This is an interesting article. They are thinking of changing the IL tradition of faking injuries and making up an "Inactive" list. http://msnbc.com/news/726820.asp LOS ANGELES, March 20 — As he warmed up for a game against the Indiana Pacers a few weeks ago, Los Angeles Lakers forward Jelani McCoy found himself contemplating the inevitable: a trip to the injured list. NOT THAT HE felt any aches or pains. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound Mr. McCoy looked perfectly spry as he lofted jump shots from the corner of the Staples Center court. Still, he knew that once starting forward Samaki Walker’s hyperextended elbow healed, the Lakers would face a dilemma common in the National Basketball Association: Under league rules, a team’s active roster can include just 12 players, and the Lakers already had a dozen suited up for action. One way to make room for Mr. Walker to return would be for the Lakers to cut somebody from the team. But more typically, teams prefer to come up with a bogus injury for a lesser player and stash him on the injured list, in case he’s needed later. Advertisement Averaging just one point a game this season, Mr. McCoy knew he was the likely candidate. And what did he imagine his injury would be? “Whatever they say,” he said, noting that making up ailments can require “a little creativity.” Pointing to his size-15 sneakers, Mr. McCoy said he’d probably be listed with a “bone bruise” in his foot, since that’s what allegedly sidelined him earlier in the season. Sure enough, the Lakers last Friday reactivated Mr. Walker, while Mr. McCoy was dispatched to the injured list with a bruised right foot. A team spokesman declines to comment on the diagnosis. It is one of the sports world’s great white lies: NBA injured lists are full of players who aren’t actually injured. • Sign up for a two-week free trial of The Online Journal. Rod Thorn, the president of the New Jersey Nets and a former top NBA official, figures that at any given time, as many as 40% of those on the list are in fact healthy. The ploy lets a team retain up to three extra players to use during practice and rotate on and off the active squad — allowing younger, more marginal talent to develop slowly. It is the NBA’s equivalent of off-balance-sheet financing. “It’s just something that you do as part of the business,” says Joe Dumars, once a star guard for the Detroit Pistons and now the team’s president of basketball operations. Yet some, including Mr. Dumars, have been questioning lately whether the practice should be stopped. “It just isn’t ethical,” says Pete Babcock, the general manager of the Atlanta Hawks. Mr. Babcock has long protested against — and insists he has been one of the few in the NBA to refuse to engage in — the sham. First a team must invent an injury. Back problems are always good because “no one can tell when you have a good back or a bad back,” observes Tom Tolbert, a former NBA journeyman and injured-list veteran. After that, the team doctor must send spurious paperwork to the league. Then, the team must update the media on the status of an injury that never existed in the first place. “It’s a lie perpetuated,” says Mr. Babcock. “It kind of makes a mockery of the whole system.” Top NBA stories • Mavericks end drought, beat Lakers • McGrady scores 48 as Magic wins • T-Wolves snap seven-game skid • Iverson heats up late to burn Miami • NBA’s top 50 players Acknowledging the problem, NBA officials are now weighing whether to end the charade, replacing the term “injured list” with the less precise “inactive list.” The seemingly simple change would lay to rest barbs like the one from Nets rookie Brandon Armstrong, who, when put on the injured list with tendinitis in the knee, told reporters: “They had to tell me which knee.” But the plan is no slam-dunk. The NBA players’ union worries that an inactive list may be a covert way for the league to strip some players of their status — and their right to a minimum salary of $332,817. “We don’t want certain guys to be less than the rest of us,” says Lakers guard Derek Fisher, a union representative. He and others are counseling a go-slow approach until they can determine “what’s really behind” the inactive-list idea. Fueling the players’ suspicions is the timing of the proposal. A few months ago, the NBA launched a developmental league with teams such as the Columbus (Ga.) Riverdragons tipping off against the North Charleston (S.C.) Lowgators. In the NBDL, every player makes the same: $27,500. Now, some NBA players worry that an inactive list is nothing but a scheme to funnel bodies to the new minor league. “All of a sudden, the injured list is unethical?” asks Michael Curry, a forward on the Pistons and the union president. “It could be a coincidence” that the injured-list issue has come up just as the NBDL gets under way, he says. “But these are the things that go through some of the players’ heads.” The NBA, in response, says there is no link whatsoever between the developmental league and the inactive-list concept. Professional baseball and football also have injured lists — the “disabled list” for the former and “injured reserve” for the latter — but they aren’t exploited like they are in the NBA. That’s in part because these other leagues field larger teams, giving them more flexibility to juggle their lineups. Playing now: • Housing starts jump • EMI cuts 1,800 jobs • H-P claims victory, Hewlett says too close to call Abuse of the NBA list, which has been around as long as anybody can remember, has gotten worse as time has gone on, according to basketball insiders. Jerry Sloan, the coach of the Utah Jazz, says he was never one to fudge a player injury — until a couple of years ago, when it became obvious that his team’s veracity was putting it at a disadvantage. “I’ve never liked it. I think it’s a phony thing,” he says. But “if you’re going to compete, you have to go along with whatever is acceptable.” Among those who have voiced their displeasure about injured-list shenanigans are team physicians, who have to certify a player’s injury. Sanford Kunkel, the doctor for the Pacers and president of the NBA Team Physicians Society, minimizes the matter, arguing that players across the league are so banged up that nearly all of them could legitimately qualify for the list. “I could go down our roster and only name about three guys who are 100% healthy,” Dr. Kunkel says. Most everybody “could use a week or two or three off” to recuperate from something. Once a player is consigned to the list, he must remain there for at least five games. Others have never liked stretching the truth. “You feel like you’re playing this game, and at the same time you’re told that this is what’s done,” says Richard Emerson, who served as the Phoenix Suns doctor for 11 years beginning in 1989. In the mid-1990s, a number of teams took to challenging their rivals, asking the league to order an independent physician to verify injuries. Although this was a clever way to disrupt another ball club — especially around playoff time — teams have since shied away from the tactic, a league official says, out of fear it will be used against them. News from the WSJ Wall Street Journal stories on MSNBC • Click here to bookmark Despite the players’ misgivings, NBA brass say they’re hopeful that, sooner or later, the two sides can agree on a new nomenclature that will more accurately reflect what the list is all about. “We want it to be a more straightforward process,” says Stu Jackson, the NBA’s senior vice president of basketball operations. The current situation “doesn’t pass the smell test of what the injured list was originally intended to do.” Meantime, the deception will continue. Acknowledges Mr. Jackson: “You may find a player or two who says, ‘I feel a sprained ankle coming on.’ ” Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Or, the NBA could simply just forget the injured list or inactive list and just let up to 15 players suit up for each team, healthy or not...
I especially like all of the extra teasers in the article to read other articles that aren't actually links... nevermind. I don't know. You gotta have some kind of cut-off. The rule IS horribly exploited in the NBA, though. And I do agree it's not ethical. Changing it to an "inactive" list doesn't sound like a bad solution to me. Kind of like the practice squads that they have in some leagues. Inactive is good verbage, cause it just means you aren't available to play in games, so you can be injured or not, and it's okay cause you're still on the team. As long as it doesn't cut into the players' salary. That would suck.
It is unethical. But is that a bad thing? If the league's best team IR players could start for the worst team, an argument could be made. The salary cap and FA forces team's hands, so the best teams can not stock pile talent. As is, the IR contains good player that are hurt or marginal players trying to break into the league. Marginal players* do not complain about the IR, since they are getting paid and are still pursuing their dream. *Rodrick Rhodes excluded.
It was probably once unethical when it was a way of "cheating." But since everyone does it, who really cares? I think they should just go ahead and officially rename it the "ineligible list."
Things that are true about the Injured List: 1. IR players must be trully injured - verified by a doctor. 2. IR players must be paid the same as the rest. There is no connection to the NBDL. 3. IR players must stay out at least 5 games. 4. If an IR player says that he is not really injured, the team must keep him active or cut him. 5. If an opposing team challenges an injury, an independent doctor must verify the truth of it. If there is no injury, the players must stay active or be cut. 6. The IR is supposed to be used only for players with legit injuries, not players who aren't good enough to contribute but will be or players who are being saved for trades. 7. Having essentially 15 players per team creates tighter cap and luxury tax restraints on players. Things that should be true about an Inactive List: 1. IL players can be injured or not. 2. IL players are paid like everyone else. There is no connection to the NBDL. 3. IL players must stay out 5 games (otherwise, there would be almost no difference between Active and Inactive players). 4. Placing a player on IL should be with player's consent. 5. Other teams do not have ability to challenge. 6. The IL should be used for good players with legit injuries, players who aren't good enough to contribute but will be, and players who are being saved for trades. 7. Having essentially 15 players per team creates tighter cap and luxury tax restraints on players. The only thing unethical about the Injured List is the way it is used. There is nothing wrong with changing the rules of it, which seem to be stupid to me (and teams apparently) anyhow.
Yesyes... I know... I just had to comment. That's what happens when you do the mousedrag copy and paste on an html page.
Well damn it, I put the link to the article, so if you wanted linky-links, why didn't you just click the linky-link? You are so high maintenance!!
