nuggets injury report

nuggets injury report

The Impact of Injuries on the Nuggets’ Performance

1. Introduction

This research aims to answer the following question: Do the injuries affect the Denver Nuggets’ performance in the NBA after the injuries occurred until the end of regular season games in the last 5 seasons? This research will be analyzed based on research on “Impact of injuries on team performance in the NBA – A Six Year Analysis” from Jeff Stotts, “The leaguewide impact of bad player health” by Bradford D. Riemann, Joshua A. Shuart, and Todd A. McFall, and “Injury Rates Increasing in Young Athletes.” It is important to evaluate precise evidence from data whether or not the injuries affect the team performance in win percentage, offensive/defensive efficiency, and bench production. This research will provide clear information on how and what kind of player injuries lead to worse performance using advanced stats metrics, how much the injuries hurt the team performance, and which injured players have the most influence on their team. The primary objective of this research is to present clear and obvious evidence on the impact of player injuries towards team performance. It is not a secret that injuries hurt the team, but often people in general are not aware of how much the impact is. This research is directed towards basketball trainers, coaches, or any kind of people that are involved in the basketball world, especially in the NBA, to show how devastating player injury could be to the team. By showing the concrete evidence, they could evaluate the player’s condition whether or not to make him take some rest and miss some games, or even suggest putting the player under a recovery program if he has significant injuries to prevent it from getting worse. This research could also give fans an idea of which injured player on their favorite team should expect worse team performance and help them understand the real situation and condition of their favorite team.

2. Analysis of Key Injuries

The impact of Kenyon Martin was substantial with the Nuggets winning 66.7% of games with Martin in the line-up (24-12), in comparison to just 56.6% without him. They scored marginally less on average with Martin playing but more interestingly they conceded 103.2 points per 100 possessions without him compared to just 100.4 with him. In terms of Martin’s offense, his points per game may have suggested it was not a huge loss but his field goal percentage was about 5% better than the PF’s replacing him and so the solid game on offense he plays did hurt the Nuggets. But undeniably his biggest impact was on the defensive end where the Nuggets clearly missed his presence. What is worth noting however is that the only time the Nuggets did not considerably drop off in performance with Martin missing was during the time Harrington was starting at PF. This may suggest that had Harrington been at full fitness throughout the year and not played through injury, the loss of Martin may not have been as big as it appears. But unfortunately Martin’s injuries coupled with Harrington’s meant the team was deprived of quality minutes at the PF position when it mattered most.

3. Effects on Team Performance

The probability of a team winning a game depends upon the relative skill levels of the two teams as well as numerous other factors. In the simplest terms, the goal of a basketball game is to outscore your opponents and so it is instructive to investigate how injuries affect a team’s ability to score and prevent their opponents from scoring. The team’s scoring rate can be well approximated by their offensive efficiency which measures the number of points a team scores per possession. Similarly, the rate a team concedes points can be approximated by their defensive efficiency measuring the number of points conceded per possession. The probabilities of winning and scoring points are clearly linked by a team’s offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. With this in mind, let us examine how injuries affect the Denver Nuggets’ ability to score and prevent their opponents from scoring. Analysis of a team’s performance with respect to injuries can be split into an investigation of on-court and off-court performance. In simple terms, on-court performance reflects how many of the starting five play in a game, whereas off-court performance reflects games where less than the full starting five play, usually due to injuries. Let’s first consider off-court performance. With an average offensive efficiency rating of 106 points per 100 possessions and an average defensive efficiency of 104.8, the Nuggets have performed well in recent seasons. A study of the Nuggets’ record and efficiency ratings in games without the full starting five, as well as after off-court injuries, helped form a simulation of the impact of injuries on NBA performance. Results showed that injuries to the starting five have a considerable effect on Nuggets’ performance, dropping both their offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. This is particularly drastic for injuries to high performers such as the ankle injury to Arron Afflalo in the 2010/2011 season. High drops in efficiency ratings lead to significant drops in winning percentages and points scored, both of which are proportional to efficiency ratings. Injuries such as this one prevented the Nuggets from making a deep playoff run at the season despite their strong performances when at full strength.

4. Strategies for Injury Prevention

The most successful strategy for preventing injuries for the Denver Nuggets is not something that can be done before or after a practice, it has to be applied all the time during team activities. It is to make the players really work on the technique of movements in their sport. This could potentially make the players more prone to injury in the beginning because they are in a way learning how to move again, but once the technique is mastered the likelihood for an injury should reduce significantly. Increasing flexibility seems to be a highly marketed injury prevention strategy in sport. It is widely believed that the more flexible a muscle is the less likely it is to be pulled or strained during physical activity. Despite its popularity there does not seem to be a lot of evidence supporting this statement but regardless it has become a staple for injury prevention programs for many elite sports teams. The Nuggets have employed a full-time yoga instructor to make sure the players are keeping as flexible as possible. Some injuries can be prevented by having good muscle strength. ACL injuries in particular have been shown by several studies to be more common among athletes with weaker leg muscles. To make sure the players are maintaining good muscle strength the coaching staff have tailored strength and conditioning programs for each individual player. This is to prevent the all too common accommodation syndrome that occurs when a player tries to overcompensate for a mild injury on one leg by using the other leg excessively resulting in injury to both legs… usually knees.

5. Conclusion

The main purpose of this project was to determine the effects of injuries on a professional basketball team’s performance. This was done in an attempt to answer the question of whether injuries had a significant role in the Denver Nuggets’ below average start to the 2007-08 NBA season. A substantial amount of time and research has gone into this project, but the authors feel confident that there is a relationship between the two. Statistical analysis played a major role in this study and has been used to determine if the injuries led to the statistical differences seen in Table 1 and Table 2. From the results of the two tables and the thorough analysis of how to make the tables more accurate, it is apparent that the team played better when more players were healthy. If those six injured players did not miss a combined 308 games, this would have greatly increased the Nuggets’ chances of winning more games and making the playoffs. These statements cannot be proven correct, but the results and analysis from this project can disprove any other theory. The Nuggets were a team that was in a good position to succeed in the 2007-08 season. They were relatively healthy in comparison to the previous year, where they won 45 games and made the playoffs. This season, however, was a setback where they won only 50% of their games and finished 9th in the tough Western Conference. They missed the playoffs by only a few games and it is apparent that injuries were the main cause of this letdown. The number of wins and player statistics show that the team’s performance declined with a higher amount of games missed from the injured players. Stats and wins are not the only way to measure a team’s performance, but given the evidence shown in the results and analysis, it is logical to say that the injuries had a negative impact on the Nuggets’ performance.