Stern: NBA will discuss resting players

[Spurs Brazil]

Stern: NBA will discuss resting players


NEW YORK -- Players resting at the end of the regular season will be discussed among NBA executives, though commissioner David Stern doesn't see anything coming of it.

With a healthy LeBron James set to miss his fourth straight game Wednesday night, Stern said he is putting the matter on the agenda for the board of governors meetings Thursday and Friday in New York.

"We're troubled by it, because it would be our preference that healthy players play," the commissioner said during his annual pre-playoffs conference call.

"But sometimes players play at different levels of being nicked or bruised and we never wanted to get into the business of sending out truckloads of doctors analyzing whether a player was actually nicked or bruised, and we understand the issue," he said.

However, it sounds as if it will be left up to the teams to decide if they want their stars playing in meaningless games at the end of the regular season.

"I think it's a fair item for discussion," Stern said. "I'm not sure that the policing function is something that the league and the owners will want to get deeply involved in, but it's a point and I'll be expressing my views to the governors in the executive session."

Stern added he will talk to the Chicago Bulls' representative to the board to get a better idea of what happened between coach Vinny Del Negro and vice president John Paxson. Yahoo Sports reported Tuesday that Paxson shoved Del Negro twice in the chest and had to be restrained in a confrontation over Joakim Noah's minutes after a March 30 home game against the Phoenix Suns.

"If it happened -- if it happened -- it's not something that should and we'll be talking to Chicago about that," said Stern, who couldn't predict if there would be any league punishment.

"I don't have our entire list of what we've done, but my guess is over the years we have taken action of some kind if teams engage in conduct that's detrimental to the league," Stern said. "I want to understand better, exactly how detrimental this was and what actually occurred."

Stern watched as the issue of healthy players sitting out was debated at the end of last season's NFL regular season. The NFL is now trying to schedule as many division games as possible in the final two weeks of the 2010 season in hopes of more meaningful contests that will eliminate the issue.

Now Stern's league has to decide if it faces the same problem.

The Cavaliers haven't played James since clinching the NBA's best record and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. While fans in Atlanta, where Cleveland plays Wednesday, would likely prefer to see the league's MVP, the Cavs have plenty of reason not to play him.

The Boston Celtics' title defense was ruined last year when Kevin Garnett missed the postseason, and late-season injuries this season to the Milwaukee Bucks' Andrew Bogut and Portland Trail Blazers' Brandon Roy will hurt their playoff chances.

"We watch and look at the risks of always playing, like a Brandon Roy, who did play on Sunday and was injured," Stern said. "But our inclination is that this is a matter of the teams to look at and look their fans in the face. To look their competitive colleagues in the face and make, hopefully, the right decision."


http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=5088363

[TampaDude]

Stern is all about $$$. Fuck him.

[Frenzy]

w....t.....f

[vander]

NFL style playoffs would reduce the number of occurrences where a playoff or potential playoff team has nothing to play for...

[Sense]

he's trying to get the fans what they pay to see..... just like the nfl

[coyotes_geek]

Stern is all about $$$. Fuck him.

It's his job to be all about the money.

[jdev82]

lebron is a baby. "I WANNA REST!!!!!!!!" if i were the cleveland front office, id say "i pay your check, you will play when youre healthy. youve never had injury issues, so we dont want you rusty for the playoffs, you will play. its not the fault of exhaustion that you choked against the magic. threaten to leave, i give a shit. if you cant give us a title, fuck you. welll suck for 4 years, then draft another half-schooled retard that sells our tickets."
lebron feels entitled to special treatment, and im sick of it.

[JR3]

teams that have the option to rest their best players and the records to afford it, deserve it.

[spursfaninla]

His coach is telling him rest because he carried his team. I doubt that Lebron asked for this rest.

[TJastal]

The simple solution is to cut the rigorous schedule of 82 games down to 60 or so.. that would get rid of the many back to backs .. shouldn't ever be a B2B game IMO

[exstatic]

To me, this is a non-issue. The teams should be allowed to do what is in THEIR interest. This is sort of a makeup for them having no say in players playing for NTs.

Frankly, if this is mandated, teams would just flat out lie and say player 'X' has a mild ankle sprain, sustained in practice.

[rayray2k8]

So he rather have his star players play a meaningless game, possibly get hurt and miss the playoffs?
Makes sense. :shootme

[TampaDude]

It's his job to be all about the money.

Yup...and it's my job to tell him to go fuck himself. :lol

[TampaDude]

So he rather have his star players play a meaningless game, possibly get hurt and miss the playoffs?
Makes sense. :shootme

/thread

[adidas11]

It would be impossible to police the 'players sitting out games at the end of regular season" scenario.

Every sport has situations where the team deems it necessary to sit/rest players. How would the league possibly police this?

Which players would be the ones where it is deemed they have to play if healthy? All Stars? All NBA players? Regular starters in the league? What about top 6th men players?

Like someone said earlier, teams would just come up with ficticious reasons why a player is sitting, like a sprained pinky finger or something like that.

What if a player is playing like crap, and the coach benches him? (for example, Sasha Vujicic)

I remember many years back, when the Lakers didn't bring Magic, Worthy, Byron Scott on a road trip for the final game of year against the Portland Trailblazers (the Lakers had already clinched best record in the league), and the Lakers got blown out. The league fined the Lakers for that.

[SsKSpurs21]

I can see Sterns point of view. if you are a fan paying money to see certain stars and they are sitting out even when they are healthy then you are not getting what you paid for. if its your first NBA game and you are going to see LeBron James or Kobe, or even if its your first Spurs game and you want to see Manu or Tim, only to find out they are resting, well then iam pretty sure you would be upset about it.

its kinda like going to a concert and finding out the main act is going to sit this one out because they have a bigger gig tomorrow. similarly in the NBA, its not fair to those who are paying to see competitive basketball.

then you have the teams point of view where if a player like LeBron, Kobe, Manu, Tim get hurt on in the last game then it completely blows their chances of a championship. everything they had worked hard for, to get the #1 seed out the window.

its a tough call.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

82 games is simply too much. While I enjoy 6 months of non-stop basketball to watch, the schedule is exhausting on most of the players and increases the chances of injuries.

I understand that the more games are played, the more money comes in, but if you have league pass, you can watch that it also produces some awful streches of games between lottery teams tanking with half-empty arenas.

I guess a schedule of 60 games or so would keep things more interesting for everybody.

[exstatic]

I can see Sterns point of view. if you are a fan paying money to see certain stars and they are sitting out even when they are healthy then you are not getting what you paid for. if its your first NBA game and you are going to see LeBron James or Kobe, or even if its your first Spurs game and you want to see Manu or Tim, only to find out they are resting, well then iam pretty sure you would be upset about it.

its kinda like going to a concert and finding out the main act is going to sit this one out because they have a bigger gig tomorrow. similarly in the NBA, its not fair to those who are paying to see competitive basketball.

then you have the teams point of view where if a player like LeBron, Kobe, Manu, Tim get hurt on in the last game then it completely blows their chances of a championship. everything they had worked hard for, to get the #1 seed out the window.

its a tough call.

If you want to watch LeBron, and his 30 national TV appearances aren't enough, buy fucking League Pass. It's not a hard call. It's not difficult. Teams should be able to act in their own interests.

[Flux451]

How bout 10 fewer games a year and best of 5 in first round

[vander]

How bout 10 fewer games a year and best of 5 in first round

the NBA is a successful endeavor, people desire to watch NBA games and players, how is reducing it (teams or games) the solution to anything?


the regular season just needs to mean more, you shouldn't let over 50% of the teams into the playoffs, and there needs to be more incentive to be the top team out of the regular season, so give 2 teams a buy, only let 6 in (per conference)

[vander]

82 games is simply too much. While I enjoy 6 months of non-stop basketball to watch, the schedule is exhausting on most of the players and increases the chances of injuries. .

I know plenty of people who can play bball at the rec center or the park 3-5 times a week just fine, and these guys aren't necessarily in shape, don't get paid, have a day job, and don't sub out, etc.

so you're saying NBA players are just bunch of gigantic pussies?

[TampaDude]

I know plenty of people who can play bball at the rec center or the park 3-5 times a week just fine, and these guys aren't necessarily in shape, don't get paid, have a day job, and don't sub out, etc.

so you're saying NBA players are just bunch of gigantic pussies?

NBA play is at a level so far above your average "rec center" game, it's not even comparable. The physical toll on NBA players is enormous. It's not easy to play those 82 games, let alone the additional games in the playoffs, where the intensity is even greater still.

[BanditHiro]

lebron is a baby. "I WANNA REST!!!!!!!!" if i were the cleveland front office, id say "i pay your check, you will play when youre healthy. youve never had injury issues, so we dont want you rusty for the playoffs, you will play. its not the fault of exhaustion that you choked against the magic. threaten to leave, i give a shit. if you cant give us a title, fuck you. welll suck for 4 years, then draft another half-schooled retard that sells our tickets."
lebron feels entitled to special treatment, and im sick of it.

are you fucking stupid? the cavs front office and coaching staff are the ones saying to rest LeBron for the playoffs. your blind hate and snobbery is the worst of its kind.

[vander]

NBA play is at a level so far above your average "rec center" game, it's not even comparable. The physical toll on NBA players is enormous. It's not easy to play those 82 games, let alone the additional games in the playoffs, where the intensity is even greater still.

I'm sure they know what they're getting into when they sign that multimillion dollar contract, and to my knowledge, none of them have turned it down or negotiated a lesser deal for fewer games...

In fact, I'm pretty sure a majority of NBA players would be more than willing to play 10% more games for 10% more money...

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

I'm sure they know what they're getting into when they sign that multimillion dollar contract, and to my knowledge, none of them have turned it down or negotiated a lesser deal for fewer games...

In fact, I'm pretty sure a majority of NBA players would be more than willing to play 10% more games for 10% more money...

Which would equal 20% worse games.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

I know plenty of people who can play bball at the rec center or the park 3-5 times a week just fine, and these guys aren't necessarily in shape, don't get paid, have a day job, and don't sub out, etc.

so you're saying NBA players are just bunch of gigantic pussies?

Heck, I could play basketball 7 days a week if I wanted to, but then, by the second week I would be so knackered and tired that I would stand beyond the arc doing nothing, making turnovers, not going back on D, and barely moving my feet. Basically, I would look like a shorter, younger and white version of Michael Finley.

The gargantuan NBA season takes its toll on players and it's proven. I laugh when people post about players getting injured because they play 7 games (40 minutes each) with their national teams. They fail to see the fact that in the last 10 years the number and frequency of injuries in the NBA has been on the rise, while playing NBA games and most of them happened to players that didn't play any summer basketball in 5 years.

Each year, improvements in training, diets, gym work, etc, lead to more athletic players, which means harder collisions at faster speeds and more injuries. Add to that 82 games in 6 months+preseason+summer camp, it's just too much basketball, and a significant part of it is low-quality.

I've had access to 4-5 NBA Games per night for the last 3 years, and watching lottery teams playing each other while tanking with 30 games to go is an absolut disgrace. Some of those games are played with half-arsed efforts, players who just don't care, others who are simply tired, good players injured, and the arena half-empty. I don't think that's a great bussiness strategy in the long term (how long till the Clippers fans get tired and stop buying tickets?).

[TDMVPDPOY]

lol fck him

playoffs is what its all about, maybe if the fans knew the clubs were resting players, maybe should make an announcement b4 the games or tickets go on sale so they wont be disappointed whose roster playin that night....

[OrEmuN]

I think we have to look at the interest of each entity

NBA and Owners: Wants more games to increase revenue. Quality is just secondary - if the quality affects revenue, then they will do something. Otherwise they just simply do not give a damn on quality.

Teams: Want to rest player for playoffs or to rest player to tank.

Players: Depending on whether you are a star or on the fringe. If you are a fringe player, you love chances to play.

Fans: Want quality. Want the stars to play when they go to the games but want the stars to save themselves for the playoffs when they are not going to the games.

Conclusion. NBA and owners is not going to change but they are just paying lip service to quality. Fans know what they are going to get if their teams have secured their playoff positioning. As such, if one is not ok with not seeing Lebron/Wade when he/she goes to the games, they can choose not to go

Of course, fans would not know if their team will rest their starters out of the sudden, aka Denver v Spurs last season. I think its only right that the team who does that should give something back to their own fans who had purchased the tickets for compromising the quality if it is unexpected. It will be advantageous for teams to do so as it will generate goodwill and bring in more future business

[The Truth #6]

No one wants to make less money so the schedule won't get shorter, though if it did the games would mean more. 2 games a week would be fine. More time to coach. Level of play would increase.

[vander]

Heck, I could play basketball 7 days a week if I wanted to, but then, by the second week I would be so knackered and tired that I would stand beyond the arc doing nothing, making turnovers, not going back on D, and barely moving my feet. Basically, I would look like a shorter, younger and white version of Michael Finley.

The gargantuan NBA season takes its toll on players and it's proven. I laugh when people post about players getting injured because they play 7 games (40 minutes each) with their national teams. They fail to see the fact that in the last 10 years the number and frequency of injuries in the NBA has been on the rise, while playing NBA games and most of them happened to players that didn't play any summer basketball in 5 years.

a season of any length will "take a toll" on players, :rolleyes

I can't believe that people in here are actually saying the human body can't stand up to 120 minutes of basketball a week for half a year (longer in the playoffs)
and not just any human body, but top notch athletes who have no expense spared on their physical condition, what a joke :lmao



Each year, improvements in training, diets, gym work, etc, lead to more athletic players, really? more athletic players? and yet still not athletic enough to be able to play hard for 3000 whole minutes per year :lmao

which means harder collisions at faster speeds and more injuries. Add to that 82 games in 6 months+preseason+summer camp, it's just too much basketball, and a significant part of it is low-quality.

I've had access to 4-5 NBA Games per night for the last 3 years, and watching lottery teams playing each other while tanking with 30 games to go is an absolut disgrace. Some of those games are played with half-arsed efforts, players who just don't care, others who are simply tired, good players injured, and the arena half-empty. I don't think that's a great bussiness strategy in the long term (how long till the Clippers fans get tired and stop buying tickets?).

who watches 4-5 games a night, that's your problem. stop watching the bad teams. Fans of the Clippers are suckers, and should stop buying tickets, fools deserve to be parted with their money, and that's what's happening to Clipper fans :lol

it's not a disgrace, there will always be bad teams playing disinterested basketball, would a 60 game season have made a Clipper/NJ matchup any more meaningful/tolerable?

and are players in better shape coming into the preseason than halfway through the season? a longer offseason might even lead to an increase in injuries with guys having more time to get fat and out of shape, Shaq's career might have been but half as long :lol

you're thoughts on the matter are skewed by being a Manu fan, not everyone is as frail and fragile and stamina-challenged as Manu, most guys in the NBA can easily go hard for 82 games.

[TJastal]

I hope your kidding right? Don't ever compare rec ball to professional basketball at all.

I sometimes play 2 times a week with ex-college players and these guys go full out, and we are dead tired after about 1 hour of playing very hard. And I can barely walk after the games.

You also have to consider how much time they are travelling around the country playing games. Back to back games in different cities, sleeping on planes, and team practices..etc

It's amazing how more players don't get injuried, with how hard they play.

I was thinking that too... and its almost impossible to get comfortable in a plane seat, they don't tip back and its so cramped you can barely stretch your legs. Whenever I fly I always make a trip or 2 to the bathroom just to get out of the damn seat..imagine doing this for 3/4 of the year every week, sometimes every other day

[Jason R]

Stern is all about $$$. Fuck him.

Maybe because he's a businessman.

[greyforest]

if there's some rule against it, players will just feign injuries when most convenient

[taps]

Allow me to use this as an opportunity to promote FIBA. FIBA doesn't affect injuries because the NBA season is longer. Simple math

[NFGIII]

he's trying to get the fans what they pay to see..... just like the nfl

Season is too long but it really comes down to money. With salaries and overhead the NBA can't afford to reduce the season and make ends meet. If you look at the NBA as a business model they either overpay their employees or don't change enough at the gate/concessions.


The simple solution is to cut the rigorous schedule of 82 games down to 60 or so.. that would get rid of the many back to backs .. shouldn't ever be a B2B game IMO

Agreed. But I really don't see owners wanting to do that. Look at Holt's situation. He really wants the Spurs to have a deep run in order to recoup some to the losses that he has taken on with RJ's aalary and all. Reducing the number of games is out of the question.


To me, this is a non-issue. The teams should be allowed to do what is in THEIR interest. This is sort of a makeup for them having no say in players playing for NTs.

Frankly, if this is mandated, teams would just flat out lie and say player 'X' has a mild ankle sprain, sustained in practice.

:tu It's their team and they are in it to win a championship. The NBA needs it's fans but when it comes down to it all teams are more interested in being healthy and ready for the playoffs and not neccessarily giving the fans their money's worth with these last couple of games.

If the NBA mandates a edict that all players must play then exstatic is right on. What are they going to do? Send out doctors to verify any and all injury reports? How far does the league want to take this?

[adidas11]

The length of the season has nothing to do with it people.

Teams are going to sit players when they lock up a particular seeding for the playoffs. Doesn't matter if its a 50 game regular season, or a 100 game regular season.

The same thing happened in NFL, where the Colts sat Peyton Manning and a lot of the other starters, once they wrapped up the best record in the league. And that is a 16 game season.

The argument lies in what is fair to the fans, and what is right for the teams?

Someone mentioned before that fans pay lots of money to see Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. I would counter that by asking what players in the league are deemed this status that fans are paying to seem them play?

Because in his first season, Lebron James didn't make the All Star team. But because he was so hyped coming out of high school and signing with Nike, lots of fans paid to see him pay.

What metric would be used to determine who has to play, and who doesn't matter? It is impossible!

[coyotes_geek]

The length of the season has nothing to do with it people.

Teams are going to sit players when they lock up a particular seeding for the playoffs. Doesn't matter if its a 50 game regular season, or a 100 game regular season.

Exactly.

It's Stern's job to make the nba product as marketable as possible, it's the team's jobs to look out for themselves. It's Stern's job to say something about it, it's the team's job to decide whether or not they give a damn.