On this week’s podcast, Tara and Cassidy talk about injuries that have plagued the Trail Blazers and the league. We discuss our own personal sports injuries and what we learned from them and the look at how injuries have increased over the past several years. We ask why they might be occurring and what could possibly be done to curtail the rising rates. 

Then we take a trip around the league and make up headlines to capture all the weirdness and excitement of the first three weeks of the season. 

Highlights

1:00 Icebreaker: The Blazers are headed on 6 game road trip do you have any flight routines? Must have snacks or entertainment? 

4:00 Favorite moments from the Blazers in the last week or so are watching Damian Lillard score 60, Nas Little being in the floor, Anfernee Simons making things look easy, and being included in important end-of-game plays. 

7:00 The injury bug has hit the Trail Blazers. 

8:00 What we learned from our own sports injury stories, about love of the game and how the sports we played were part of our identities.

18:00 Cumulative NBA Injury Report tracker you can find historical information about the last 5 years worth of injuries. 

19:30 Blazers have lost 29 player games to injury so far this season (in 10 games). Biggest year in recent memory was 2016 when they lost 172 games due to injury, which included 82 games for Festus Ezeli.

24:30 Are the number of injuries in the league increasing? According to 'These kids are ticking time bombs': The threat of youth basketball by Baxter Holmes, yes. (Note in the podcast Tara originally attributed this to Tom Haberstroh’s article NBA Injuries Are Mounting, Leaving League Wrestling with Who's to Blame which we discussed later. 

26:30 How much of an increase is there really and how can we get the real story?

27:45 To change this, it will probably take a systemic approach rather than band aids.

29:45 Why do more injuries happen? Shorter preseason, faster pace, specialization.

33:00 What are some solutions. Current players who have children playing in the AAU system have a chance to change that system.

34:30 There are a lot of things contributing to injuries, sometimes it’s just bad luck, like when Aron Baynes landed on Step Curry’s hand.

38:00 Everyone get well soon!

38:30 Around the league: The Price of Gold Drops in San Francisco

40:00 New Orleans: Trust the process round 2? 

41:30 Miami: Miami flying high on multiple levels

45:30 New York: Are Knicks about to Knicks it up? 

47:30 Washington: The Wizarding World of Injuries. 

48:30 Milwaukee: Blazers East looking good. 

50:15 Why do people always assume starts in small markets are going to leave? 

52:45 Outro

Get social

Follow Blazer’s Edge on Twitter @blazersedge, WHAT Pod @HoopsAndTalks, Tara @tcbbiggs, and Cassidy @CassidyGemmet.

Join the Women’s Hoops And Talks Facebook group to talk about Trail Blazers with others who identify as women who love basketball.

Music used in the episode: “Happy Alley” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.

Subscribe to the podcast

Apple Podcasts

Google Play

Spotify

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices