Did the Lockout Hurt This NBA Season?

The strike/lockout-shortened NBA season doesn't seem like a big deal on the surface. After all, basketball fans got their NBA programming back this past Christmas, along with back-to-back-to-back games. With less games than typically played (66 games compared to regular 82), many thought the regular season would be as taxing on players as the 82-game season is. Well, they may have been wrong.

Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard was all kind of banged up heading into the playoffs, before ultimately ending his season due to a herniated disc in his back. Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose was banged up all season with multiple injuries, culminating in a devastating ACL tear in Game 1 of the playoffs that seriously impact's him and his team's future. Promising New York Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert suffered the same fate as Rose.

Shumpert's teammates Amar'e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin also suffered through injuries -- although Stoudemire's recent ailment was stupidly self-imposed. NBA commissioner David Stern has said he doesn't believe the shortened NBA season has anything to do with the rash of injuries, even if evidence points to compacting a bunch of games in a short amount of time to that problem. Whether it's true, false, or somewhere in between, two of the NBA's top young stars in Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose aren't in the playoffs for a reason. Is it bad luck or bad scheduling?