Popovich should be fined by the NBA

[Mel_13]

Clearly I can't speak on behalf of ALL paying customers, so from now on, when I argue on behalf of paying customers, know that in my mind I'm excluding you.

Exclude this season ticket holder as well.

Or maybe, just keep it real and speak for yourself.

[Brazil]

And BTW, Pop being cautious with players when they are tired or injured is a big reason why Spurs' fans can still seeing enjoy Duncan play at a good level.

Speaking of Portland, I find the parallel between Duncan and Brandon Roy crazy:
April 11th, 2000: Duncan tore his meniscus. Spurs/Pop take the careful road and shut him down for the rest of the season while Spurs were the defending champion.
April 11th, 2010: Roy tore his meniscus. Blazers rush him after a knee surgery to have him playing the end of the playoffs.

Roy is medically retired, Duncan is still playing 12 years after this injury...

And the same is true with Parker and Ginobili.
Parker has sprained his right ankle a dozen of times. Him being still in his prime despite a big mileage has surely a lot to do with Spurs being careful with these injuries.
Pop has done a tremendous job over the years at limiting Ginobili's minutes. He's an all star player who has never played 32mpg during a season. That's crazy.

While there are some aspect of Pop that I don't like, his way to manage players health is remarkable. He is the best NBA coach in that area and it's not even close.

Now imagine Manu playing for the Blazers, it would have been worst than Oden

[Mel_13]

We had little kids in Duncan jerseys at the game last night that were devastated that he didn't play. People pay big money to see the stars of this league and it is bull when they are sat down for no good reason. I say Popovich should be fined around $100K.

Bottom line, he didn't violate any rules. No basis for a fine.

People can argue should have/shouldn't have til Pop retires, but he didn't do anything that can be addressed with a fine.

[pgardn]

Just read the first two pages and stopped.

Sorry to the folks who purchased tickets but...

You should always realize this is a possibility. Gregg Popovich is not a coach who cares about your entertainment. He is payed to get this team to the playoffs and then advance. Thats it. If you have followed the Spurs closely you should have realized this. If you have been to this board you would have read this.

[mingus]

All Spurs fans in attendance should be able to vote for who gets to play and for however many minutes. Each fan should be given some kind of electronic device that you can use to submit your vote.

[TMTTRIO]

Manu's just made out of glass so even if Pop rested him the last game of the season he would've come up with some kind of new injury in the playoffs. I'm surprised he hasn't already gone into an early retirement with all the NBA/international basketball he's been playing. I'm not as concerned about Timmy or Tony.

[benefactor]

The butthurt in this forum is reaching a palatable level.

[ploto]

The biggest hypocrisy is "resting" Tony when he is getting ready to go participate in multiple events at All-Star weekend. Even the idea of having to rest Tim 2 days before the All-Star break is pretty ridiculous.

[E-RockWill]

The butthurt in this forum is reaching a palatable level.

Word....

[rasho8]

I really hope you palpable... Because if you find butthurt tasty something is wrong with you.

[Seventyniner]

I really hope you palpable... Because if you find butthurt tasty something is wrong with you.

Trolls savor nothing more than butthurt IMO.

And the Spurs still lose by 20 if Tim and Tony play. The Blazers were hitting damn near everything.

[benefactor]

I really hope you palpable... Because if you find butthurt tasty something is wrong with you.

Yeah...that. 12 hour shift...up since 345am. Humor me.

[SA210]

I was happy to see this as a topic on PTI and Around the Horn today. In summary, in case you missed it, no it's not pop's job to worry about fans getting to see star players. His job is to win les. BUT, it should be the league's responsibility to take a close look at this on behalf of the fans. Kornheiser even suggested a $500k fine be imposed on pop.

Awesome I'd love to see the video on this

[SA210]

Clearly I can't speak on behalf of ALL paying customers, so from now on, when I argue on behalf of paying customers, know that in my mind I'm excluding you.

[justinandimcool]

Blazerfan is mad when his team won by 40

Spurfan is made we lost a game no one will care about 1 week from now

you people.

[rr2418]

We had little kids in Duncan jerseys at the game last night that were devastated that he didn't play. People pay big money to see the stars of this league and it is bull when they are sat down for no good reason. I say Popovich should be fined around $100K.

Are you serious? You think Pop should be fined b/c you paid and didn't get to see Parker and Duncan? Tell me you're not serious!!

[SequSpur]

Pop should be fined 1.2k.

fo

[tlongII]

It was just a wanton disregard for the integrity of the game on Popovich's part. Unbeavable.

[Spursfanfromafar]

The stupidity of the Portland fan here is unbelievable.

His (her?) team has lost a potential HOF player in Brandon Roy because of bad injury management. It has more or less lost a fragile but potentially devastating center in Greg Oden. It had a season when even the coach was injured (!) and was hobbling around on crutches on the sidelines. Its current center is someone who has legs wrapped in protective cotton wool which can any time come off.

The team is playfully called the "Frail Blazers" this era after fielding a bunch of gangsters called the "Jail Blazers" in an earlier era.

And the idiot now takes umbrage at Gregg Popovich protecting his star players, who have amongst the most mileage of any players in the league - including NBA regular season, playoffs, Euro Basketball, World Basketball, Olympics etc.

[jjktkk]

Awesome I'd love to see the video on this

No you wouldn't. Kornheiser was the only one on PTI that disagreed. All 4 ATH panelist and PTI's Wilbon, sided with Pop. Looks like you'll have to trudge along with Tjastal and the rest of the Pop hater brigade.

[rr2418]

It's incredible that some fans ( or so called fans) think they know the team better than Pop. Playing NBA 2012 on your Xbox360 or whatever doesn't qualify you as an expert! Pop knows his players, he knows when they need the rest. There's alot of games played bk to bk so if Pop feels for the good of the team, not for the good of the fans who brought their kids to see the stars, that Duncan and Parker need the rest then so be it.

[BoricuaCJA]

Then should teams not rest their players on the last game of the regular season then?

[therealtruth]

And BTW, Pop being cautious with players when they are tired or injured is a big reason why Spurs' fans can still seeing enjoy Duncan play at a good level.

Speaking of Portland, I find the parallel between Duncan and Brandon Roy crazy:
April 11th, 2000: Duncan tore his meniscus. Spurs/Pop take the careful road and shut him down for the rest of the season while Spurs were the defending champion.
April 11th, 2010: Roy tore his meniscus. Blazers rush him after a knee surgery to have him playing the end of the playoffs.

Roy is medically retired, Duncan is still playing 12 years after this injury...

And the same is true with Parker and Ginobili.
Parker has sprained his right ankle a dozen of times. Him being still in his prime despite a big mileage has surely a lot to do with Spurs being careful with these injuries.
Pop has done a tremendous job over the years at limiting Ginobili's minutes. He's an all star player who has never played 32mpg during a season. That's crazy.

While there are some aspect of Pop that I don't like, his way to manage players health is remarkable. He is the best NBA coach in that area and it's not even close.

They don't make players like they used to. Malone played more minutes than Duncan will probably ever will play and didn't need to constantly "rest."

[Wild Cobra Kai]

They don't make players like they used to. Malone played more minutes than Duncan will probably ever will play and didn't need to constantly "rest."

Malone also ended up having microfracture surgery on one of his knees after his year in LA.

[703 Spurz]

There should be a league rule regarding this. A fine/suspension for Popovich is definitely in order here.

How could you possibly justify suspending a coach for using strategy to keep his team above water? That's completely ridiculous but I wouldn't expect anything less from a pissant le-less Blazers fan whose tried talking here for years.