NBA - Mileage Wearing Out Duncan and KG
by Tim Furious
Mileage was a theme of my NBA analysis at the end of last season, and no two players epitomized the concept better than Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. That’s not a good thing either.
The term simply refers to the amount of wear and tear a player’s body can take before they inexplicably start to break down. As optimistic the Spurs and Celtics are about the 2009-10 NBA season, there’s no way they can blindly head in to the fray this year without some worries around their two big men.
Let’s step back and think about this for a moment. Yao Ming is just 29-years-old and he should be in the prime of his career. Instead, the 7-foot-6 center is nursing a foot fracture that could potentially end his career. In contrast, you have the 34-year-old Allen Iverson who has escaped major injury despite his burn-and-bash playing style. Back injuries are starting to emerge, but that’s expected for the six-footer. It’s a very simplified example, but the lesson here is simple: the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Enter Kevin Garnett and his supposed “right knee sprain”. We haven’t heard any word of how KG’s knee is actually doing. The reports are vague at best, and the Celtics are masking his injury to the best of their ability. What we do know is that Garnett is making $16 million next year, Rasheed is making nearly $6 million next year and Big Baby was extended to the tune of $3 million, all in 2009. That’s a lot of money for one position. What reason would there to be to bring in an over-the-hill Rasheed Wallace if KG was healthy?
The point is that KG’s knee might not be the only problem. He is a ferocious player, perhaps the single most compe ive person in the modern NBA outside of Kobe Bryant. His emotions throttle him in to overdrive night in and night out. At 33-years-old and 6-foot-11, is his fire burning out? Hardly. What is flaming out, however, is his body. I just don’t think that this guy can last more than twenty minutes a night without wearing down completely. Last year was his worst season since his rookie year in 1995-96. KG ended with just 15.8 points, 8.5 boards and 57 games under his belt before bowing out to the knee injury that has everyone chewing their finger nails in Boston’s inner circle.
Switch gears to another 6-foot-11 power-forward in Tim Duncan, virtually the complete opposite in styles to Garnett. Tim Duncan is the soft spoken leader of the Spurs, who has become the best player at his position all-time. With chronic knee tendonitis plaguing his 2008-09 campaign, the Spurs were defeated 4-1 by a terrible Dallas Mavericks team in the playoffs. Duncan is also 33-years-old, and while he doesn’t play with the emotional ferocity of KG, he is definitely prone to the mileage bug, having played in 899 games.
Consider the mileage factor for a second before you bank me as a lunatic. KG has logged 39,668 minutes on the hardwood in his 14-year NBA career alone. Duncan has banked 33,173 minutes in his 12-year career.
Both are 6-foot-11, both are 33-years-old, both of them are about 250 pounds and both of them have terrifying knee injuries that emerged from no one single play. These two men are simply breaking down in the exact opposite way that Hugh Hefner’s body isn’t. If you already spent serious cash on the Celtics and Spurs to win the NBA Championship in 2010, are you sweating yet?
Pop is always smart about handing out minutes to his vets, and we shouldn't expect it to be any different this season. With the acquisition of McD and Blair, Tim's minutes will be even more limited this year. Couple that with an occasional night off (B2B), and he should be fine and rested come playoff time.
Excellent article.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was actually 6'1, 212 lbs
Karl Malone was actually 5'8", 170lbs.
OTOH, Dajuan Wagner was actually 7'9" 512lbs.
It was all an illusion.
I hope you are right about that. And I agree that Pop will monitor TD's minutes as well as Manu's just like he has been doing for several years or more. I think that with the addition of RJ the offensive firepower is more potent and could lead to more lopsided games and early on, too. This would lead to Pop playing Ratliff, Blair and even Bonner more thereby resting TD. One can only hope this plays out but we'll see.
Injuries are always one of the keys to winning a ring. Thankfully in the 4 runs by the Spurs this wasn't a factor but was in others, especially in '06 IMHO.
what about kobe
You always have to take the good with the bad. Unfortunately we're nearing the bad side of Timmy's career if his minutes are not managed properly.
This.
I think Duncan will be ok. He's had plenty of rest, and with the guys they have at the position, the Spurs can afford to rest him more than usual, and help monitor his minutes.
Kobe won a le last year and did not break down. That is the difference.
True. I guess it also goes against the writers theory that it's only for big men. Forgot about that.
I fail to see how Duncan and Garnett mileage in the same sentence is even comparable when Duncan is deep in the playoffs and Finals practically every year, Where is KG? Out the first round pratically every year. How does these two romotely have a comparison equatable to this article?
KG and Duncan are compared by the activity on KG vs Duncan. Not intensity but KG has had to play all over the floor in his career, as opposed to Duncan so it adds up as well.
As for Kobe, like AI hasn't broken down and can keep playing, its easier for a guard who gets up there in years if he plays smarter. Kobe does that.
And no, he wasn't the one breaking down to end last season.
They are the same age (only separated by three weeks)
Minutes played since the beginning of the 95-96 season, including college, NBA regular season, and NBA playoffs:
KG: 42624
TD: 41836
It seems reasonable to mention the two together with respect to the ulative effects of 14 years of compe ive basketball.
The only thing Duncan and KG have in common is the position they play. Duncan is a fundamental player not relying on his athleticism while KG is a player who needs the intensity and his athleticism.
Garnett will be out of the league before Timmy, just because of the style he plays.
Kobe on the other hand is one in a million. Mileage doesn't matter, even with just one leg the guy would put up numbers better than the majority of SG's in the league.
All three however will be fine. All three have a legit shot at the le next year and all three will be gone in 4-5 years (if not sooner). All three will be mentioned above the greatest players on their position. Duncan is the best PF to ever play the game and Garnett is still withing the top 5 and Kobe is unquestionably the second best SG of all time just behind Jordan.
I am a Spurs fan, and because of that it hurts me to say: When Kobe retires it will be a sad day for the NBA... the same can be said about Timmy.
The day KG retires however will be marked as as one of the best days in the NBA. Not because he is a bad player, just because he is one of the greatest a**holes the NBA has ever seen.
I think more data is needed in order for this author to prove his hypothesis that the bigger a player is the more susceptible they are to major injury or the effects of wear and tear.
Maybe something has to be said of the position they play, and whether that accelerates wear and tear.
what a stupid headline
Yeah, but the wear and tear on a player who played college ball and then goes deep into the playoffs compared to a player that is around the same age but didn't play in college or rarely goes deep into to the playoffs is just mind boggling to me when talking wear and tear.
Look at the minutes.
Now factor in that Garnett's game is predicated more on athleticism and less on sheer skill, unlike Duncan. So a lesser decline is going to be more of a detriment.
I don't like this. First of all, it's tendonosis. Secondly, He makes it seem like we lost the series due to Timmy. It probably would have been among the worst playoff series' ever if Timmy hadn't given it his all. Third, I wouldn't say Dallas had a terrible team. Even if we hate Cuban and those other assholes, I do give them some credit, especially since Howard was playing injured the whole series. I thought he'd just double over any minute and have to be helped into the locker room.With chronic knee tendonitis plaguing his 2008-09 campaign, the Spurs were defeated 4-1 by a terrible Dallas Mavericks team in the playoffs.
I agree. Duncan has won 4 championships. He has made it as far as the Western Conference Finals one other time. And he made it to the second round all but last year and his 3rd year when he was injured.
KG won one championship and and made it to the WCF one year. That is it.
how in the world has KG logged more minutes for wear and tear than Duncan, you know how many games Duncan has played in the course of just one season in comparisoon to Garnett with the amount of rest between the summer and next season. Duncan has the wear and tear where Garnett should be more refreshed. Hey, I'm done with it, I've said my peace on it you guys can go with the flow of the article, my bad.Look at the minutes.
Now factor in that Garnett's game is predicated more on athleticism and less on sheer skill, unlike Duncan. So a lesser decline is going to be more of a detriment.
This article belongs on my "No ?" wall.
"These two men are simply breaking down in the exact opposite way that Hugh Hefner’s body isn’t."
Complete loss of credibility.
The author is unaware of the media slips by the Skunks Next Door that they had to sneak out of the mansion to fornicate. Blew the lid off the fasad that Hef is still bringing it at age 80 (or whatever age the Cryptkeeper is at this point.)
Sorry if anyone was eating while reading this. I'm gonna go wash. Add a little bleach.
KG is done video of celtics practice and he's still limping after all the time he had off, KG has never been or ever will be on Timmys level.
http://www.yardbarker.com/all_sports...re_yet/1298759
Oh my god, KG looks terrible.. That is not a good sign the celtics, but because of Sheed
this will only mask the injury.
I'm sure the Celtics will be there in the end, but KG's injury looks much worse than Duncans.
Didn't he have more time to rest over the summer than Timmy??
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