Abdenour out as Warriors' athletic trainer

0

A day before the Warriors are expected to have all 15 players healthy and availaable for the first time this season, head athletic trainer Tom Abdenour announced Tuesday that he is leaving to take the same position at San Diego State.

Abdenour, 56, is in his 24th season with the Warriors and said he will stay with the team until it finds a replacement. He was hired before the 1987-88 season and was inducted into the National Athletic Trainer's Association Hall of Fame in 1990.

Recently, Abdenour has come under criticism from fans because of the Warriors' cyclical injury problems. When co-owner Joe Lacob and Peter Guber secured a purchase agreement to buy the Warriors in July, more readers e-mailed about firing Abdenour than polarizing coach Don Nelson.

Six players have missed at least five games because of injury this season, but that's nothing compared to the last two seasons.

The Warriors had players miss more games because of injury than any other team last season, and the 501 missed games marked the second-most of any team since the NBA began tracking the statistic in 1986-87. Toronto players missed 519 games in 2002-03.

On average, the Warriors were without 6.1 players a game last season and suited up nine or fewer healthy players for 60 percent of their games. Ten players missed 15 or more games.

The Warriors were riddled with so many injuries between the 2008-09 and 09-10 seasons, that they used 96 unique starting lineups in 164 games.

Posted By: Rusty Simmons (Email, Twitter) | January 04 2011 at 12:59 PM