I agree completely with this statement...players arent able to break from shooting slumps well b/c...they dont have time to practice on things that they lack in their game...with such a rough travel/game schedule, players that are in a rut...often times remain that way for a while, primarily because they dont have the time to get out of it...
In January , the Rockets have a schedule where they play 4 games in 5 nights 3 of the 4 weeks of that month...and of those games...the 2nd half of those 4 games are spent on the road... I think they play 17 games that month...Players can easily get fatigue/hurt during such a grueling stretch of bball...so really how much of an impact do these "tired/worn-out" players really have in a game...
Keep the calendar length of the season the same as it is now. Reduce the total # of regular season games to something in the 56-66 range. Goal is to eliminate all back-to-backs. Games will have a bit more meaning, and injuries/fatigue will decrease. That said, the chances of that happening are almost zero. The NBA is a business; the owners, etc. like their money, and reducing the # of games will hurt them financially. Players may not be willing to renegotiate their contracts. The 82-game schedule is here to stay for the foreseeable future.
The Spurs went through 4 games in 5 nights. Pop was smart to rest his star players for the beneficial of long term success. People say that Pops should rest his stars for the Magic game instead and have them play against the Heat. But they don't understand that with their star players, they have a better chance to beating the Magic than the Heat. The Spurs preferred 1-1 than 0-2 on that last back to back... Pops has the rights to rest his star players if he wanted. He's doing it for his team's success. For Stern to issue out a form of punishment towards the Spurs is just ridiculous. Is Stern going to start issuing out fines and suspension towards coaches that alters their lineup? How come Stern didn't do anything when the Heat and Celtics rested all their star players during last year's televised game? Stern to sanction the Spurs just because Pops wanted to rest his star players. Every head coach obligation is to pace their team for the best of them. Every head coach know what is best for their players and team. It is not David Stern's job to legislate who should play, how many minutes they play, who and when they get to rest. For Stern to penalized an organization for resting their players, it would cause the integrity of the game and players and teams would start faking their injuries in order to rest. If David Stern was a bigger man, he would apologize for the outburst, admit he was wrong about it but communicate with the Spurs and explain his opinion instead of trying to dictate and penalizing a team for having the best interest for their players. In the end, Pops knows what is best for his players, not Stern. David Stern stated he wanted whats best for the fans but when has he ever cared about the fans? Stern believes that after retirement, everyone will remember him for all the great things he supposedly did for the NBA. But most likely, majority will remember him for the ridiculous outburst, controversial fines and suspension, controversial lotteries, tyranny and dictatorship career that he had.
I could support fewer games, but I like back-to-backs. I don't like 3 off days in a row. The nearly everyday aspect is one reason I love baseball. Football is similarly nice in that you know you are playing most Sundays (Thursday games piss me off). The weird NBA schedule has me not knowing when the Rockets are playing.
yeah the last rockets championship was useless. or jvg's knicks making it to the finals for ny was useless. or the experience the thunder got as a 8th seed a few years ago against the lakers was useless.
Rockets won a title as sixth seed. No 7th seed or worse team has ever won a title. There is no factual evidence that "playoff experience" has anymore relevance than regular season experience against similar caliber teams. There is NO REASON that fully half of the teams in each conference need to be in the playoffs. None. In 2011, the Pacers made the playoffs with a record of 37-45. That's blatantly ridiculous and no team with that bad of a record should ever make the postseason.
I like this idea, it would also make the competition for those six spots so much higher. You could have very good teams not make the playoffs like in 08 when most of the west was 50+ wins haha.
So umm your fighting for better working conditions for NBA players? That's essentially what this poll is for then? Keep in mind if they work less games, they're going to be paid less. Since TV and arena tickets etc pay their salaries.
Fewer games (either reduce regular season games or reduce playoffs teams) and find some ways to discourage tanking. Like I said in the Spurs thread, it's funny how some people detest what Pop did yet want the Rockets to tank. Tanking is a much worse cheating of the fans than what Popovich was doing.
How would that discourage tanking? It's all a numbers game. If team XYZ has no way to get into the playoffs that year, they'll tank to increase their chance draft choice. Having less games won't change that. There may be less games to tank but that'll just mean they start tanking earlier.
*Correction* I misread and had though that Easy had implied that less games discouraged tanking but that wasn't what he wrote. So apologies and skip.
I've been saying this since the '90s...all problems with the NBA stem from it is the only major US sport with a schedule completely out-of-line with its amateur levels and international counterparts. It has become a sport with no practice time -- relatively speaking to its counterparts. It has no time for adequate amounts of practices as defined by the sport at all other levels. The NBA has robbed the sport of practice time, and hence, shot itself in the foot at producing the highest quality product. Can you imagine if the NFL decided to have two games a week. That's the equivalent. "NFL players don't need practice...give them 3-4 days in a hottub and march them back out there again." Practice...we are talking about Practice. Don't anyone here even attempt to argue with me on this. I will ignore you.
^ regarding a comparison to MLB. The whole schedule of baseball is around rest for starting pitchers. MLB has enough for a full week of play. College and HS do not. Otherwise, baseball practice is not really more than hitting and fielding practice...which is done at all levels.
A tanking decision often happens mid season when a team see's that either they have no chance of winning anything...a smaller number of games played...could prevent teams from coming to that decision...could encourage better play in general
completely agree...im just worried about the product as our stars of our league age...Kevin Durant and Lebron James are one of a kind...they may withstand the test of time just because they are talented...but what about a player like James Harden...he could easily be the next Baron Davis in a few years...and that would be a travesty to the sport...Stern and the Owners created this mess by latching on television deals, etc. all in the sake of money...but every one of these super teams are one Derrek Rose mishap away from irrelevance...and time will prove our point...Basketball is hoping bc we were lucky enough to have players as talented as Lebron, Durant now...but what happens when they age...do they break down...do they survive?? Lebron is built like a machine so he just seems indestructible, but Durant could have an outcome like Tmac...and that would be really sad... Sure you'll have to cut salaries...but you'll have less injuries, more durability, and a better product...and money always follows good products...
Screw you and hell no!!! I hate it when there are no Rockets games. Change the scheduling if you want, remove the back to backs if you want and extend the season by a half of a month but under no cercumstance do you take even one damn basketball game away from me. You JackAss.... I hate you!!!!!!
Ok my reply was for you then A smaller number of games just means they're going to have that decision earlier. It might produce less "bad" games but that would just be a product of having less games.
