6. Yao Ming Yao is ranked this low because we're only focusing on his most severe injury (the stress fracture he developed during the 2009 playoffs), and because his run isn't over yet. If Zydrunas Ilgauskas(notes) can play just 103 out of a possible 132 games in the 1999 and 1999-00 seasons and then come back to make several All-Star teams while playing into his mid-30s, then Yao can do the same after the same injury, with about the same frame, and the same treatment plan. Get to it, big man. 4. Tracy McGrady We weren't quite sure which McGrady injury to focus on, and we're not being smart-alecky with that admission. What we settled on were the back issues that first surfaced during his 2001 training camp run with the Orlando Magic. McGrady was an absolute beast in the years that followed, quietly on par with Kobe Bryant(notes) (check the stats) while working on awful teams in Orlando, and extended back issues never really never took hold until 2005-06. Since then, T-Mac has been quite gimpy, perimeter-happy and hardly a lock to stay on the court. Worse, though the injuries might not be related, he has developed knee problems in the years since 2005-06, resulting in a microfracture operation that could cost him most of the 2009-10 season. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...t=AgbWgMQgpbI1pKXsKnXD6_O8vLYF?urn=nba,188268
If you take into count all injuries as they did with Grant Hill, I have no idea how T-Mac is behind Gilbert Arenas. T-Mac was Kobe level back in Orlando and the first year in HOuston. Injuries have knocked him for a lot longer than Arenas and affected his performance easily as much.
it is quite unfortunate that rockets were plauged with so much injuries... but we still manage to make it to the playoffs almost every year... this year aint gonna be different
How could Shawn Livingston be so low? That single freak injury ended his career. And I still cringe whenever I think about that incident.
This should be required reading for every member of this forum. I also think Tracy McGrady should be ahead of Gilbert Arenas.
i agree. arenas has been a nice player, but he's NEVER been talked as the best player in the league or a top 5 player at all. so the #2 ranking is very high. tracy, penny, webber, and yao should be higher than arenas. hell, even tracy's comeback is more anticipated than gilbert's
Do you realize that Arenas signed a max contract last year? The Wizards had a solid roster and expected Arenas to lead them. So yes, I'd agree that the significance of his injury is worthy of being #2. In regards to McGrady, people can't decide whether he's more valuable as a player or as an expiring contract so I doubt his comeback is highly anticipated. And the author made it a point to specify that he was referring to McGrady's back spasms. The number of games that McGrady missed (due to back spasms) pales in comparison to the games missed by some of the other players.
I actually thought that Livingston was going to have a very good and long career. I think he was only 20 years old when the injury happened and was already proving to be a legitimate player backing up a still very effective Sam Cassell. Of course, 20 years old isn't as young as it used to be.
lol @ ranking injuries. Too bad a better writer didn't take on this project, could have been good stuff.
But it wasn't about simply the games that he missed. It is the overall impact of that injury. It effectively aborted a career that at the time looked to be on the track to absolute greatness. It's incomprehensible now, but today's LBJ/Kobe debate was yesterday's Mac/Kobe - there was a solid case to be made that he was the best player in the entire NBA at the age of 23. Those back problems, which probably contributed to his other assortment of nagging pains, robbed him of his physical prime and completely attenuated the trajectory of a once sure-fire hall of fame career.
True, the overall impact of the injury is important, but its secondary to the games missed. McGrady's back spasms forced him to miss 15 games in Orlando. Arenas has had to miss 149 games so far these past two seaons. And lets not undersell Arenas here. His career also had a HOF trajectory.
FYI, Kelly Dwyer is the author of this article. For those of you who don't know and are too busy hating, he's one of us Clutchfans, who's an actual writer. he gets paid for what you guys attempt to do. good article!
no one is saying he's a bad writer. the list is HIS opinion, and i'm sure he welcomes what the readers have to say. it's hard to put ANY list about ANY topic and have the majority agree with you most of the time. his past few lists have been pretty good, just the top of the lists have been pretty hard to agree with.
