Centers of Attention - Injuries

Well a strategy employed in drafting my fantasy bball squad prior to the season start was to load up on Centers or Forward/Center types. One thing I never planned on, was serious injuries, because if a Center is lost for the year, your chances at the fantasy basketball title might go down with them. That said, the Nets' Nenad Krstic is gone for the season this past week. It appears Krstic has a torn knee ligament, an unfortunate season ending injury. Then comes the news that Marcus Camby goes down for what sounds like a good number of weeks (4plus). Camby is known for this almost every season though. Krstic is not. Hearing the news that Yao Ming is now out for 8 weeks, it makes you wonder if Centers are more injury prone than other players in the NBA. It also makes fantasy teams scramble to recover from these losses.

It would make sense. Centers are down in the post, the paint and the middle of all the action. Players are constantly driving the lane and bumping into them. Centers take charges or defensive fouls, often. They go up for multiple shot blocks during the game. Looking at ESPN.com's injury list, you see numerous entries for Centers. Everyone from Michael Olowakandi to Zaza Pachulia to Martynas Andriuskevicius of the Bulls, who left an intensive care unit for a skull fracture. It's apparent the injury buy hits Centers seriously these days. This sorta loss devestates teams. Yao Ming had a long injury stretch last year, most likely preventing Houston from making a playoff run. Losing Krstic this season could sideline the Nets from the playoffs, unless a move is made. Jamaal Magloire was mentioned as a possible pickup.

The good news, I still have Emeka Okafor, Andrew Bogut and Andres Bierdins (of the Warriors), and Camby will be back, eventually. The bad news, the holiday time makes us relax and forget about other duties such as changing our lineups, and starting Dwyane Wade on Christmas day..

Happy Holidays to all and a prosperous New Year...