The NBA’s shortened training camp and condensed schedule appears to be taking a toll on the players.
Injuries are piling up all over the league. Stars like Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and Paul Pierce have all missed time.
Timberwolves forward Anthony Tolliver thinks the rush to get ready after the lockout is partially to blame. He says the shorter training camp didn’t give players enough time to prepare for playing four or five games a week -- and sometimes three games in three nights.
Veteran Celtics center Jermaine O’Neal says there was no way for players to be ready for such a grueling schedule. O’Neal says he sees players getting hurt every game, and it’s “more like football.”
“What’s kind of stunk about this preseason was that it was so short,” Tolliver said. “Our bodies didn’t get acclimated to playing this many games in this many nights. ... You’ll probably see more injuries, on average, this year, than other years because of that fact.”
The lockout prevented players from working out with athletic trainers at team headquarters all summer long and shortened the preseason from eight exhibition games to two.
According to STATS LLC, 727 games were missed during the first 307 games of the regular season due to injuries and illness. That’s actually 111 fewer games missed than at the same point last season, but the nature of the injuries that are cropping up hint at the stress being put on the players’ bodies.
Magic sign point guard
The Orlando Magic have signed Ish Smith, a free-agent point guard most recently of Golden State, as the team’s third point guard. The 6-foot, 170-pound Smith was added to the roster Thursday, a day after Orlando released guard Larry Hughes. The Magic were in need of a guard with starter Jameer Nelson still out with concussion symptoms.
Lowry works court deal
A lawyer entered a no contest plea for Kyle Lowry in a bid for dismissal of a misdemeanor battery case alleging the Houston Rockets guard threw a basketball at a female referee and threatened her during a game at a Las Vegas gym last September. The magistrate agreed to dismiss the case July 19 if Lowry completes 100 hours of community service at a battered women’s shelter or a similar program, completes an impulse control counseling program and stays out of trouble for six months.
Henderson out
A source says Charlotte Bobcats guard/forward Gerald Henderson will miss two-to-four weeks with a strained right hamstring. Henderson is averaging 15 points.
