Boob-No-More
Why you no hire big man coach?
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How about we just look at the last three seasons, as they are the most relevant? I've seen several posters in this forum, and even heard one of the announcers on one of the Utah games mention that Kaman has missed 40+ games season over the last three seasons "due to injury". That's flat out false, or poor research by anyone who claims it to be true.
2013-14 Kamn played in only 39 games. The knee-jerk reaction is: OMG he missed over half the season (43 games) the dude is injury prone! The facts: He only missed 14 games due to injury, including the last 8 games of the season with a "sore calf". At that point the Lakers were clearly tanking and playing their young guys. Kaman clearly did not fit their present goals of future plans. If they had been in a playoff race, I suspect Kaman would have dressed for those last eight games. The real reason Kaman missed so many games? Mike d"Antoni is completely brain dead when it comes how to utilize a traditional center, or even play two big men at the same time.
Nba.com improved their box scores last season, and they now give detailed reports on why a player didn't play in a particular game. If the player is on the inactive list, they aren't listed in the box score. If they are on the active roster, but don't dress for the game, the box score will state DND (Did Not Dress): reason (where reason is the specifics of the injury). If the player is in uniform, but does not play, the box score will read: DNP-CD (Coach's Decision). Mike D'Antoni, in his infinite ineptitude, gave a healthy Chris Kaman 29 DNP:CDs last season. So, worst case, Kaman missed 14 games due to minor injuries (only six games over the first five and a half months of the season, and the final 8 games with a "sore calf").
The year before, in Dallas, Kaman played in 66 of 82 games. Unfortunately, back then, the NBA box scores did not specify why a player didn't play in a particular game. Since Rick Carlisle is more competent than Mike D'Antoni, I'll assume the worst and that Kaman was injured for all 16 of those missed games.
In 2011-2012, Kaman only played in 47 games. Once again the typical knee-jerk reaction is: OMG he missed almost half the season, the guy is definitely injury prone! I can't believe that people have already forgotten that 2011-2012 was shortened to 66 games due to the lockout. So, Kaman missed 19 games. Again, the box scores from that season don't specify why a player did not play. However, we have this quote from head coach Monty Williams on January 27, 2012:
"Monty Williams said that Chris Kaman's playing time could decrease because he wants to develop his younger frontcourt players. Kaman was a healthy inactive on Wednesday night and has fallen out of the rotation for the time being."
Up until that point, Kaman had not missed a game all season. So, there is a very high probability that most of the games Kaman missed that year were DNP-CDs.
So, worst case, Kaman has had no major injuries over the past three seasons and has missed a maximum of 14, 16, and 19 games due injury. I realistic terms, it's probably more like 14, 16, <10, or about 13 games a season due to minor, nagging injuries.
You, predictably took the knee-jerk OMG he's injury prone stance. Of the under 40 games played seasons, one was last year for the Lakers, when D'Antoni had no idea how to use a healthy Kaman and the under 50 games season was during the lockout shortened season when Monty Williams benched a healthy Kaman to give their young guys a chance to grow.
Is the guy the paragon of health? No, he does suffer from minor, nagging injuries that cause him to miss about 12 - 15 games a year. Something tells me that with a clearly defined role, playing for a contender, Kaman will be surprisingly healthy this year. And if he does miss his usual 15 games, we'll manage and be a LOT better up front in the 67 games he does play than we were at any point last season.
BNM
