HoopsHype.com Rumors

Acutely aware of injury risks of 66 games in 124 days, Vitti has studied trends from the 1998-99 season, in which a lockout rendered only 50 regular season games. “What we saw back then is more overuse injuries,” he said. “As you stress your body, it will lay down more muscle, tendon and ligamentous tissue according to the loads you put upon them. It's the same with bone. "The problem arises when you overload the tissue before it's had the chance to adapt to the loads. That's when the tissue will go through a metabolic change.” NBA.com

Injuries, Schedule 

That's exactly what the Lakers do not want, as Vitti and his staff are focused on mitigating that overloading. In a trainer’s words, tendons can become inflamed, resulting in tendinitis; joints can become inflamed, causing arthritis; and bones can become inflamed, causing stress fractures. But, in essence, a shorter camp can mean that players will be trying to make up for lost time, and that can be dangerous. Since there is simply no way to recreate what it takes to play in an NBA game except to actually compete against NBA talent on a daily basis, no amount of individual activity/pick up games/NBA2K12 (OK, not the last one) comes close. “The bottom line is that you can be in good physical condition, you can be in basketball shape, and then there is NBA shape,” said Vitti. “The NBA is made up of the biggest, strongest and quickest in the world, and whatever you do isn't going to mimic it.” NBA.com

Injuries, Schedule 

Another area of concern with a shortened schedule is a lack of time not just for physical recovery but for mental recovery. There’s simply less time to sleep. “Since I believe lack of recovery time is the biggest issue in our league, you couple the travel, time change and sleep pattern disruption to make it very difficult to recovery from the game or practice the day before,” Vitti said. “The margin for error is now lower given the schedule.” NBA.com

Injuries, Schedule 

The NBA has released its complete 2011-12 regular-season schedule and broadcast schedules for ABC, ESPN, TNT, NBA TV, and NBA on ESPN Radio, contingent on the timely ratification of the new collective bargaining agreement. The league’s 66th season will feature each team playing 66 regular-season games beginning Dec. 25. Pre-season games will begin on Dec. 16. (See full schedule here.) Following the season tip-off on Christmas Day, with a five-game slate previously announced, Kia NBA Tip-Off ’11 includes 109 NBA games highlighted by a series of marquee doubleheaders Tuesday, Dec. 27, and Thursday, Dec. 29, on TNT, and Friday, Jan. 6, on ESPN. NBA TV will also present five doubleheaders during the period starting Monday, Dec. 26, through Wednesday, Jan. 4. On TNT, the first doubleheader on Tuesday, Dec. 27, features the Miami Heat playing its home opener against the Boston Celtics (8 p.m. ET). The second game features the Utah Jazz traveling to L.A. to face the Lakers (10:30 p.m. ET). The Big Lead

Schedule 

The NBA released its truncated 66-game schedule Tuesday night, and it will make for a season unlike any other. The shortened campaign will require every team to play games on three straight nights at least once. Teams will play 48 conference games and 18 against the opposite conference. The season will get going with five contests on Christmas Day: Boston at New York, Miami at Dallas, Chicago at the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando at Oklahoma City, and the Los Angeles Clippers at Golden State. HoopsWorld

Schedule 

With 126 days to fit it all in between Christmas and April 26, your favorite team will play an average of once every two days. Sometimes teams will even play three days in a row. About the only break in the action is the four-day gap for the All-Star Game, which will be held in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 26. The one thing that sticks in your mind when you look at each team's schedule is the frequency of games. It's relentless. Even though 16 games have been lopped off the schedule for each team, you knew the NBA would do everything possible to keep its television partners happy and preserve as many marquee matchups as possible. That means you'll still get two rematches of that great Mavericks-Heat Finals, starting on opening night on ABC. There will be a double-dose of Lakers-Heat (Jan. 19 on TNT and March 4 on ABC), Lakers-Celtics (Feb. 9 on TNT and March 11 on ABC) and Lakers-Knicks (Dec. 29 on TNT and Feb. 10 on ESPN). You'll get two referendums on the trade that sent Kendrick Perkins to the Thunder and Jeff Green to the Celtics (Jan. 16 in Boston on TNT and Feb. 22 in Oklahoma City on ESPN). ESPN.com

Schedule 

Howard Beck: Contrary to initial indications, no team will play 3 back-to-back-to-backs. All teams will have one. Ten teams will have 2. Twitter

Schedule 

Jody Genessy: Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor credited NBA schedule-maker for doing a "terrific job." He thought Utah fared well in the back-to-back department. Twitter

Utah Jazz, Kevin O'Connor, Schedule 

The Orlando Magic’s two games in London against the New Jersey Nets that were part of the original 2011-12 NBA schedule released in July are not part of the schedule that will be released at 7 tonight, a league official told the Orlando Sentinel. Orlando Sentinel

Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Schedule 

The NBA is considering pushing back the start of training camps until Monday, multiple league executives told Yahoo! Sports. The league office was polling team executives over the past 48 hours about the possibility, sources said. Despite the discussions, no final decision has been made. Yahoo! Sports

CBA, Schedule 

Friday is the first day that teams are allowed to sign free agents and make trades. Training camps, scheduled to start the same day, could be preempted to allow free agency to take shape for 48 hours and give players changing teams time to join their new squads. There are also concerns about the so-called “B-list” issues in collective bargaining talks finishing in time for the players to take a vote. The owners have a Board of Governors meeting scheduled for Thursday. Yahoo! Sports

CBA, Schedule 

Adrian Wojnarowski: One league official says there are seven NBA teams that have two stretches of 5 games in 6 nights this season. Good luck with that. Twitter

Schedule 

Jody Genessy: Jazz always request to not play home games on Sundays because many Utah fans don't attend sporting events on Sabbath for religious reasons. Jazz president Randy Rigby predicted last week that the team would have more back-to-back-to-back games than most teams because of that. Twitter

Utah Jazz, Schedule 

Howard Beck: NBA will announce entire 2011-12 schedule Tuesday at 7 pm on NBATV. Twitter

Schedule 

The NBA has tweeted out the Christmas day schedule, and the Bulls will be facing the Lakers in Los Angeles at 4 CT on ABC. "Prime time," Derrick Rose said Thursday. "It's going to be exciting, not only for our team but for Chicago and for our fans all over the world." ESPN.com

Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, Derrick Rose, Schedule 

Howard Beck: NBA just made xmas sked official: Celtics at Knicks, Heat at Mavs, Bulls at Lakers, Thunder at Magic, Clippers at Warriors. Twitter

Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Schedule 

Chris Vernon: The Grizzlies will play one preseason game, vs. the Hornets on Fri. Dec 16th. tix for it go on sale the 10th. Twitter

Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, Schedule 

Sources with knowledge of the schedule said the Hornets' will play home-and-home exhibition games with the Memphis Grizzlies, at Memphis on Dec. 16 and at New Orleans Arena on Dec. 21. New Orleans Times-Picayune

Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Hornets, Schedule 

The Dallas Mavericks will raise their banner on opening day, but they won't get to flash any championship bling in front of their Christmas Day opponent and NBA Finals victim, the Miami Heat. Mavs owner Mark Cuban has not had the 2010-11 championship rings designed because he wants to get input from Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jason Kidd as to how the rings should look, Cuban confirmed Thursday night. ESPN.com

Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, Mark Cuban, Schedule, Jason Terry 

Jeff Zillgitt: According to NBA TV schedule, 2011-12 NBA regular-season 66-game schedule will be released Dec. 6 on TV special at 7 p.m. ET. Twitter

Schedule