries to start the year right as they shortened the length of the preseason.
Speaking before Saturday’s game against the Indiana Pacers, the Miami Heat head coach said the decision to trim the preseason but keep training camp on the same schedule may contributing to the increase in injuries leaguewide.
“There is some validity to the fact that there is 10 less days of preseason,” said Spoelstra, per the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. “Our guys came in [to camp] in tremendous shape. But you still notice that, you feel that. You’re cramming in six games, less practices, and then all of a sudden that first game it was on.
“I don’t know how many, what percentage of the NBA players were truly ready, were physically ready for how fast and aggressive a real regular season game is,” he continued. “People say 10 days doesn’t matter, it does. It does matter. But we’ll just have to see how it plays out with the rest of the league.”
The Heat are having their fair share of injury struggles right now with Rodney McGruder out three-to-six months with a stress fracture in his leg and Hassan Whiteside day-to-day with a knee bruise. It does also seem like a bit of an epidemic elsewhere in the league with stars like Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Lin going down for the season on opening night and others such as Chris Paul and Kawhi Leonard currently sidelined indefinitely as well.
The decision to cut down the preseason, which was one of several changes implemented by the NBA this past offseason, was made in an effort to limit wear-and-tear on players by reducing the number of back-to-back sets. But the irony here is that it may inadvertently be causing more players to get hurt.
