I don't know how you don't see it, but Heat is better than Magic. He picked to win the Magic game and tank the Heat game, because it's the easiest route to guarantee at least 1 win. Case in point: Spurs won the Magic game with none of the big 3 playing more than 30 minutes. In addition, throwing away game tonight means 1 extra day of rest for the Grizzlies game, which is a divisional rival.
God bless Pop, sticking it to the man. If it were any team but the Heat or Lakers, Stern wouldn't have given a s***.
Pops has the rights to rest his players if he wants. Even if it happens to be against the Heat. They were on the road 4 games in 5 nights and they have to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. Pops does this all the time. Its nothing new. There's nothing in the rule book where a coach can't rest his players especially if they're aging. I think its wrong for Stern to issue out a state of punishment towards the Spurs. Pops as the Spurs coach, has the rights to rest his players if he wanted to. The Spurs has their own schedule to deal with, not Stern's schedule. The things that Stern does and the fines and suspension he issues out sometimes for the most ridiculous things.... There are both sides to this. Stern can say that he did it for the fans but the Spurs has their rights to rest their players. Even so, Stern does not have the rights to issue out punishment towards the Spurs when there is nothing in the rule book that stats a coach can't rest his players. If it was against the Wizards, Bobcats or a low seeded team, Stern wouldn't even care so why would he care about this one?
Yup. If it was a low seeded team, Stern wouldn't give a damn about it. But because its the Heat, he threw a fit and issuing out a state of punishment towards the Spurs. Stern should be more consistent but right now, he is running the NBA like a dictator. A man that uses his power to get what he wants. Its funny how people can voice their opinions about the leader of our country, the President if they wanted to but if anyone that associate with the NBA voice their opinions towards David Stern, he would either fine them or silence them one way or another..
kind of funny that they now care about the integrity of the league lol how about changing the star system refereeing that stern claims doesn't go on. f' the commissar.
if Pop planned this well in advance he should have given Stern a heads up no stars means lower national TV ratings which is bad for everyone involved with the NBA
I suspect he won't punish Popovich specifically, but he'll fine the Spurs ownership/organization. The ownership has responsibilities. They have to promote basketball, they have to look after fans and can't screw other organizations. There are bound to be general rules regarding this in the ownership agreement. Pops probably did the right thing from coaching point of view, but this is the first game between NBA champions and Western finalists, and he basically tanked it. It's not some relatively meaningless late season game where a team tries to get their stars to 100% for the playoffs. You can't screw Miami and their fans who bought the tickets, not to mention TV fans. It's bad business for the league. This was a blatant "Screw your business interests, we'll tank the hard game so we can win some easier games" to the NBA, and the NBA has a right to screw the Spurs business interests in return. They probably won't fine Pops individually though.
And this. I understand that Pops is upset about their very poor schedule this year. And this was an "f.u. Stern" in a way. But you know the schedule well in advance, and the Spurs could've mitigated or even avoided this one way or another.
This shows Stern only cares about NATIONAL tv ratings. If he cared about all the fans, he'd make it so teams aren't forced to tank every year just to have a chance to contend.
Best nba coach bar none. Can you imagine if pop coached Miami or da Lakers??? He'll I bet he could even make da Bobcats a playoff team. Him and Doc got mad coaching chops.
...haha one thing to rest them on the bench, all four of them other thing to send them home on a plane disgusting choice as much as I hate Stern, Pops is being disrespectfu.
Just because it's a given doesn't make it any different, as far as a legal infraction worth fining somoene for. It's no different.
It's his right to rest his players and be a p***y, just like teams do at the end of the season to tank, to get rested up for the playoffs, etc. This is done all the time. If they weren't playing a mega-team on national TV then no one would be complaining, just like they weren't when he did it multiple times last season.
Back in the 80's & 90's they would've all been listed with a faux injury such as knee tendinitis, plantar faciitis or chronic halitosis and put on the 'injured reserve' list. If Stern starts regulating when players can, can't & must play, he better get ready for a lawsuit if said player receives an injury.
So the Spurs are obligated to plan their rotation around the NBA's national TV schedule? Ludicrous. The 4 players flew back early to San Antonio so there was a specific advantage in waiting for the last game. The idea the NBA can micromanage and penalize something like this is ridiculous.
The Spurs didn't even tank the game by resting Timmy D, Parker and Ginobli. In fact, they were competitive up until the last 20 seconds. Pop gave the NBA a competitive game, and he did so without having to use is aging stars. But more importantly, this makes no sense from a business perspective. Pop is doing what he has to to ensure his team will be healthy and ready to be competitive when the playoffs come around. Sacrificing a national game in the early part of the season shouldn't be an issue, especially when that game has to compete with Thursday Night Football for viewer ratings. Football is the dominant sport in this country. Stern wasn't going to get massive ratings for this game to begin with. It makes a lot more sense to let the coaches decide when to rest their players so that they're competitive when the playoffs come. Having older guys like Timmy, Parker, KG, Ray, DWade all fresh for the playoffs will more than make up for losses of them missing regular season games. You'll have the faces of the NBA playing at the highest level during a time of year where the only competition for viewership and game attendance is the the MLB regular season.
Pop left those 4 guys at home bc he wanted to give the heat a chance and didn't want to blowout the heat on national tv he figured Gary Neal,splitter,and de colo were the guys to keep it a game
