Boston Celtics & Bucks Key Injuries

Injuries are a part of every sport and nobody likes them, but they can play a significant role throughout a long season. There are already two key injuries in the NBA where the players aren’t expected back until February. Missing the first few months of the season is terrible for any team, but when it’s a player that contributed to your team’s success on an every day basis, the sting of the injury hurts that much more. Let’s look at a couple of key injuries going into the 2010-2011 NBA basketball season.

I want to take a look at two players that are already listed as injured and doubtful to return until February and how it’ll affect their respective teams. Both teams should make the playoffs regardless of the current injuries, but it never helps when you start the regular season in the NBA with a short bench. Teams are forced to play their starters more in the beginning of the season and this can relate to further injuries on the team.

Kendrick Perkins – Boston Celtics

Kendrick Perkins will be out with a knee injury until about February unless he had an extremely quick recovery. Last season Perkins played in 78 games with Boston and averaged 10.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Losing this amount of production is going to hurt the Celtics down low, but they did manage to offset the injury with two new signings. Both Jermaine O’Neal and Shaquille O’Neal signed short contracts with the Celtics this summer.

Jermaine averaged 13.6 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last season in 70 games with the Miami Heat while Shaq averaged 12 points and 6.7 rebounds per game for Cleveland last year. Both of these players are great pieces to replace Perkins while he’s out. If Jermaine can perform well at Center in Perkins absence, he may even be able to steal the starting job from him. I don’t think the Perkins injury is going to affect the Celtics much, but that’s only because they managed to sign two big men this summer.

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Michael Redd – Milwaukee Bucks

Michael Redd missed most of last season and only ended up playing in 18 games with the Bucks due to injury. He only averaged 11.9 points per game in those games, which is well below his 20.3 points per game career average. Redd will surely be missed this season in Milwaukee and it’s going to be hard for them without him in the line-up. Not only does he usually provide 20+ points every time he steps on the floor, but he’s also a leader in the locker room for the younger players.

There is still plenty of talent on the Bucks including Bogut, Jennings, Maggette, Delfino, Salmons and Gooden. The Bucks signed Gooden this summer to a 5-year deal and they hope he can help replace the offense lost by Redd. Gooden averaged 10.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season with the Clippers and Mavericks. He brings 8 years of experience to the locker room and has huge upside in Milwaukee.

In my opinion the Perkins injury is bigger then the Redd injury, but both definitely hurt their teams. I still think both teams will do all right this season and should contend for a spot in the 2011 NBA playoffs.

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