For the pain of his debilitating lower back injury, there are hours of therapy and muscle-stretching exercises. But there is no cure for Mark Eaton's frustration.
"It's tough to just sit and watch the games on TV," the 7-foot-4, 300-pound Utah Jazz center said. "I get upset when someone drives the lane. Uncontested layups still bother me."The four-time NBA shot blocking champion has been able to do little more than watch this season. Swimming, weightlifting and massage - to relax irritated tendons and ease his degenerating disc - have had only a modest effect.
"That's allowed me to sit and stand longer and reduces the spasms," Eaton said. "I can function in a normal person's world - pretty much - but when I try to push it on to the world of extensive exercise . . ."
Time, he grudgingly admits, is against him. Eaton, in the final year of his contract, turns 37 in January. While he hopes for a miracle, without sudden and rapid improvement prospects for a return to the Jazz roster are dim.
"I really haven't gotten out on the basketball court because it's rather pointless if I can't make it through a full workout," Eaton said.
Jazz owner Larry H. Miller wishes Utah's longtime icon of interior defense well. But Miller has doubts Eaton will be able to come back from the pain which put him on injured reserve during fall camp.
He recalls a recent visit to Eaton's home near Park City, where he took in a Jazz game on TV with his big man.
"When I saw how the pain was affecting him, I really got discouraged about his chances of ever coming back," Miller said.
"We're integrating our plans, offensively and defensively, not to have him come back," he added. "It would give us a nice little boost (if Eaton recovered), but we're not counting on it."
In Eaton's place, the Jazz have gone with Felton Spencer, a 7-footer scoring 8.7 points and pulling down 7.5 rebounds per game.
"He's getting better and better," Eaton offered. "He's taking full advantage of the opportunity given to him."
Miller said that even if Eaton never again dons a Jazz uniform, he may continue to be associated with the team. Miller won't be specific, but says "there are a lot of things Mark could do well.
"He might have to look at that thing called, `Life After Basketball,"' Miller added. "We could take a look at a number of things."
During his off-time, Eaton already has delved into broadcasting, doing weekly television and radio sports shows. He also has been involved in a private organization, which he declines to identify, that offers wilderness and basketball camp experiences to troubled youth.
"The wilderness camp is in (Wyoming's) Bridger-Teton National Forest, in grizzly habitat," Eaton explained. "In the woods, it's just you and bears. If you act properly, the bears keep away. If you don't, the bears come to visit."
Eaton's bears, in the form of injuries, came visiting last season.
Knee surgery and what became chronic back pain caused him to miss 18 games and play just 17 minutes an outing in 1991-92. His 2.8 points per game was the lowest of his career.
But Eaton's scoring average never had topped single digits. Instead, the Jazz looked for him to plant his size 17 shoes under the basket, clogging passing lanes and stuffing shooters who dared enter his domain.
During the 1984-85 season, he set an NBA record for blocked shots with 456, averaging 5.56 per game. He earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1985 and 1989, the same year he made his only All-Star team.
Nearly five years later, Eaton says his NBA career will be over if he cannot heal. He doesn't want to go the route of Boston's now-retired Larry Bird, who had his back fused.
Still, he knows retirement, though unwelcome, might be around the corner. But he's not ready to accept it - not yet.
"I don't feel it's right to make such a decision while you're injured," he said. "You're being unfair to yourself to decide your future when you're not completely healthy."
Spending his first full Christmas season at home in many years with wife Marci and their two sons, ages 3 and 6, Eaton has had a glimpse of what retirement could be like.
"I'm not sitting in a motel room in Cleveland or some place else. That's been kind of nice," Eaton laughed. "I'm actually having a Christmas season. I don't miss the dreaded Christmas road trip a bit."