San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

[J_Posse]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Pops has never done this any other time with uninjured players so your second statement isn't absolute. We don't know what would happen if they weren't playing the Heat on TNT.

It's Stern's place to protect his stakeholders and interests. He makes decisions based off what he thinks is best for business. That means it is his place in a sense to ensure his teams put a worthy product on the floor or at least attempt to in an acceptable fashion.

Totally incorrect statement because Pop has done this sort of thing regularly for the last 3 or 4 years. He did it last season in a 40 point blow-out loss against Portland, in fact a fan wrote him an anger letter condemning his actions, and no media outlets - outside of San Antonio - nor the commissioner reacted to it.

Actually, Deputy Adam Silver sent out this press release about the matter:

"The strategic resting of particular players on particular nights is within the discretion of the teams," Silver said then. "And Gregg Popovich in particular is probably the last coach that I would second-guess

Pop, like any other coach, is entitled to play who he wants and whoever minutes he so choices. Sending the players home to San Antonio may have been too much, but not playing them was entirely in his right as head coach. The league needs more coaches like Pop that give a damn about players long-term viability and overall team success.

Edit: People may also remember that game as the one that Duncan received a DNP-"old" as his reason for not playing.

Against the Portland Trail Blazers on Feb. 21 last season, those three did not
play – it was the eighth of nine consecutive road games – and the Spurs lost
137-97.

[stlpimpmonsta]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Yeah a disservice to the fans who constantly say the team is boring anyways. Hell pop dida service by sending home the "boring" playets......

[stlpimpmonsta]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Sorry for the errors on my posts btw. Typing on a phone on the mobile sit(not taptalk)e and i cant edit my posts.

[MostlyChilly]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Spurs are in a midst of 4 games in 5 nights.

Heat played 1 game over the stretch of 4 days.

It makes no sense for Popovich to pit his fatigued starters against the rested Heat.

From the man himself:

The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case. The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team's only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans.

C'mon, what a joke. Aw, now you have to INFORM the Heat? Even INFORM their MEDIA? Bottom line, why should a team be fined for making a lawful strategic move? A blind man can see the affection and obsession between you and the Heat, Stern. What an ***-clown. I guarantee, if the Spurs played the Wizards or the Cavs, something like this would not happen.

What's even more ridiculous is that the Heat still needed a 3 from Judas Shuttlesworth to beat the Spurs B team.

Anyway, enough rambling, February 1st, 2014 can't come any faster. Anyone wanna start a David Stern retirement countdown thread here?

[bigeastbumrush]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

It was their only trip to Miami.

If that statement doesn't say it all then I just don't know.

[J_Posse]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

I know this forum is very anti-Stern but I'm kind of shocked at the response. Pop chose to rest his best FOUR players who werent injured.

I have Wizards season tickets (I know its a shame) and they play the Heat on Monday. Now if Spo chooses to rest Wade because they are coming off a long road trip, I'm OK with it but if he chooses to bench Wade, Bron and Bosh, I would be ****ing furious. I bought those tickets with the expectation that barring injury, the stars would play. Resting 1 star is understandable but 4? When people paid their hard earned money to watch them play?

I agree with Stern's position from an advertising/TV perspective too. The networks and advertisers have the same expectation as the fans....that the stars will play barring injury. Everyone knows that stars draw ratings in the NBA. Now say I'm the head of marketing at Sprite, I bought ad time during that game and expected that the game would do a 1.0 rating. Then I read that Pop pulled his best players and find out that the ratings for this game were lower than expected...I would consider pulling ads from NBA broadcasts.

Add to that that because of the lower rating, TNT now has to issue make goods (free advertisements) to those advertisers who bought time during the game. Its shortsighted to just think that Pop's responsibility is only to his team. The fans, advertisers and the league are significant reasons the league exists.

Speaking of the Wizards, I bought tickets to that game between the Spurs/Wizards on Monday fully expecting Pop to rest Duncan, Ginobili or Parker after the team played the day before (into overtime). He has done it in the past and is looking at the long-term ramifications over short-term benefits. That is what makes him a Hall-of-Fame coach, not giving a damn about fan's opinions (even of his own team - inside joke), league revenue streams and corporate big wigs. Leave that **** for New York and Los Angeles. I'll take success the "Spurs way."

When you regularly follow the Spurs you come to the realization that Pop is doing things his own way and that is what I most admire about the man.

Great article by Adrian Wojo over at yahoo.com blasting Emperor Stern:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--david-stern-stumbles-again-in-his-failed-culture-war-against-the-spurs-194828970.html

Portions of the article:

Before the emperor of the NBA leaves his Olympic Tower office, this is the holy war that those within the San Antonio Spurs' extended family expected David Stern to eventually wage on Gregg Popovich and his program's culture. The commissioner burped that terse, threatening statement promising "substantial sanctions" to the rogue state of his totalitarian nation on Thursday night. This has been a long time coming out of the commissioner's office....

Suddenly, Stern had to issue an apology to NBA fans because Popovich sent his stars home to San Antonio at the end of a long road trip. No one in Miami bought a ticket to watch Tim Duncan and Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, because those players are relevant to no one in Miami. Mostly, they come to watch LeBron and D-Wade, or they don't come at all. Few people watch the Spurs on national television – unless they're playing the Heat or the Los Angeles Lakers – and that's because the Spurs never deliver the dysfunction and self-destructive bents that fuel the sport's storylines.....

Back in the Spurs' glory days, it was one disrespectful act after another out of Stern.

The Spurs don't forget how the NBA's vice president of operations, Stu Jackson, directly called Bruce Bowen to warn him about how he was playing defense and threaten him with future punishments. Jackson didn't show the respect of reaching out to Spurs officials before communicating with Bowen, but bypassed them and got into the heads of one of their most important players. Phil Jackson himself couldn't have orchestrated it better on behalf of the Lakers' Western Conference championship chances.

[Watson]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

I really don't see the difference in a basketball team resting 4 players in an early season game and say, the Braves not playing Chipper on away games. As a fan, yes you do want to see the stars play, but you have to remember, these guys are human like you. They get tired and take sick days and unlike football, can only be pushed to a certain limit. Not to mention are old. Keeping with the Chipper analogy, should he have played every single away game since it would be his last series in the stadium? It's illogical to think that these guys are going to play every single game. ****, the Nationals shut down Strasburg a month before the season was over.

And besides, the Heat won 105-100, and one of their own stars sealed the game, so it wasn't like the fans didn't get their money's worth. And not only that, Stern's fine for benching your stars is 2.5 times worse than calling someone a homophobic slur on national TV.

And then people are going to say they don't watch college athletics because they are corrupt.

[23]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

You like watching the NBA on Cable and National TV? Well thank corporate dollars. Like NBA.com...corporate dollars. Listening to some of you guys, I would think you would want the NBA to go back to the dark ages when the playoffs were shown on tape delay.

Id actually like for them to lower ticket prices enough to where my friends and I could attend without blowing the bank to see one game, thats what I'd like

WTF? Huh? As commissioner, how do you control whether the press calls a team boring? I've seen commercials sponsored by the NBA featuring the Spurs in the playoffs over the last few years.

How about not jump the gun in public and threaten people like he always does

Call the guy, call the team, dont come out thumping your chest before the game.. its not necessary.

What you are missing is the big issue is how brazen Pop was about it. He didnt keep the guys on the road trip. He sent them home. Also somebody please give me an example of another time a coach has EVER benched his four best players at the same time in the first 4 months of a season. ****, anyone ever doing this outside of April (which is prime tanking/resting season).

Both of them tried to one up eachother.. so that doesn't bother me.

Pop knew what he was doing and so did Stern when they made the schedule..and don't tell me he didn't know the games because he knows.

Thats not my point, just dont act shocked that people arent siding with a guy who is all about the DOLLAS but pretendiing he's doing it for the fans.

[23]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Sorry if posted

The hammer: NBA announces $250,000 fine for Spurs, for...well, you know

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Just be consistent with this, Stern. Which I have no faith in him doing BTW.

But you can spare me the "Disservice to the Fans" BS.

I honestly hope Pop does it again. I mean, what's Stern going do? Fire him? Suspend him? Yeah, we've all seen how inconsistent his old *** is, in regards to trying to regulate certain things around the league.

[JODYE]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

I really don't see the difference in a basketball team resting 4 players in an early season game and say, the Braves not playing Chipper on away games. As a fan, yes you do want to see the stars play, but you have to remember, these guys are human like you. They get tired and take sick days and unlike football, can only be pushed to a certain limit. Not to mention are old. Keeping with the Chipper analogy, should he have played every single away game since it would be his last series in the stadium? It's illogical to think that these guys are going to play every single game. ****, the Nationals shut down Strasburg a month before the season was over.

And besides, the Heat won 105-100, and one of their own stars sealed the game, so it wasn't like the fans didn't get their money's worth. And not only that, Stern's fine for benching your stars is 2.5 times worse than calling someone a homophobic slur on national TV.

And then people are going to say college athletics are corrupt.

This.

I don't care if they weren't injured or not. Stern was butthurt because Pop probably hurt some ratings, but the tickets were already sold. The Heat and NBA already made their money and probably made more than they lost after that ridiculous fine.

Said it was conduct, "contrary to the best interests of the NBA." Isn't the best interest of the NBA, energetic, high quality playoff basketball showcasing their best players on the biggest stage? Not a regular season game in November.

This isn't the first time they have done this either, but since it's against the Heat, now it's a problem?

You now have to inform the other team the intentions you have with determining your roster?? LOL that is ludicrous.

I still can't believe this is an issue. What's next? Players that aren't injured are required to play all 48 minutes? Fining teams the NBA feels is tanking? Stern, don't let the door hit you in the *** on the way out. Idiot.

[23]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Stern: "The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way."
— Ken Berger (@KBergCBS) November 30, 2012

[ProfessaPackMan]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

From the article JPosse posted...

There's a double-standard to how this league operates under Stern, and it won't change until Adam Silver takes over and makes it a priority to do so

Calling this an understatement would be a disservice to the word.

And yet people don't understand why some are upset at Stern. Yeah ok....

[BleacherBum2310]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

I dunno if this point has been made, but didn't Doc and Spolestra do this last year. and the game was on TNT as well. (different situation, but still)

Anyway. It's absurd.

[23]

Re: San Antonio Spurs to Receive Sanctions for Resting Players

Hey man, he picks and chooses when he wants to do things

Things for years he could've addressed but he ignored

..but when he wants to roar, boom he's out in the open like Joey Crawford