Eight games in 762 days. Eight games in 25 months. Eight games out of 198 games.
Eight games. In over two years, the Clippers have had a healthy roster for eight games. And I'm not talking, fully healthy, completely able bodies sitting on the inactive list, the starters are all feeling great. I could easily disqualify many if not all of those eight games by saying that this starter was dinged up, or that starter was just returning from an injury. And I'm not talking about scrubs, either. Who knows or cares if Aaron Williams or Yaroslav Korolev was able to play? I'm saying, for the last 198 NBA games, the Clippers have played 190 of them without at least one of their rotation players. My computer like mind tells me that's 96% of the time.
The Clippers played eight games early this season where all of their players were available. Marcus Camby had just returned from a pre-season injury, Baron Davis had a bruised tailbone... but they played. Other than those eight games, you have to go back to February 6, 2007 in New York against the Knicks to find a full Clipper roster. (Some of you may remember that as the Doug Christie game, after which Corey Maggette openly questioned the coach. Ah, memories of better days.)
I bring this up not to make excuses for the team or for the coach but simply as something that is pretty remarkable in and of itself.
Now, it's entirely possible that if you went through every NBA roster for the last 200 games, you'd find that several of them have a similar story. The Wizards, with Gilbert Arenas injuries alone, have issues stretching back to spring 06. But it's also worth noting that the Wizards and Clippers are among the three worst records in the NBA this season, after being playoff teams before their injury problems kicked in.
Chris Kaman will play against the Cavaliers tomorrow night assuming he gets a clean MRI today. With Camby and Baron listed as day-to-day, the Clippers could soon field a full team for the 9th time in the last 25 months. (I don't count the currently injured Ricky Davis as a rotation player - it's entirely possible that he would still be in MDsr's rotation, in which case his injury is a blessing.) Of course, the way it's gone these last two years, it's more than likely that someone else will be out the rest of the season. But if it happens, realize the significance - it doesn't happen very often. Not for the Clippers.