OT: Did you hear what Popovich did tonight? (very messed up)

[CorduroyG]

forget about stern for a second, you guys dont have a problem with popovich sending 4 of his best players HOME? thats absolutely ridiculous in my opinion, these guys are freaking gazillionaires, i think they can tough out a long road trip. danny green is 25 years old and popovich sent him home and missed a game cause hes tired from a long road trip, think about how ridiculous that is. its disrespectful to the game all around, even their teammates. hes basically telling the rest of the team you guys arent important enough to get extra rest. and i cant believe the players all went along with it, last i checked basketball is a team game, if youre gonna rest me im at least gonna stay on the bench and support my teammates, not be on a damn plane.

its not a rule, but it should be. unless youre injured or sick or have a legit reason (and resting up for june aint 1 of them) you cant be sent home, your body can survive sitting on the bench for 2 hours.

 

[jekelish]

I don't have a problem with it, no. It's completely within his right as the team's head coach to do that. You don't need to like it, but it's 100% his call.

 

[Gabjon]

Pop to league "If you didn't schedule 6 games in 10 nights I wouldn't do this!"

 

[SoBeCuse]

The "rest of the team" wants to get PT I would think. Miami played it's first game since Sat while SA had their 6th road game in 9 days. I commend Pop even though it may not be the best business decision. F Stern though. He's a shyster anyways.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I have mixed feelings about this. That the players were sent home and weren't even at the game feels off to me.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

I like the balls Pop showed and think its within his right...but now I am thinking...what if EVERY team did this at the end of long road trips. Probably not good for the league, overall. Imagine fans in Phoenix who just want to see Lebron or Carmelo...but, they get sent home a day early before the last night of West coast trips in Phoenix.

 

[Knicks411]

forget about stern for a second, you guys dont have a problem with popovich sending 4 of his best players HOME? thats absolutely ridiculous in my opinion, these guys are freaking gazillionaires, i think they can tough out a long road trip. danny green is 25 years old and popovich sent him home and missed a game cause hes tired from a long road trip, think about how ridiculous that is. its disrespectful to the game all around, even their teammates. hes basically telling the rest of the team you guys arent important enough to get extra rest. and i cant believe the players all went along with it, last i checked basketball is a team game, if youre gonna rest me im at least gonna stay on the bench and support my teammates, not be on a damn plane.

its not a rule, but it should be. unless youre injured or sick or have a legit reason (and resting up for june aint 1 of them) you cant be sent home, your body can survive sitting on the bench for 2 hours.

The Danny Green thing is weird; like you said he's young. I know Parker was telling Pop last year he could play when he was resting him. Duncan and Manu I can totally buy; those dudes are old and have been through a lot. You'd think they could fly to the game; it's not like they are going coach or anything, but at the same time, I'm not gonna kill Pop for it. His team, his call. I do feel bad for the people who bought tickets expecting they were getting a full Spurs team.

I do agree it would be funny if they end up missing on home court by a few games, but I think Pop is fine with that.

 

[PhatOrange]

Wow...absurd. The league dictates over the coach who plays now?

 

[Gabjon]

The Danny Green thing is weird; like you said he's young. I know Parker was telling Pop last year he could play when he was resting him. Duncan and Manu I can totally buy; those dudes are old and have been through a lot. You'd think they could fly to the game; it's not like they are going coach or anything, but at the same time, I'm not gonna kill Pop for it. His team, his call. I do feel bad for the people who bought tickets expecting they were getting a full Spurs team.

I do agree it would be funny if they end up missing on home court by a few games, but I think Pop is fine with that.

If you are not going to play them you may as well send them home to their families. Green was probably banged up a little. Pop is the most popular coach in the league and it is not close. Player routinely take less money to play there or stay there and its not because they love the city of San Antonio.

 

[Room 914]

Yeah let's have David Stern tell a guy with 800+ wins and 4 titles how to coach his team...

Laughable, that old bag needs to get out of there asap. He's relishes the power too much, talk about an idiot.

 

[KingOtis]

forget about stern for a second, you guys dont have a problem with popovich sending 4 of his best players HOME? thats absolutely ridiculous in my opinion, these guys are freaking gazillionaires, i think they can tough out a long road trip. danny green is 25 years old and popovich sent him home and missed a game cause hes tired from a long road trip, think about how ridiculous that is. its disrespectful to the game all around, even their teammates. hes basically telling the rest of the team you guys arent important enough to get extra rest. and i cant believe the players all went along with it, last i checked basketball is a team game, if youre gonna rest me im at least gonna stay on the bench and support my teammates, not be on a damn plane.

its not a rule, but it should be. unless youre injured or sick or have a legit reason (and resting up for june aint 1 of them) you cant be sent home, your body can survive sitting on the bench for 2 hours.

Unless he was concerned that the four of them would spend the whole game begging him to let them play.

Injured players don't always sit/travel with the team. That doesn't make them bad teammates. (That goes for any sport, not just basketball.)

 

[albanycuse]

The game is for the fans, people buy tickets in advance to see certain players/matchups. Without the fans there would be no NBA, no big contracts, no nothing, there would be pick up games around your local courts. Id be pissed if i bought SU tickets and jimmy was in Hawaii drinking margaritas and mcw , fair, and x mas were getting pedicures and missed the game.

 

[KingOtis]

The game is for the fans, people buy tickets in advance to see certain players/matchups. Without the fans there would be no NBA, no big contracts, no nothing, there would be pick up games around your local courts. Id be pissed if i bought SU tickets and jimmy was in Hawaii drinking margaritas and mcw , fair, and x mas were getting pedicures and missed the game.

But that's the risk you take when you buy a ticket. If it's a sport played outdoors, there's not even a guarantee that you'll see a game, much less your favorite players.

 

[albanycuse]

But that's the risk you take when you buy a ticket. If it's a sport played outdoors, there's not even a guarantee that you'll see a game, much less your favorite players.

You cant justify resting 4 of the best players early on in the season to me , they didnt clinch the playoffs and are resting them because of that.

 

[KingOtis]

You cant justify resting 4 of the best players early on in the season to me , they didnt clinch the playoffs and are resting them because of that.

Check the injury history of three of those players. There's your justification.

So it's OK if it's at the end of the season and the team already clinched a playoff berth? What about the fans who paid to be entertained?

 

[Eric15]

David Stern is one of the best commissioners in American sports history, but he made a very foolish move by threatening disciplinary action against the Spurs for this. I understand his frustration - the NBA is a product and you want the best possible product on the floor every night. The logic being, if people are worried about superstars not playing in games, they're less likely to buy tickets.

The reason Stern is foolish here is because if he does in fact penalize the Spurs for this, he has set an impossible precedent for the league to maintain. In order to maintain fairness and consistency, the league will have to review every single game to ensure that players aren't being "unjustly" rested. And then, the whole process is subjective. What if it was Game 82 of the regular season and the Spurs had already locked up their playoff seed, and they were playing the Wizards - can Spurs rest their players then?

 

[cuseincincy]

Pretty sure every player the Spurs played last night had NBA contracts and weren't just callup players either. Stern needs to and keep out of the Spurs business. If he wants to reprimand someone get the person who set up the schedule. Miami last played Saturday at home, The Spurs played Sunday, Monday and Wednesday all on the road. That's what is messed up! And as others have mentioned it happens in baseball all the time. You rarely see a veteran player play a day game after a night game. Its a long season coaches need to able to manage their roster how they see fit. Too bad the Spurs didn't win. As much as fans may not like it the NBA is a competitive sport, not just entertainment. The Spurs competed quite well last night.

 

[albanycuse]

Check the injury history of three of those players. There's your justification.

So it's OK if it's at the end of the season and the team already clinched a playoff berth? What about the fans who paid to be entertained?

Its expected to rest players after you clinch, most fans dont buy end of season tickets expecting to see all the stars, atleast not the knowledgeBle ones.

 

[zeekay]

What if it was Game 82 of the regular season and the Spurs had already locked up their playoff seed, and they were playing the Wizards - can Spurs rest their players then?

NFL teams do this all the time in the final game, like the undefeated Packers resting everyone since they had home field locked up. Were those fans pissed too? They paid for the tickets...

One of the reasons I don't watch Baseball or NBA is because there's just too damn many games, and each particular game is meaningless unless you're in the post-season. I know they want to money grab as much TV money as possible from the fans the DO watch every game, but this is stupid.

 

[orangefan13]

I still hate the rediculous amount of games.

42 games a year for every team. 2 games a week for 5 months.
Add another 10 teams to the league making 40 teams
10 divisions 4 teams per division. You play each team once swapping home/road every year and the three teams in your division you play home and away every year making 42 games before the playoffs.

Then the playoffs 3 game series. This is the same reason nobody watches more then 5 games of baseball to the last week of the regular season, but will watch 6 nfl games and 5 college games a week.

For the sake of not sabotaging this post please no responses its not like this is a real poll. Just venting.

 

[KingOtis]

Its expected to rest players after you clinch, most fans dont buy end of season tickets expecting to see all the stars, atleast not the knowledgeBle ones.

Or maybe that's the only time of year that a father can take his son to a game. If you're going to defend the fans, you have to defend them at all costs.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Stern's been a great commissioner, his reaction's understandable, but he went too for threatening Pop and the Spurs. Popovich arguably is the best coach in the league, one of the best ever, but the whole thing mighta gone down a lot easier if Duncan, et al., had r&r'd in Miami and dressed for the game and sat on the bench. Doesn't seem like that would've been too much of a hardship.

Brutal road schedule this week for the Spurs, and Pop maybe thought he could steal one against a let-down Heat team -- easier to get it up for Parker and Duncan than Matt Bonner. And, I'd imagine, he was thinking more about having a rested team ready for one of the Spurs' top conference opponents, Memphis, tomorrow night. Memphis is movin' on up to elite status in the league.

BTW, the Spurs, fwiw, easily covered last night. The line moved from Miami givin' 6 to 13 1/2.

 

[albanycuse]

Or maybe that's the only time of year that a father can take his son to a game. If you're going to defend the fans, you have to defend them at all costs.

There is no NBA without the fans , but i dont expect to see the stars at the end of the season after they clinch.

 

[KingOtis]

Tony La Russa was notorious for resting his stars if the Cardinals won the first two games of a three-game set (or the first three of four). Mike Matheny did the same thing for most of last season (until the team needed to win more games to ensure a playoff spot). There are a number of baseball managers who rest players when there's a day game after a night game or on getaway day.

 

[KingOtis]

There is no NBA without the fans , but i dont expect to see the stars at the end of the season after they clinch.

Dear-old dad bought the tickets before the season. He had no way of knowing when they would clinch.