Let’s use practice time as an example. I doubt many NBA teams keep track of the amount of time players spend running up and down the floor during practice or simulating game situations (although they probably should).

I’d love to see a study like the one you hinted at too, but I still think columns like Aschburner’s have value.

In fact, many preps to pros players, like Kobe Bryant, weren’t starters when they got to the NBA. It is entirely possible he would have had more wear and tear on his body those same years if he were a starter at Duke instead.

It just makes no sense to me to choose 2 variables, minutes and age, and focus on them as if the hundreds of other very relevant variables didn’t exist.

However, people are not cars. We do not have odometers. Some perfectly healthy people die young, others smoke all their lives and die in their 90s. Where’s the sense in that?

Cars do not get stronger with use like people can. Cars do not increase in stamina with repeated workouts. Cars don’t control their rest and “sleep” schedules, nor the “fuel” (nutrition) they take in.

It makes no sense to me to talk about age or mileage. If anything, we should be talking about genetics, personal care, coaches and teams, and health habits.

After all, game minutes are meaningless when you have a coach like Pat Riley, who is infamous for his tough practices and breaking down his players before they even got game minutes.

In fact, look at how many players are injured in practice.

And frankly, perimeter shooters aren’t going to get the banging cutters, drivers and post up players will get.

And who is assessing the difference between players who keep fit over the summer, players who yo yo their fitness back and forth, and the players who are too active in the summer playing for their national teams?

Nor can comparisons reliably be made between today’s players and the greats of yesteryear.

If today’s sports medicine existed earlier, careers of people like Oscar Robertson (and Bill Walton, etc.) could well have been longer and more productive. I don’t recall any images of Dr. J icing his knees on the bench the way Michael Jordan was doing, do you?

Even the SHOES they wear and drink technology today extends a player’s stamina.

Kareem is #2 all time in games played, and #5 all time in free throws attempted (9,304). In other words, he took a beating night after night and still had a long career. Meanwhile, you have to wonder if Greg Oden’s career will ever get going.

Again, while minutes played and age are certainly factors, they are just two variables in a formula that may have hundreds, many of them more significant than minutes and age. And again, genetics, personal care, nutrition, sleep habits, role on the team, style of the team and coach, practice routines, workout routines, summer routines… all these are variables of equal or perhaps more affect on a player’s longevity.

While it may be interesting to theoretically speculate as to what LeBron James career may end up being like, when he will peak, how long it may last — and I would LOVE to see a serious study made of these factors on the entire body of former and current NBA players… seriously, at this point it is pretty much a waste of time.

It’s just not that simple.