NBA: Who wears the pants on injury/playing time situations?

[Fabbs]

Coach or player?

In reading the article in part "Dwyane Wade regrets not resting" plus seeing parts of that game vs the Clippers, Wades suckage was obvious.
In part: "I didn't do myself any justice playing in that (Clippers) game," Wade said Monday's practice at AmericanAirlines Arena. "I could have used the extra rest, and maybe I could have been back by the Phoenix game on the road, or I really could be ready going into the game Wednesday"......He missed 8 of 10 shots, scored a season-low six points and had five turnovers in 29 minutes. Looking back on that decision on Monday, Wade said he would have skipped that game to rest the foot. Asked by ESPN.com if he should have played against the Clippers, Wade responded flatly: "Nope."
http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miam...rested-my-foot

Which begets the question, who makes playing time decisions? Coach? Player? Both? Networks?

You'd hope it would be the coach but sadly i think on many NBA teams it's made by pampered player or networks. Certainly with Laker games the WWE has final say.
Spursfan has numerous times had to endure Greg Moronovichs misuse of injured players, most notably Manu GNob vs Lakers in 2008 playoffs and continuing.

[pass1st]

It depends on the egos on the team and the market they play in. In LA, the fans want to see the stars play and the stars want their minutes. In SA the fans are happy letting Pop do his thing and the players don't argue about minutes, there isn't a demand to see Duncan play 35+ minutes. It's why coaches whom can manage egos are so important and why Phil is regarded as a genius for how he made players understand their roles and not strive for more. Kobe was the only real instance where he couldn't apply this, but he made Pippen know he was 2nd banana even though Pippen was good enough to be a franchise player on many other teams. These days, players get the minutes they want if they are good, coaches have less and less power

[Brazil]

for the Spurs it's quite obvious