Help me out with this Van Gundy Dude please...

I like Jeff Van Gundy but that like is being doled out in small doses as of late.
Tonight he went on a rant slamming the NBA for threatening to fine the Pelicans 100k for every game that they sit Davis. Van Grundy said that the Pelicans ownership should have taken a stand and pay the fine and sit Davis if that is what they intended to do. {‘Everyone, the league, the players do what’s best for them. I think this Pelican team should do what’s best for them and if they want to sit Davis and protect their investment from injury, they should be allowed to do it. Time for small market teams to take a stand.’}
I think Van Grundy is wrong on this one. Davis is under contract for another year and a half. He may or may not get traded at the end of the season. I doubt that this will happen but It could quite possibly be next year before it happens. They should be allowed to sit him?
Am I wrong in thinking that the Pelicans should not be allowed to sit Davis? What the Hell kind of league is this? For all we know Davis could change his mind (fat chance).
I think the NBA is right in making him play. There’s season ticket holders, sponsors and TV involved here. New Orleans, Like Memphis is a poor NBA town. They have enough trouble getting people in the seats and interested in the product. Allowing him to sit would only make it worse.
Does Van Grundy have a good point? I vehemently disagree with him on this one. What say you?

Getting paid? Then play. Fans are paying Season ticket buyers paud. Advertisers paid. Play your players, and players, play.

He should play if he is healthy.  If NBA teams are willing to refund the cost of tickets to anyone in any city where the Pelicans will play and the Pelicans are willing to refund season ticket holders or anyone with a ticket to an upcoming game, that would be fine with me.

This is what happens when some player tries to leave mid season.  AD should have waited until the end of the season to announce plans not to stay with NOLA

As AD sits the entire 4th quarter in a close game at home. How nice. GD NBA

I agree with Van Gundy

Look AD has told them he wants out, his new agent (LeBron's bud ) said so PUBLICLY trying to push them to trade him to the Lakers.

the NOP decided to try to stick to the Lakers by leaking the players they were offering, because they rightfully felt they were being extorted.

it IS in the best interest of the NOP to TANK this year to get a better draft pick AND to preserve  AD's health and his trade value for this summer.



Demps was likely read the riot act by Silver, because this is Anthony Davis, but Silver is wrong here. If not, why is JR Smith not playing each night for Cleveland then?

JR Smith is not playing right now and under contract. The CELTICS told Bogans to go home  after the Nets trade for the year, lest WE forget.

to me NOP shutting down AD the rest of this year IS the best call for the team.

I understand what the league is trying to do by threatening New Orleans to play AD. But, there seems to be a big double standard as to what players this rule applies to. Kdp mentioned JR Smith. What about Enes Kanter? He’s been practically begging his coach to play him. Zach Randolph hasn’t played a minute this year. Kawhi doesn’t play back to backs and recently sat out 4 games in a row.
New Orleans should limit AD’s minutes through the rest of the season. To help protect him from injury and to possibly get a better draft pick.

A lot of good points here.

The league has told Pop he needs to stop resting his players as much (and he told them to take a flying leap in return). Teams in rebuild mode play the kids over veterans regularly (see Wallace Gerald and Bogans, Keith in Boston). Players are paid to play but they have no control over when or even whether they are inserted into games. Franchises have an obligation to entertain their fans and, I don't think there's any doubt here, AD is BY FAR the best player on the Pelicans roster. Nobody else comes even remotely close.

I have to say there is more than a small part of me that agrees with TJ. AD and his evil agent (yes, I consider Rich Paul of Klutch Sports evil for the sport of basketball) went public mid-season for a trade. In 2007, as the story/legend goes, Paul Pierce went to Wyc and Pags and told them to either trade him while he still had a lot of value, or built a contender around him, but he did it privately. NONE of us heard this story until WELL after KG and Ray Allen were brought in and the inflection point had passed. That not only made it easier for Celtic management to make the trades to give Paul what he wanted (they broke his way, obviously) it also eliminated drama and the pressure to withstand negotiating tactics of other teams and agents to make something happen their way. This is a mess of AD and Klutch Sports' making, created by them going public to try and force Pelican management to do what they wanted when they wanted it.

Agents are telling draft picks to not go to the NBA Combine and/or don't work out for this club or that club. BJ Armstrong did that to Danny with Josh Jackson. He didn't want Jackson to go to Boston because he wanted him to get tons of minutes, so he steered him towards Phoenix, where he has been underwhelming despite averaging 25mpg for his career-to-date.

I wonder what would happen if the owners were to get together and decide they weren't going to sign any free agent that was represented by Agent X for a certain amount of time and would insist upon certain conduct by agents?


bob



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worcester wrote:Getting paid? Then play. Fans are paying Season ticket buyers paud. Advertisers paid. Play your players, and players, play.

I cannot find any fault with your reasoning.

Although I can see why a team might wish to protect their investment, last I knew, professional sports were supposed to serve the fan. That, ultimately, is who pays for everything.

remember its an association of independent business', as such each franchise had a right to do what is in their best interest.

I remember something called "the Process" just a few years ago and how it was going to destroy the NBA.

and speaking of Kahwi...how about when he "shut himself" down most of last year to facilitate a trade from SA? I mean we all know now that's what happened right?

well the NBA survived just fine and so did the 76ers it appears . SA maybe not so much, but I think they did OK.

IF NOP thinks its best to play AD, then by all means play him. But if they feel its best FOR THEM to shut him down, they should do that as well.

that's my feelings in it all anyway

kdp59 wrote:remember its an association of independent business', as such each franchise had a right to do what is in their best interest.

I remember something called "the Process" just a few years ago and how it was going to destroy the NBA.

and speaking of Kahwi...how about when he "shut himself" down most of last year to facilitate a trade from SA? I mean we all know now that's what happened right?

well the NBA survived just fine and so did the 76ers it appears . SA maybe not so much, but I think they did OK.

IF NOP thinks its best to play AD, then by all means play him. But if they feel its best FOR THEM to shut him down, they should do that as well.

that's my feelings in it all anyway

I don’t think any of us would have been happy if we were one of those teams mentioned. Fans deserve better. And I’m Not quite sure that the NBA has survived just fine. Time will tell.