David Stern Fines the Spurs $250,000

[Reck]

Well, this is another case of reality vs what we want. I certainly want the Spurs to muck this up as badly as possible and wage war, but reality is they probably will do everything they can to keep this private.

While I think the fine is a ridiculous amount of money I do think Pop and the Spurs needed this to happened to them. Resting players has become a year to year tradition.

Maybe resting one player at any giving time would be the way to go instead of resting the whole core of your team.

Parker and green should have demanded to play. Those guys can take it. I mean, if is this early on and they're getting worned out, what will become of them by the end? Gotta snap them out of this habit.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

If there's a God in Heaven this Sunday's Instant Replay will open with Pop sitting at a desk behind the $250K piled up and explain that this is as close as Stern will ever get to his fine. Instead it is now a bounty to the next baseline bum that guacs Stern.

[ace3g]

Gregory Popovich ‏@FakeCoachPop Resting players after 4 road games in 5 nights? $250,000. Exposing David Stern for the fraud he is?......Priceless

[DPG21920]

So now is Stern going to retroactively fine teams who sat their players? Also, he has to look into any team not playing their guys (for any reason) to make sure and verify the reasons are legit. Not only that - but he now has to define "top players" in the courts.

[Reck]

I think we'll know what the truth is by the Spurs' response. If they say something like "we consider this an internal matter that will be handled within blah blah blah" that will be code that Holt isn't actually paying anything. But if their press release hints at any animosity, that means they're gonna fight it.

Yikes, that would be worst for them. Spurs should just take it laying down or it will end up costing them more, specially when it was Pop's decision to rest the players.

[LakerHater]

Spurs have 5 TNT games, Coach Pop should rest his players in every single one of those games!

[MannyIsGod]

The best part of all this? I think it'll wake up the city of San Antonio. Every since last June's debacle, Spurs fans had never really recovered. The crushing blow of last season had a lot of fans licking their wounds.

But now that Stern has rattled the cage, I expect home games to become a lot more lively now. There's nothing a San Antonian hates more than feeling like they are getting taken advantage of by someone in a big city.

Probably true.

I hadn't so much as opened this forum for MONTHS before last night. I have been deep into Lobos basketball already but I hadn't watched a full Spurs game - until last night.

[timtonymanu]

Gregory Popovich ‏@FakeCoachPop Funny that I never come across Kings/Lakers Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals on NBA TV.

Gregory Popovich ‏@FakeCoachPop
Fun Fact: You can't spell David Stern without the words Nerd Diva

I was hoping FakeCoachPop would chime in.

[DPG21920]

Context, brosef.

Just read that this is the 5th highest fine in NBA history.

[BillMc]

Bill Bellicheck, who secretly filmed his opponent's practices, was fined $500K by his league. So Pop resting players in November is half as bad as cheating to win Super Bowls?

[DPG21920]

Bill Belichick is going to be sentenced to death for all of his IR trickery.

[BillMc]

The worst part of this is it may make Pop reluctant to rest his starters as often. Which is bad for Tim and especially Manu's long term health.

[Man In Black]

Pop is well within his right to do what he did. The commish doesn't call plays, can't dictate how many times the ball goes into the post and has apologized for past scheduling discretions in the past. Think to the 08 WCF game 1. The Spurs just beat New Orleans in a game 7 of a hotly contested series.
That night, their plane was stuck on the tarmac and the entire team was forced to sleep on the plane.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3405018

Where was Stern to help with scheduling then?
I know it happened but I can't find a link about it. A few season ago, Pop went BAMA about the fact that his team got screwed by first having to play a critical playoff game late night to be followed up by another critical game early the 2 days later, so that way the marquee teams, who had been resting, could get the primo early evening time slot.

Afterwards, Stern told both Pop and the fans that while they value their partnerships with TV, the league should be looking out for it's team regardless.

I'm sure there's a link out there about it somewhere.

HOW SOON HE FORGETS! F'in LOSER.

[Mel_13]

So now is Stern going to retroactively fine teams who sat their players? Also, he has to look into any team not playing their guys (for any reason) to make sure and verify the reasons are legit. Not only that - but he now has to define "top players" in the courts.

Read the statement again. He left himself miles of room to treat each situation according to his own discretion. The only thing you can say for sure is that sitting multiple players early in the season will get his attention. Now if the Spurs took him to court, he'd have to clearly define where the lines are, but that won't happen.

[LakerHater]

Marc J. Spears
‏ There will not be any separate fine or suspension levied to Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, league source said.

[Whisky Dog]

While I think the fine is a ridiculous amount of money I do think Pop and the Spurs needed this to happened to them. Resting players has become a year to year tradition.

Maybe resting one player at any giving time would be the way to go instead of resting the whole core of your team.

Parker and green should have demanded to play. Those guys can take it. I mean, if is this early on and they're getting worned out, what will become of them by the end? Gotta snap them out of this habit.

Psssss.... It wasn't about rest at all

[ace3g]

Paul Flannery ‏@Pflanns More Doc on whether he'd sit players: "We’ll do it when we want to do it and we should be able to do it."

Paul Flannery ‏@Pflanns
Doc on fine: "I don’t like it. I do get the other side of it, but it's a tough one. You’ve got to coach your team to win in the long run."

--

Read on twitter this is the 5th largest fine in NBA history

[LakerHater]

Doc on fine: "I don’t like it. I do get the other side of it, but it's a tough one. You’ve got to coach your team to win in the long run."

Doc on whether he'd sit players: "We’ll do it when we want to do it and we should be able to do it."

[Mel_13]

Mark Dec 13th on your calendars. Almost the same situation will occur in Portland.

[DPG21920]

Read the statement again. He left himself miles of room to treat each situation according to his own discretion. The only thing you can say for sure is that sitting multiple players early in the season will get his attention. Now if the Spurs took him to court, he'd have to clearly define where the lines are, but that won't happen.

Well I certainly hope this is one of your "they'll all play, but he'll pull the plug early" statements and that they do take this to court and make him explain himself (j/k). I probably agree they sweep this under the rug, but it really sucks.

[szkorhetz]

I am laughing my ass off


Gregory Popovich ‏@FakeCoachPop Quick question David, what would the fine had been had we won?

[ace3g]

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA Front office executive just texted on Spurs: "Watch, Joey Crawford will do the Memphis game now."

[Mel_13]

Bill Bellicheck, who secretly filmed his opponent's practices, was fined $500K by his league. So Pop resting players in November is half as bad as cheating to win Super Bowls?

Pop wasn't fined a penny.

[ace3g]

Gregory Popovich ‏@FakeCoachPop Evidently 18 points from Tiago Splitter counts less than 18 points from Tim Duncan.

Gregory Popovich ‏@FakeCoachPop
You exposed yourself David. You showed TV ratings are more important than the product itself. You know who else believes that? Wrestling

[jeebus]