I was watching the Knicks/Celtics highlights of the playoff series from 2010. Our game 2 rotation was ridiculously funny looking back on it. Billups was hurt and Amare got back spasms that game so we had: Carmelo Jared Jeffries Toney Douglas Billy Walker Ronny Turiaf Anthony Carter Landry Fields Roger Mason JR. Shawne Williams We traded half our team for Melo and all, but man is that a sad lineup. Look at where we are now though: Carmelo JR Felton Amare Chandler Metta Shumpert Beno Bargs Hardaway Jr. Kmart Pablo
Injuries and retirement will not kill a good ball club. Older players with big contracts who stay after their skills decline would be a much bigger problem. You can always spend more money to get players or wait for studs to get healthy but no one can overcome sucky players with big contracts.
Injuries can definitely derail a good ball club. There are so many NBA championships won because of injuries to other players. Especially for a new team it's critical to try to get them to get into a groove before the playoffs. If you have constant injuries, it's hard to find that rotation/groove. Tought for a new coach too. Yeah, your right on retirement though. I shouldn't have added it to that list, but injuries I'm not sure why you brush aside. Deron Williams looked 100x better once those ankles I think healed up last season. So much better. And the Nets played better.
