To put it simply, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has overstepped his bounds with his recent memo about resting players.
It shows he cares more about TV contracts than the health of the players. The teams are trying to win a title, and that should be the most important thing, not whether a fan is upset he didn’t get to see LeBron or Steph play a nationally televised game.
As a fan you take your chances when you buy a ticket to any sporting event. There are no givens. It has always been that way, and shouldn’t be changed. The game might get rained out, or your star player may have gotten hurt the day before and is resting the day you show up. The star player might be mired in a batting slump and the manager rests him for a day. Your favorite reliever might not pitch because his team is behind the whole time.
Fans and television should never dictate the day-to-day operations of any franchise yet we constantly see it, especially at the collegiate level. Games are constantly being changed, especially on the West Coast where games have started as late as 9 p.m.
You take your chances. That is just the way it is. Teams owe their fans their best effort possible; the highest finish possible. That’s it, nothing more and nothing less. That’s where it starts and stops. How it’s done should be decided by the teams, and the teams alone.
Coaches and general managers are trying to win games. Isn’t that what their job is all about?
Commissioners or league presidents need to stay out of it. They’re free to voice their opinions because it’s a free country. Don’t try to legislate it, especially in the middle of the season.
As Greg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs pointed out during a recent interview, he may have lengthened Tim Duncan’s career by a couple of years by resting him several times during the season. He has the big picture in mind; the 82-game grind in mind, not just one game.
Silver needs to look in the mirror. Doesn’t he ever take a look at the schedule before it’s released? Shouldn’t he have the final say?
Maybe the NBA needs to balance its schedule so there are no back-to-back games the entire season, or no three games in four days sort of situation.
You can do that by lengthening the regular season, start earlier, and play just a couple of preseason games. Maybe there should be fewer games, or maybe fewer teams making the playoffs. The playoffs alone take two months to complete.
There has been talk about making sure teams have a Friday off prior to a big primetime game on Saturday, or a Saturday off prior to a big Sunday game. That’s a step in the right direction.
Much was made of the Warriors’ recent road trip, eight cities in I believe an 11- or 13-day period. Way too much.
Fans were ticked when the Spurs and Warriors rested several key players in their recent nationally televised showdown. That length of a trip is way too much, and I think Golden State’s Steve Kerr had every right to do what he did.
Again, it was a matter of protecting players and looking at the bigger picture.
Kerr admitted he felt bad for the fans, but also felt his players reacted well after sitting out the San Antonio game.
