The way I see it, Stern true motive is to punish the Spurs for not playing their marquee line-up in a national TV game and possibly for Popovich upstaging Stern, which we know the Dictator will not allow. He's using a vaguely-worded unspecific rule to be able to fine the Spurs so that he can argue a legal basis to punish them. The problem that the majority sees is the Dictator should have no input on what a coach decides to do with his players. A coach's purpose is to put his team in the best position to win a championship, and Popovich believes that resting his starters for the Miami game was a smart decision. He is completely justified in his position as a coach. Stern was not. This seems like such an obvious, straightforward thing to me. I think some posters' Spurs-hate is clouding their judgment.
And for the record, heypartner, JuanValdez, and t_mac1, you guys are in the vast minority. We obviously are not going to agree about this, so no point in arguing with you guys anymore.
JuanValdez, So it's right for the league rather than the coach to decide and intervene which players to play on any given night?
Why would the Spurs have to follow protocol for injury/illness when the players in question were neither injured nor ill?
Of course Stern's true motive is to punish the Spurs for not playing their best players for a national TV game. There's nothing hidden about that. The NBA is a business with customers to please. And the fans in the stands in Miami are the least of their concerns. The powerful customers are the networks broadcasting the games nationally and the advertisers who spend a lot of money with an expectation of viewership. Pop's stunt is a slap in the face to these guys. Stern was probably on the receiving end of a lot of b****ing, so he's paying it forward to the Spurs. You still to be in a mindset of denying or forgetting or refusing to believe that the NBA is a corporation with a profit motive. They don't run all these games for the love of the sport or because they really want to see who is the best team. They maximize profits first and tests teams' meddle second. So why shouldn't Dictator Stern have input on which players play? He can usually count on his coaches to play the best players, but why should he not have the lattitude to demand it? Is there some coaches' bill of rights that lays out and guarantees the inalienable rights of coaches, and among those rights is the right to play or not play whoever they please? Of course not. They work at the behest and pleasure of the owner of the franchise. Usually, the owners and GMs give coaches lattitude to do their jobs, but there's no reason they have to. The coach is an employee. You can have some argument that the owners should be free to do as they like, since they own these teams and run their own P&Ls. Sure. But, they've also entered into agreements with one another and created the league office and Stern to govern their relationships and ceded some freedoms to Stern in return for the security that other teams will be controlled. This is one of those freedoms they gave up. And, it's good that they did -- you don't want a situation where teams can't be counted on to bring their marquee draws to your arena. As for the Spurs, I'm not a hater. I root for other Texas teams once the Rockets are out.
so if stern forces scottie Brooks to not play durant in the conferance finale because than the lakers could make the finals, and heat lakers finale would bring in more Money for the NBA, you would be ok with it.
That's really scary, JuanValdez. You're arguing for the NBA to become scripted. Might as well have Vince McMahon become the new commissioner and turn the NBA into the WWE.
You didn't know this. I don't even have to read what Valdez said and I know it. Stern and McMahon do what's best for their business. Scripted.
Most professions have some sort of professional ethics and rights. Even though they work for their employers, they mostly abide by those codes and the employers would respect them even if the codes might not be the most profitable for them. Think about it, there are already sentiments that Les Alexander forced his coaches to do some things they didn't want to do and consequently got rid of them. It's one thing to fire a coach because of performance. It's another thing to get rid of a coach because they refuse to play a certain style or play a certain player. The former is within the rights of the owner. The latter is the rights of the coach. Can you imagine the owner of a business insisting on his accountant to do accounting in the way HE wants but not conform to the normal accounting practice?
@CBSSports: Chris Bosh has a message for Heat fans that left early: 'For all those who left, make sure you don't come to Game 7.' http://t.co/GlCG9RinSi
So Pops rested his starters on TNT Thursday again, but it's against the Warriors. What's the likelihood of another fine? Probably won't happen because it's not against the Heat, but what an awful inconsistent enforcement of a made up rule.
DUbs are overrated Can't believe most people ranked the warriors ahead of rockets prior to the start of the season. Those people didn't even think rockets were close to the warriors in talent. Curry seems a bit better then harden but overall we have a better team. We had their numbers last season and we also improved our roster more then they did during offseason. I feel their players just got hot during their playoff run last season. Though they were pretty scary team during the start of this season, however I still think rockets are no doubt better.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>No fine/discipline 4 Spurs 4 resting Duncan, Ginobili tonight. Team informed everyone well in advance, has done it a few times since Miami.</p>— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) <a href="https://twitter.com/daldridgetnt/statuses/413832571441516544">December 20, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
