[alh1020]

Kurt Helin, Feb 5, 2013, 7:00 PM EST

Dallas Chris Kaman is out with a concussion, one suffered in practice after a hard fall where his head hit the floor.

Kaman doesn�t get to decide when he can come back. Neither do the Mavericks or their team doctors. Under the NBA�s new concussion protocol instituted last year, Kaman has to pass a mental test after a level of physical exertion that shows he is all the way back.

Or, as Kaman sees it, a bunch of crap. That is what he told the Dallas Morning News:

�I got to take it tomorrow,� he said (of the concussion test). �It�s the stupidest test ever. For so many years in the NBA, they never had to do that stuff and now they come up with all that concussion protocol crap. It�s not cool, but it is cool, I guess. It keeps people safe. I just try to do the right things and wait until I can pass the test.�

Why the tests? Well, Kaman�s next statement explains it.

�I�m still having a little headache,� he said. �Hopefully, it�ll progress, I�ll take that test, pass it and hopefully be able to play sooner or later. I�m tired of sitting around. I�d rather be playing, but at the same time I understand there�s a proper way to do things medically to keep people safe.�

Players want to play. They will lie to coaches to do so and coaches are happy to be lied to if they get a player back. Team doctors are paid by the team, not the players, so you can decide where their interests lie.

So the NBA set up a system where players take a baseline test before the season then after a concussion need to get back to near that baseline before a league neurologist lets them back on the court. It�s not in the players hands, not in the team�s hands, it�s a decision made by a neutral third party.

Which is how it should be. That�s how you keep players safe.

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