Just history repeating itself. Plays in contract years..."injured" in non-contract years.
This isn't necessarily true.
Since his trade to Indiana, J.O. has played in 10 seasons (not counting this one). During those seasons, he's played 68+ games in 7 of them, while he's missed 31+ games in the other three (although in one of those, he was suspended for 15 games).
Since moving to Indiana, he's had two contract years, in '03 and '10. In '03 he played in 77 games, and in '10 he played in 70. In non-contract years, he's had seasons of 68, 69, 72, 78, and 81 games (along with his injury and suspension plagued seasons of 42, 44, and 51 games played).
In other words, J.O. has always been nagged by injuries in his career, but has had plenty of relatively healthy seasons even in non-contract years. He's not a really durable guy, but he's also not as bad in regard to injuries as some suspect.
Anyway, his health will play a big part in determining whether this season ends successfully, so I he gets feeling right by the time the playoffs role around.