Kings Blog and Q&A

News, observations and reader questions about the Sacramento Kings and the NBA.

May 8, 2012
Injuries and the Kings' season

How big of an impact were injuries on the Kings' 2011-12 season?

The Kings actually had it better than most teams.

According to Harvey Pollack, director of statistical information for the Philadelphia 76ers, the New Jersey Nets were hit hardest by injury/illness.

The Nets led the NBA with 16 players missing time for a total of 248 games.

The Kings were tied for the sixth-fewest games lost at 73, along with Detroit. The games lost were spread out among 10 Kings.

Marcus Thornton accounted for 15 of the lost games. Thornton led the Kings with 18.7 points per game and the Kings were 3-12 without him.

DeMarcus Cousins missed only one game due to illness. Tyreke Evans missed only three games.

So for most of the season, the Kings' two cornerstone draft picks were available and healthy.

The Kings saw their top-2 offseason additions miss a chunk of games because of injuries.

John Salmons (illness, sore hip) missed 20 games and Chuck Hayes (dislocated shoulder, food poisoning) missed 10 games.

J.J. Hickson was the other offseason acquisition expected to make an impact, but instead fizzled before being bought out. He missed eight games.

Without getting too deep, I think the data shows Evans and Cousins alone at this stage of their careers was not enough to turn the Kings around.

Yes, I'm stating the obvious.

Below are the totals for the entire league:

Copy of Injury.Illness (2011.2012)-1.xls

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