After watching what I think was a basketball game, I began to wonder if resting players is a double edged sword. On one hand, you can keep your stars fresh. On the other, you can seriously destroy any confidence your bench players have built in this crazy season.
I want to know what SpursTalk.com posters think about this subject and whether or not resting your players is a good idea. I mean last year Pop rested Manu, but it didn't stop him from getting hurt. I think just happens and that "resting" players is not a good enough reason to throw a game.
Thoughts?
I mentioned this earlier in the game thread about how this loss can and very well may destroy any of the confidence the bench has built, much like how the Mavs game gave them confidence. Guess we'll know in the coming weeks if the team goes on an 11 game losing streak.
yep ... confidence killer is right ... and both Timmy and Tony lookd good playing those minutes ... saving minutes was not rewarded the last years, perhaps Pop should just quit doing it and let Timmy enjoy his final season(s) ...
sucks. These assholes get paid all this money to take nights off. I would be fired if I showed up to work and did nothing. I think it is horrible for a team to go through what they did tonight. The bench is probably exhausted and nothing good came out of it.
Resting players is useless. IMO!
listen man, you obviously have not played or competed in any sport that requires recovery time; i did both tennis and track, and i can tell you that rest is a huge factor when it comes to performance. fyi, most of the drugs cyclists use do not boost performance, but recovery time.
take a chill pill people and enjoy the 2nd best record in the west - without ginobili.
oh yeah, and the kid kawhi is pretty good.
All individual sports brah.
i guess i should return all my doubles trophies cause i must have been sleeping
resting players is cheating fans who pay tickets to go watch the game
fkn they should be forced to play their best 10, or released the roster lineups b4 the game....if ppl knew players were playing instead of starters/stars of the game, they wouldnt even bother wasting money on that ....
i think in soccer, they get penalized if they dont select their best 11
I have yet to see any real evidence on either side of the argument. There's no precedent to show that if you coddle your best players in the regular season and limit their minutes, they will perform better in the postseason... But who knows if some teams in the past might have benefitted from more rest?
The wear and tear of the regular season really only affects postseason performance when there is an injury. While it can reasonably be suggested that more rest means injury is less likely, I'd be surprised if anyone can actually show a real-life example of this proving itself out in an actual NBA season.
Part of the problem is the small sample, since Pop is the only coach I know of that has utilized the approach to this degree. But the Spurs have been ill-prepared for the postseason the last three years, and this isn't the first season that Pop has been careful about minute distribution.
So without having any way of knowing if resting players is a good thing or not, I guess I'd prefer for my coach to have the same level of expectations of his star players that every other coach in the league has, and take my chances.
(This reflects my opinion on resting players in general over the course of the season, and not necessarily my thoughts on this particular game. I actually don't have a problem with resting Duncan but I would have liked to see Parker start the game and sit out the second half if it was a blow out.)
Guess so.
First and foremost, I think sitting players is a huge disservice to the truest of fans, the ones who actually pay big money to see the games in person. Attending a game in which the best players sit is like going to Jurrasic Park and not seeing the T-rex. What's the point?
Now, as I step off my soapbox, I will say that if a team were a legit le contender, and if key players from that team could benefit by resting here and there, well at least I can understand the logic. The question is: are the spurs a legit le contender?
I think many of us could agree the spurs have an outside shot (pun intended) given the lack of a clear favorite. That said, the next question is: what benefits the team more, rest or home court? If you believe the team can win on the road in the playoffs, rest the stars. But if you believe home court is essential for success, then you play 'em every night to get the highest seed possible.
No. At least not in any european major league.
resting players is stupid like pops white flag bull clearing the bench to chase down a blowout lead...sometime it works, sometime it doesnt...
You can never rest all your good players at any giving time during the season.
Pop puzzles me. This is not the end of the season, you"re not in coasting mode. Pop is a moron.
The loss tonight did by far most damaged then playing your players, which by the way are paid to.
If teams werent taking the Spurs seriously before they sure as not gonna show respect now.
Pop is just pathetic.
What exactly is the benefit of other teams taking the Spurs more seriously and showing them respect?
The diffrence between knowing your playing a total scrub team and an elite team.
When a team gets embarrass like this, do you think other teams go into that game shaking their boots?
Get real.
I am for resting players when playoff seeds in your conference are decided (like we should have done last year) but not when we are this early in the season. I could understand it more if this was the middle game of a b2b2b with no rest in site but we are 3 days away from the ASG...no reason to have thrown this game away before tip off. That said, we would have lost tonight even if Duncan and Parker played, the Blazers were just too hot from the 3 point line.
I've heard the "diservice" to the fan argument before, I go to many games myself. This season is condensed and has a TON of crazy schedules, 3 games in 3 nights etc etc. Would it still be a diservice is Pop played the crap out of Duncan, and he got injured on the 3rd game of a 3 game in a row night and he ends up out for 4 weeks? You guys would , "Pop should have rested Duncan blah blah blah" The Spurs just won 11 games in a row. rest the players, theres no rule saying Pop can't. At the end of the day Pop is still smarter than any of the experts on this forum think he should be doing. People are always ing about Pop and what he does or doesn't do. At the end of the day we have won 4 championships in a short amount of time, and have the top 3 highest winning percentage of active players(Tim, Tony, and Manu). So the method to his "madness" has some thought to it. We are here for the long haul, not worried about playing the out of our starters who have been producing like crazy so far. Pop is not the only one to do it, Eric does it with the Heat too. Stop being es guys. Spurs 2012 Champs.
lol "shaking in their boots" in the nba
Do you really think other teams are gonna take much from a game where the Spurs don't have their 4 best players?
If the Lakers sat Kobe/Bynum/Gasol and we beat them by 40, would you expect the same outcome when you play them again full strength?
I don't think the Spurs or any other team for that matter really cares what their opponent thinks of them. It's just a matter of executing and playing to the best of your abilities.
I'm OK with Pop's decision. This is 8th straight away game and we've just lost 2 key members to injury. We can not handle another injury at this time and if one of Tony or Tim injures, we can lose more than 1 game.
I disagree with this totally. It's an entirely different game if they both play. They were free to fire from 3 with little doubt in their mind they were going to win this game. Shots become a lot harder when there is doubt in your mind.
To the OP:
I just came onto ST thinking the same damn thing. Great, get our guys rest. But oh , we just threw KL and crew under the bus.
I don't even agree with Pop tonight... you dress our players, period. Duncan could have went 10-15 mins along with Parker. This is complete bull .
Guess we better rest Tim, Tony and Manu until the playoffs start then. Wouldn't want to take the risk of them getting injured.
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