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Nobody says we made ethis move "just to screw with Stern." It was our 4th game in 5 nights, all on the road to conclude a long road trip. If he wants to rest the veterans I'm all for it.
Injuries become more probable when players are fatigued
That's the long and short of it, exactly. Some token fine that's not worth fighting and reveals that Stern is all hat no cattle? Sure. A real penalty? No way.
Nobody says we made ethis move "just to screw with Stern." It was our 4th game in 5 nights, all on the road to conclude a long road trip. If he wants to rest the veterans I'm all for it.
Injuries become more probable when players are fatigued
You must be a bandwagon fan. Pop rested players against Nash and the Suns, so he's won at least 2 les since the first time I remember him doing it.
Exactly. I guarantee Pop doesn't send those guys home if they walk into Miami having gone 1-4 on the road trip.
http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...opovich-spurs/
My point is this — Stern is about to change either NBA rules or at least how the rules are interpreted and enforced by going after the Spurs with some kind of fine and punishment. And once he does that he sets a new precedent that has to be carried out for every team all season long.
And everywhere Stern and the league step with this new rule there are landmines.
With a punishment to the Spurs, the league is saying Popovich’s move — resting healthy players at the end of a road trip even if they are tired — is bad for the overall business of the NBA and cannot be tolerated. While Stern has always been about marketing and league perception first and foremost, he has not ventured into telling coaches how to coach before and a punishment to the Spurs changes that.
David Stern may feel the fan’s frustration from Thursday but he has a lot of questions to think about if he is going to punish the Spurs:
• Why is this situation in Miami a violation of league rules when Popovich did the same thing in Portland last year and it wasn’t? More to the point, how is that line drawn? What is and is not a violation?
• Is it something that is not okay to do in November but would be permitted later in the season, say March? Is the disappointed 12-year-old who doesn’t get to see his favorite players in November justified in his anger but the 12-year-old who has tickets the final week of the season is not?
• Is resting players something that cannot be done for nationally televised games but is okay to do in other games? Does what market the game is in matter? To use the Spurs case as an example, was it wrong to do this in Miami on a Thursday but would have been okay in Orlando on Wednesday? (Be careful in saying publicly that the fans and ratings in big markets are more important that smaller ones.)
• How do you define what players can and cannot be sat? If it is wrong for Popovich to sit major stars like Duncan and Parker, what about if Bucks coach Scott Skiles sits Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings to rest them next week. Is that different? What players can and can’t be sat out? Is this a burden that falls only on teams with superstar players?
• And what happens in a situation like Thursday, where the undermanned team makes a game of it and had a legitimate chance to win? If the concern about the Spurs decision was they were not going to be compe ive, that turned out not to be the case.
• What happens when Popovich wants to rest Duncan and to avoid a league fine Duncan suddenly has a minor foot or knee injury? By just a few weeks into any season you could make a case for every NBA player having a minor injury they should rest.
Wherever Stern steps on this issue there are potential landmines. He can’t say its wrong to do this in Miami but fine in Portland or other smaller market. He doesn’t want to get into dictating who a coach can and can’t play, but this skirts up against it. There is no easy way to define it. If he starts trying to define it by being compe ive the Spurs were that.
In the past the league did not take action in these situations. Stern is changing how the rules are enforced if he acts to fine the Spurs here, and he is setting a new precedent that is going to apply to every team in the league going forward. He better think this through. Carefully.
Or it might be smarter if he just walked away from it altogether.
Totally agree with this article Mel posted - Stern got caught off guard and gave an emotional answer, that he most certainly regrets. He has no correct move now.The best thing he could do is not saying anything, not giving a fine, just moving on. His ego is probably too big for that, though.
Cue 50 FTs for the Grizzlies on saturday
if stern wants to play baby games i'm sure pop would be happy to have them tip off, call timeout, and then have them sit. that would make a real mockery out of the ing game...
Made it myself...lolFunniest thing I've seen in ages, this was exactly what I was thinking though.
I'd never thought I'd see the day where ESPN defends the Spurs & where I'd disagree with them doing so.
Mel,
Another point of discussion is this: what happens when a coach makes a decision to bench a "fan favorite" for legitimate basketball reasons?
I remember a number of years ago, when JR Smith was a 2nd year player and CP3 was a rookie, the Hornets benched JR Smith (who had been a stud the year before on an 18 win team) for basically the whole season. Why? Because he wasn't good for the team. He played selfish and loose and destroyed team chemistry. But he was an exciting player that a lot of fans wanted to see. Does the league now come in and dictate that the team play him or else?
And what about that exciting rookie that was so popular in college, was drafted highly, and then can't get on the court. If you get into a Hasheem Thabeet or an Adam Morrison situation, are you going to be mandated to play that guy because "he was great in last year's final four"?
If the league wants to mandate and dictate who a coach plays or doesn't play, these are reasonable questions.
Au contraire, mon ami, You have no evidence/proof that it doesn't.
I'm on my work computer so I don't have the time to look it up. However, knowing how resourceful you are, If you can find me a nationally televised game in November that a team outright tanked by resting its key players that didn't include a strike shortened season, then you have my undivided attention.
You're right. They'll wait til they play at Denver on the 26th.
Good catch. While I'm not a fan of tanking, I show more lenience when done in March and April as opposed to November and December. Parker did play though. I don't have problems with resting players from time to time. I have a problem with resting them all on the same day in the same game. Players want to play in big games against elite compe ion. It doesn't get any bigger than the defending champions on the road with the whole world watching.
I guess my problem is that the NBA can be predictably unpredictable. Throwing a game away in November might seem harmless enough, but a serious injury or slump down the home stretch could seriously impact seeding and playoff posturing. Or just a tie for the division while losing the tiebreaker could cost the Spurs HCA and a shot at a return trip to the NBA finals.
Coincidentally, I have tickets to the Spurs/Knicks game at MSG on the 3rd of January, and it's the second game of a b2b, I'm in a quandary about whether I should cut my losses and sell, sell, sell or if I should gut it out and hope for the best.
which i wish he would, the league, the game, etc... gtfo adolph stern!
1. What scares me about this situation is that the last time the entire NBA universe was wholly against Stern on his reaction to something, it was the spring of 2007 following a Robert Horry hipcheck. As was do ented at length in this forum, his reaction to that was unpopular but was consistent with established rules and precedent, no matter how unpopular. I guess we'll find out whether Stern's lack of concern for being unpopular against the winds of the blogosphere or his insistence that "the law" be followed is greater. Maybe they're equal.
2. It's baffling to think, assuming for a moment that Pop gets suspended for a game or two, that Pop's decision in this instance warrants a punishment that is relatively similar to the punishment that the league just handed out to Rondo, a noted recidivist in instigating physical confrontations, for a brawl that spilled over into the stands. Putting fans in physical danger is, I guess, about the same as costing a fan the opportunity to see Tim Duncan on television.
I didn't claim or imply any relationship, you did. I'll leave the rest alone. You're en led your opinions, unsubstantiated though they may be.
I mentioned elsewhere that my daughter now lives in NY and we decided that I would schedule a visit that could include a Spurs game. The fact that the games against the Knicks and Nets were both part of b2bs factored into our decision to see them play in Philly.
in conjunction with other thread
Players should be paid for a game and performance, with season salary base at low amount.
Pop not gonna give a damn for now. He can't control what Stern gonna do.
Spurs organization should lawyer up and make some noise
I must be the only one who thinks this is one huge troll job by Stern. Last night, a friend told me about Stern's comments and I thought he was joking. Then I saw Stern's quote on the pregame show. I think this is all one big prank and that Stern will do nothing because he never planned to do anything.
Of course, if Stern comes out and says he was kidding, he can backpedal his way out of those comments whether he was kidding or not.
That is funny as to think about. But I think that is exactly what Pop would do if Stern put in some kind of guidelines for these situations. I sure don't agree with a lot of his coaching decisions but I do like the fact that he's not going to kowtow to Obama.
David "Khazar" Stern is an a/h. He knows damn well Pop's recent history re: b2b. With Miami sitting on their asses for several days, Stern should havelooked at the schedule and switched the Orlando-Miami dates.
But now the stupid jackass has put his foot in his mouth w/o thinking. He should have said "The league will discuss whether there should be any sanctions." Now he's committed...or he's going to have to embarrass himself by releasing a statement, "We determined that since there is nothing in the rules preventing what the Spurs did, there will be no sanctions."
If he does fine the best sports franchise in the USSA, let's pray Peter Holt has the balls to fight it.Any sane judge/arbitrator will overturn said fine. Problem is, there are not too many sane people left in a society speeding its way to .
And to with that Khazar Stern. Can't wait till that bas goes. (Wonder if this jerk was part of the infamous "Stern Gang" (Google it).
Last edited by CaptainLate; 11-30-2012 at 10:50 AM.
It's funny how nobody gives a about the Spurs when they're playing exciting basketball. Nobody gives a about Tim Duncan when he's the best big man in the league. Nobody buys tickets to see the Spurs on the road. Nobody ever shows Spurs highlights. Suddenly everybody is so outraged that someone tried to deny them Spurs basketball.
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