Pop Sends His Stars Home for Rest

Spurs Send Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Green Home; Will Play Nine Against Heat


Nov 29, 2012 4:12 PM EST


The San Antonio Spurs have sent four of their top-five leading
scorers back home instead of playing the Miami Heat on Thursday in a
nationally televised game.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green did not travel with the team after Wednesday night’s win in Orlando.

The Spurs were already without Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson.

Gregg Popovich will have nine active players.

“We’re getting tired,” Popovich said. “We’ve had a six-day trip and a 10-day trip. Usually you don’t have that in one month.”



bob
MY NOTE: Der Fuehrer NBA Commissioner David Stern has promised sanctions against the Spurs for doing this. Of course, he's not going to blame his schedulers, who booked the Spurs on those trips. Remember the Road Trip From Hell we had last season, where we went on the road for about 10 straight games? Maybe Wyc and the rest of the owners should push back a little? "Hey Dummy, (stealing Red's pet name for his pet idiot, David Stern) if you want to put on a good show for the fans, maybe you should be more considerate of the wear-and-tear on their bodies your schedulers are inflicting on them? Fresher players are better players, dummy". No wonder players love Pop, though, huh? He doesn't give a fat rat's ass about what anybody says. All he cares about are his players and how best to get them to the Championship round. Same with Doc. That's why they're #1 and #2.






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Perhaps the Spurs players and coaches should fund a rebate to the fans as a gesture of compromise. No stars-no pay.

swish

I don't like what Pop did in sending the 4 of them home all at the same time while knowing this was a premier matchup for the NBA. Danny Green has played 110 games in his career and is in great shape, did he really need to go home with the old 3? Why not rest one against the Magic, one against the Heat, etc? With that being said, I understand that Pop is trying to keep his guys fresh for the playoffs. I think Pop is about half right and half wrong.

I don't like Stern coming down with the Significant Sanctions comment right before the game last night. If Stern didn't say anything in advance and watched the Spurs almost beat Miami, Stern and SA could have probably worked this out privately. I understand Stern's point, that he can't de-value regular season games to this point, especially when they are on National TV. Stern will certanly hear from Fans, Advertisers, TNT Execs, etc. I think Stern is about half wrong and half right.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Far as I can tell, Pop runs a class program and does not call the Commissioner to tell him how to do his job. Stearn should do the same.

Of course he wont, because he is a power hungry control freak. Oh well.

In the top Swedish hockey league similar incidents have happened. In the rules it is stated that a team has to ice "the best team available" at all times.

This league is not a closed league and not as "commercialized" (they are all pros of course though) as the US pro leagues. The reason they have this rule is for "sportsmanlike" reasons and "fair competition".

So even without the commercial interests of the NBA (showcasing stars on national TV for good ratings etc.) there are strong reasons against this.

It really is a tough call to make. For the Spurs long term it was probably the best decision, it puts the closer to winning the title. It skews the competition for the other teams though (who gets to be the "lucky team" they rest against?) and its a thin like from this to throwing games to get a better playoff seeding etc.

Pop's biggest problem is that he doesn't care about appearances. If he'd merely had them show up, play a few minutes, and then grab a seat on the bench, no one in the league office would've said a peep. But Pop figured if he was going to rest his guys, send them home where they can get some rest. Pop did this multiple times last season with the compressed schedule, and no one said anything except what a smart coach Pop is.

As for this game, Pop looked at the schedule and decided in advance that he would do this, and the opponent on the schedule was irrelevant. The only reason the league is upset is because it was a marquee matchup with the defending champion Heat. Would they have the same reaction if it had been Orlando instead? I'm inclined to think "no." And if that's the case, the league should shut up because it shouldn't matter who the opponent is.

I've heard several talking heads go on about the fans, that they paid to see Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli and that the Spurs have an obligation to provide that to them. It's not Pop's fault that the league markets itself around individual star players instead of teams. The Spurs came to town, and an educated fan would've seen why they're one of the best organizations in professional sports and Pop is the best coach in the business.

I watched a good portion of the game, and the fans got their money's worth and more. It was infinitely more entertaining than the dreadful Laker-Pacer ineptfest the other night (with all available players suited up).

He might have said it but I do not think it is completely true that it did not matter who they were playing.

mrkleen09 wrote:Far as I can tell, Pop runs a class program and does not call the Commissioner to tell him how to do his job. Stearn should do the same.

Of course he wont, because he is a power hungry control freak. Oh well.

I think Pop runs his program right and has been doing so a long time. He consistantly puts a good product on the floor and wins. The product he put on the floor nearly beat the defending champs on their home floor. There were positives that could be taken out of this from the Spurs point of view. If their subs win, it gives them all the confidence in the world, even coming close probably did the same thing. Pop could have looked at it like this, the Heat are a very good team, there is a strong possibility that the Heat would win even with the Spurs stars playing. Maybe he decided one loss in the standings and we get our guys some rest. The Heat didn't beat the real Spurs. All the guys got their rest and they lost a game more than likely they would have lost anyway.

As far as the fans, I can see them being upset not getting to watch the stars play I , but on the other hand I can see that Pop can do what he thinks is best for his team.

tardust wrote:

mrkleen09 wrote:Far as I can tell, Pop runs a class program and does not call the Commissioner to tell him how to do his job. Stearn should do the same.

Of course he wont, because he is a power hungry control freak. Oh well.

I think Pop runs his program right and has been doing so a long time. He consistantly puts a good product on the floor and wins. The product he put on the floor nearly beat the defending champs on their home floor. There were positives that could be taken out of this from the Spurs point of view. If their subs win, it gives them all the confidence in the world, even coming close probably did the same thing. Pop could have looked at it like this, the Heat are a very good team, there is a strong possibility that the Heat would win even with the Spurs stars playing. Maybe he decided one loss in the standings and we get our guys some rest. The Heat didn't beat the real Spurs. All the guys got their rest and they lost a game more than likely they would have lost anyway.

As far as the fans, I can see them being upset not getting to watch the stars play I , but on the other hand I can see that Pop can do what he thinks is best for his team.

Eaxctly this. Instead of making it into a scenario where they would most likely not only lose (which would give Miami a possible mental edge, they are a possible finals contender) it would also give Miami a chance to figure out how to play them. Spurs to a certain degree have areas where they have an edge over Miami (bigs/pg) and if you can take away a chance for them to "figure that out" AND rest your guys.. then it is all win/win and why I think the opponents being Miami did play a role.

As it was the Miami "almost lost" and need to be worried about "whatabout when they add all their stars too"...