Make sure you’re checking Jay out at The Brink of Sanity.

OK so there’s a lot of injuries throughout the NBA this season (Hell yes! My fantasy teams are fucked up!-ed.). I want to break down the injury situations and talk about what it means for each team. I didn’t include players that aren’t in the top 8 in their teams rotations, and I usually left out players with very temporary injuries.

(This was written on January 17th, so a few players may have returned to action by the time this is published-ed.)

Boston Celtics –
Marquis Daniels – Back – Questionable for Jan. 17 vs. Orlando
Kevin Garnett – Calf – Questionable for Jan. 17 vs. Orlando
Jermaine O’Neal – Knee – Out until at least late January
Shaquille O’Neal – Leg – Questionable for Jan. 17 vs. Orlando
Kendrick Perkins – Knee – Out until at least early February
Delonte West – Wrist – Out until at least early February

Boston has been decimated with injuries this season and yet they still hold the #1 seed. This shows how deep this team is and how tough they will be to beat if they are healthy come playoff time. I put a few players in here that will be back soon because I’m not convinced they will be full strength when they come back. The injuries have cost them a few wins and will most likely cost them a few more but they way they have been playing I don’t see them dropping to lower than the #2 seed, if that.

Chicago Bulls –
Joakim Noah – Thumb – Out until at least late February
Carlos Boozer – Ankle – Questionable for Jan. 18
Losing Noah is big, but not huge when you’re in the weakest division in the East. They’re pretty much locked into a top 4 seed.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Daniel Gibson – Ankle – Questionable for Jan. 19 vs. Phoenix
Joey Graham – Quadriceps – Out until at least mid-January
Christian Eyenga – Ankle – Questionable for Jan. 19 vs. Phoenix
Anthony Parker – Back – Out until at least Jan. 19 vs. Phoenix
Leon Powe – Knee – Out until at least mid-February
Anderson Varejao – Ankle – Likely out for season
Mo Williams – Hip, groin – Questionable for Jan. 19 vs. Phoenix
Cleveland was going to be one of the worst teams in the league anyway, but with all these injuries they’ve become a D-League team. They’ve had lineups consisting of Manny Harris, Alonzo Gee and Samardo Samuels. Ouch.
Dallas Mavericks
Roddy Beaubois – Foot – Out until at least early February
Caron Butler – Knee – Out for season.
Dallas can’t catch a break. They were on a tear when Butler went down. Dirk missed 8 games as well with Dallas going 2-6 in that span. The west is a tight race, and if Dallas can’t trade Butler’s expiring contract for a replacement I see another 2nd round exit in Dallas’ future.
Denver Nuggets
Chris Andersen – Knee – Out until at least mid-January
Kenyon Martin – Knee – Day to day
The Nuggets have been playing pretty well considering all the injuries. Had I written this two weeks ago the list would have been about 3 times as long. What’s more amazing is the way they have been playing through all the trade rumors. Impossible to predict how they will finish up until we see what happens with the Melodrama.
Houston Rockets
Yao Ming – Ankle – Out for season
Brad Miller – Knee – Out until at least mid-January
The Rockets should be used to playing without Yao. Unfortunately their backup also went down and they’ve had to play small-ball for pretty much the whole season. They will get a little deeper when Miller gets back, but what looked like a contender a few months ago looks like they now have a ceiling of an 8th seed and 1st round exit.


Los Angeles Clippers
Chris Kaman – Out until at least early February
Injuries to Kaman and Baron Davis got an intriguing team off to a slow start. They are 10-4 in their last 14 games, but dug themselves into such a big whole the first 25 games they’d have to keep this pace up the rest of the season to even sniff they playoffs. And lets face it, it’s the Clippers, that’ won’t happen.
Miami Heat
Udonis Haslem – Foot – Out until at least late March
LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh are all injured right now. All minor injuries but they are screwed if they all miss the same game and probably screwed if even one or two of them are injured. Losing Haslem has made a thin team really thin, especially since Mike Miller doesn’t look the same after coming back from his injury.
Milwaukee Bucks
Carlos Delfino – Concussion – Out until at least late January
Michael Redd – Knee – Out indefinitely
Bandon Jennings – Foot – Out until at least mid-January
Another team completely derailed by injuries. Bogut has been in and out of the lineup as well. Right now they are fighting for an 8th seed instead of a 4th seed. The Bucks are used to playing without Redd, but the rest of the injuries really hurt. Expectations have to be lowered now. Looks like an 8th seed and a sound thrashing by the Celts is now their future.
New York Knicks
Kelenna Azubuike -Knee – Out indefinitely
Eddy Curry – Hamstring – Out indefinitely
Ronny Turiaf – Hip – Day to day
With players like Roger Mason shooting 6% FOR THE SEASON, having players like Azubuike make a surprisingly thin bench even thinner. This results in having to play the starters 40 minutes a game, increasing the liklihood of them either getting run down or injured.
Portland Trail Blazers
Brandon Roy – Knee – Out indefinitely
Greg Oden – Knee – Out for season
At one point Pryzbilla and Camby were injured as well. Bet even jaded Blazers fans didn’t see that coming. With Roy out for at least another month and possibly longer…like forever, the once loaded Blazers are pretty thin and in a 3 way battle for the last playoff spot in the West with no relief in sight.
Toronto Raptors
Jerryd Bayless – Ankle – Day to day
Peja Stojakovic – Knee – Out indefinitely
Reggie Evans – Foot – Out until at least early February
Leandro Barbosa – Hamstring – Out until at least late February
Just like the Cavs, one of the worst teams in the East not only loses their franchise player, but then gets decimated by injuries. At least their chances at a hight draft pick just skyrocketed.