Clippers' Injury Management

[LACtdom]

Part of me believes that if we didn't play Dudley at all during the first half of last season that we may have benefited from the same levels of production that he is giving MIL now. So far this season we've played CP3, JJ, CDR, Hawes, Farmar and even Wilcox while they were battling injury. It resulted in CDR being arguably unfairly dropped since he never got a chance to prove himself.

We all know that this year there are at least 8 teams including us who on their day could go on to win the whole thing but for that to happen we need production from everyone. Should we adopt Pop's mindset and sacrifice wins during the regular season by resting players and minute restrictions in order to have the best possible chance of a fully healthy squad come play off time?

I say yes. If a player isn't 100% rest him until he is. Correct me if I'm wrong but even if we got a top 4 seed we would still not get home court because of GSW winning the Pacific?

[Neddy]

Pops can do that because his guys have been there and done that. they know what it takes to win in playoffs whereas our guys have not. we don't have enough championship experience let alone a deep playoff run among our top players that sacrificing wins would mean losing the HCA. i don't see how we can overcome that 3 rounds in a row to make it to the finals.


and no, GS winning the division has nothing to do with us unless we are playing them. if we are a 4th seed as #2 of our division, we get the HCA even if the 5th seed is their divisional winner.

[LACtdom]

One could argue that by resting stars it gives our lesser talented players a chance to build chemistry and confidence with increased minutes. Last year CP got injured and DC got a chance to prove himself and did so nicely. Later in the playoffs he actually won us a game by having an insane 4th quarter.

Well with HCA still in the mix then I guess it comes down to what would you rather risk: HCA or a healthy roster.

[mkwest]

HCA goes to whatever team has the better record.

The division winners will be awarded a top 4 seed along with one non-division winner. It's very unlikely for a top 4 seed to not have HCA in the first round and would mean one of the division winners would have to have 8th best record in the conference.

Pop tends to keep his players' minutes low. In Vinny's final season, Blake and CP were the only players to average more than 30 mpg. Blake had a freak injury in practice during the first round and our spoiled any hope we had against Memphis.

With injuries, it all depends on the severity to me. Most guys are not going to want to sit if they can play or if they aren't at risk of making the injury worse. If it's something that will only improve with rest, then it really depends on how it effects the player. Some guys can be bothered by things, but are still effective. With others it looks more obvious. If a player is really struggling, he should be benched until he's back to himself imo.

[og15]

Dudley should have sat, but remember Barnes was also injured and so was Reggie, it was the perfect storm.

Depends on the injury though, some injuries, taking extra time off doesn't really make a difference.