The injured list could win it all four times over
The TrueHoop staff drafts shelved players
BY HENRY ABBOTT
A few months ago, I took my son to his college orientation. They discuss rates: what percentage of first years make it to graduation, what percentage of those get jobs in their field, go to graduate school, or the military. As a parent, it feels good to know your kid is in a river where a huge percentage of boats make it safely to their destination.
If, instead of college, my son made the NBA, I wonder if I’d feel the same way. Income tends to overwhelm our thinking when it comes to making the NBA, but that only goes so far in a field where people almost all get injured, retire young, often carry limps or chronic pain, and tend not to live to old age. (As we recently discussed on the TrueHoop podcast, a lawsuit details Kawhi Leonard’s overwhelming injury history.)
By and large you'll see a lot of shrugging: What could have been done?
That shrug ignores much science. Over the last decade-plus, but especially the last three years…
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