As Lakers fans know, the 2012-13 season was plagued by injuries and disappointment. The Lakers had championship aspirations to start the season, but these expectations were decimated by consistent and multiple injuries.
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Lakers head athletic trainer Gary Vitti described the chaos that took place this season in a new interview with Lakers.com’s Mike Trudell. Trudell asked Vitti to assess how the injuries impacted him as a trainer and how to avoid the blaming game.
“Vitti explained, “I had a lot of sleepless nights. When things are going bad like that, when there is a bad bio rhythm going, you’re staying up at night wondering if you’re doing everything you can to get a guy well. That’s something you can control”
Vitti explained that it is almost impossible to know if a player will remain healthy for the length of the season. The training staff for the Lakers does its best to keep the players loose and in tip-top shape with massages, therapy, stretching and sports medicine procedures.
“But then you worry about what’s going to happen next. Some of that you can control, meaning, seeing if we are doing everything we can to prevent injuries with our training program. For what we can’t control, you worry about who’s going to get hurt next when a season like this happens, but you have to just put that out of your brain, because it’s wasted energy.”
The Lakers suffered so many injuries this past season, that they never developed chemistry on the court. Lakers players missed a total of 176 games collectively due to injuries. The Lakers simply couldn’t catch a break in a season that was decimated by injuries.
“When you finally get everyone on the floor, another guy gets hurt, and it was just a revolving door until we lost our last game. This was my worst season in 29 years.”
That is saying something when your head trainer, who has worked with players for 29 years and has seen it all, says that it was his worst season of injuries of his career.
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