SI.com Roundtable: Is resting Duncan fair to fans?

[duncan228]

SI.com Roundtable

Gregg Popovich has been resting the 33-year-old Tim Duncan at times instead of playing him in both games of back-to-backs. What do you think of this? Do teams owe it to fans, especially ticket buyers, to play their stars when healthy?

Thomsen: He's benching Duncan in hope of keeping him fresh for the most important games yet to come. Who wouldn't make that trade? Teams limit the minutes of older players during the regular season, and they routinely sideline starters in the final days before the playoffs. So this move with Duncan is nothing more than an extreme version of that accepted trend.

Hughes: Not at all. Popovich's job is not to entertain; it is to win games, and more specifically championships. Spurs fans will be far more entertained the further their team advances into the playoffs. Knowing Popovich, he would be apoplectic about this question.

McCallum: This isn't a new issue by the way; Pat Riley used to infuriate fans and the league office by resting his stars. But my answer now is the same as it was then: Yes, fans pay a lot of money for tickets, and, yes, they are owed some amount of loyalty by a team, but it is far too slippery of a slope to allow entertainment to affect the way a coach runs the team. Here's what fans should want: The best teams at full strength at playoff time.

Mannix: I don't despise the play-the-guy-people-are-paying-for argument as much as most do, but Popovich owes it to his fans to win in April, May and June more than he owes it to them to win in December or January. Duncan's knees are banged up, thanks to 34,403 regular season minutes and nearly two full seasons of postseason games. The simple truth is that if Popovich were to push Duncan any more than he does, the Spurs would likely fizzle early in the playoffs. And what San Antonio fan wants to see that?

[TJastal]

I happen to agree with the writers that if a coach wants to rest his star player, he should by all means do it.

But the problem here is when you look a little closer at the facts and how this strategy has affected the team's chemistry and confidence, you start to see a less rosy picture. Fact is, every time Pop has tried resting Duncan the spurs have lost their momentum and winning streaks were snapped and the team nosedived.

Other "facts" these writers conveniently forget: The big 3 had been playing low minutes the entire year up to the point POop decided to start tinkering around with his latest theory. Now, thanks to the team losing all its momentum and taking a nosedive they are all playing even more minutes than before and POop has actually shortened the rotation for even added stress and strain.

Once one sees the "bigger" picture, the strategy clearly has backfired in a huge way.

[greensborohill]

Winning les is fair to fans. If that means resting Duncan then so be it. Nothing wrong with it.

[TJastal]

Winning les is fair to fans. If that means resting Duncan then so be it. Nothing wrong with it.

I love spurs fans. Just love em...

[TJastal]

Heck, maybe we should just rest the big 3 on all B2B's till the playoffs start. Then when we miss the playoffs by 10 games at least we can say we were fair to the fans.

[duncanCOSTARICA]

ohh its good to know we are in championship track at this point!!

[baseline bum]

Is playing a halfcourt offense fair to the fans? After all, look at the ratings the Suns used to get back when they were a great running team. No one wants to see the PG walk the ball up the floor.

[cd98]

Is it fair to play Tim Duncan 39 minutes at the beginning of the season for the fans with tickets to the early games so that those that buy tickets at the end of the season either see Tim in street clothes or hobbling to the basket?

[NFGIII]

Slippery slope is right! On the one hand you have coaches and FOs doing everything they can to win championships and on the other the paying customers wanting to get the most from their hard earned money. When Pop and other coaches rest their stars in the belief that they are saving them for the POs they thereby deny the paying customer the full value of the ticket they bought IMHO. I've stated this in the past that the NBA owes it's resurgence and profiability primarily to the paying customers that helped save them from bankruptcy in the late '70s. If it hadn't been for Magic and Bird and a little while later MJ this league was in the process of going belly up. Many will disagree about that point saying it was the players and NBA management that created the turnaround thererby luring customers back. Frankly it's a little of both, though I tend to side more with the people forking over money vs. those receiving it, so how do you keep both sides happy? I really don't know and I also don't have a problem with what Pop and others have done and will continue to do. I'm more interested in winnings rings. But IMO by allowing teams to rest star players periodically the league does discount the value of those tickets.

[Warlord23]

I think Pop should just rest Timmy the whole season; Duncan is too damn tall to fit into Pop's ingenious small-ball tactics. Sorry Tim, you would have fit right into Spurs basketball if you were 5 inches shorter.

[temujin]

I think Pop should just rest Timmy the whole season; Duncan is too damn tall to fit into Pop's ingenious small-ball tactics. Sorry Tim, you would have fit right into Spurs basketball if you were 5 inches shorter.

[HarlemHeat37]

Winning some ing games would be fair to the fans..

[birdy219]

I think Pop should just rest Timmy the whole season; Duncan is too damn tall to fit into Pop's ingenious small-ball tactics. Sorry Tim, you would have fit right into Spurs basketball if you were 5 inches shorter.

[Keepin' it real]

People who don't have a problem with Pop sitting Timmy probably aren't s ing out big $$$ for tix to go watch at the AT&T Center. I made a significant investment and bought tix for 1/4 of the season. I bought them primarily to watch Tim Duncan, and then Manu. I would feel cheated if Pop voluntarily sat Tim.

I know injuries happen, so if Duncan were injured, then those would be the breaks, and I could deal with it. But if Duncan's healthy, he needs to play. I (and the rest of the fans in attendance) paid top dollar to watch Tim Duncan and the rest of the starters, not bench scrubs.

Sit Tim? Fine. Just refund my $$$ and you got a deal.