2012/2013 NBA thread: Wizards and Warriors

[Trainwreck2100]

Originally Posted by Darthphere

I don't like Stern at all but this obviously was directed at him, specifically for making that schedule.

I love what pop did and love the spurs but the fact that he flew the guys home was a direct middle finger to the league for setting up the Spurs to get massacred on national TV. He could have easily sat them in warmups but he flew them home. I just don't know how you could justify fining them on terms of "competitive balance" when the game was competitive.

[JaD]

I'm not trying to stick up for Stern and his schedule making shenanigans but I always assumed that every team would have at least one stretch of games in their season where they're playing what the Spurs were (4 games in 5 nights). I thought it was just coincidence that they caught Miami during their break and that San Antonio would have the same down the line, and vice versa?

[Trainwreck2100]

4 in 5 is common but, 4 in 5 when your opponents had 4 days off is a tad ludicrous.

[Hound55]

The argument could be made that they're protecting their own competitiveness by not burning out their guys.

It's easy to say "well what about Parker? He's only around 30", yeah but he's only around 30 whilst playing 82 games a year since he was 19... and repping France in off-seasons.

If Stern doesn't want to see this kind of s*** happen in nationally televised games, then maybe his scheduling needs to have a closer look, because I would say throwing an aging team which has had a 4 in 5 days at a 4 day rested Championship team is lacking in competitive balance in and of itself.

[Doc Samson]

Bottomline to me is, had this not been a marquee game on one of the NBA's flagship stations, Stern wouldn't have said anything. Even if it were NBA TV.

But it was TNT, on Thursday, in November. From a business standpoint I understand his irritation, I know TNT likely lost some viewers. He can't try to come down hard in this one instance though, he should've been done that if he was worried about these types of decisions. It's highly hypocritical to address it now.

[Trainwreck2100]

NBA fines spurs 250000

[Mister J]

[runawayboulder]

What a giant crock of s**t. David Stern can't leave fast enough.

[Poetic Chaos]

I'm for the fine. I'd be pissed if I were a Spurs fan at the Miami game. It's their only regular season visit of the year. If you're too old to play your schedule, retire your old ass.

[SpideyVille]

Now that's not fair.I doubt Duncan and Ginoboi asked for a game off. Heck, last season when Pop benched his guys because they were "old", Parker said he wanted to play and was still young.

But I think it's more unfair when you see that a team like the Spurs have been on the road and have played a bunch of games in a short time, whereas the Heat have been home for a while and have had a few days to rest.

[Docker2.0]

Originally Posted by Poetic Chaos

I'm for the fine. I'd be pissed if I were a Spurs fan at the Miami game. It's their only regular season visit of the year. If you're too old to play your schedule, retire your old ass.

Say that come April when the Heat sit down Wade and Bosh for rest. It's total bs and shouldn't be allowed.

[SpideyVille]

Originally Posted by Docker2.0

Say that come April when the Heat sit down Wade and Bosh for rest. It's total bs and shouldn't be allowed.

They won't sit Wade for rest, they'll sit him for some kind of injury that he'll most likey come up with in the last two weeks of the season.

[The Apocalypse]

I can't believe a team got fined for managing their team. Not only were they on a long road trip but they end it playing the defending champs and then have to play a rival on Saturday night. The Heat would have went hard had the Spurs played a whole team. It was wise of Pop's to sit his stars. Such an abuse of power.

[Hound55]

In the words of my people: "Blow it out your arse, Stern!"

[Immortalfire]

Spurs owner Peter Holt ought to arrange a meeting with Stern in an alley.

[Poetic Chaos]

The Spurs don't need to be managing anything less than 20 games into the season. There's nothing to lock up. This is completely different than when a team has already secured playoff seeding.

[Hound55]

It's not about trying to lock it up... They were just asked to play a 4 in 5 and then come out against an up-tempo transition based team on the back of a 4 day break.

Honestly, they probably had a better chance playing well rested guys than if all 4 of those stars played big minutes.

Take one off here as rest, and have a healthier season. Honestly, the 250,000 may even have been worth it for the Spurs... but it's still a big crock of s*** that they never should have had to swallow.

You want a competitive balance? Maybe think twice about scheduling and choosing to televise an aging team on the back of a 4 and 5, playing against an athletic up-tempo transition based team on the back of a four day break...

Pop did it because they thought it would be the best decision to make in order for the Spurs to be a competitive team this season.

Stern's just pissy because he's spent his whole career stripping down basketball and turning it into a superstar league (part of why the US team has had such a problem at an international level in recent years despite having a far talented player base - they spend their time playing an individulaised version of the sport) and Pop brought a team without its stars to the table... he was then able to have them play competitively in that game.

[Trainwreck2100]

Originally Posted by Immortalfire

Spurs owner Peter Holt ought to arrange a meeting with Stern in an alley.

Holt should ask Stern why he's fining the team for what was Pop's actions. The Lakers didn't get fined when Kobe called the ref the "f" word Kobe did.

[SpideyVille]

Originally Posted by Hound55

It's not about trying to lock it up... They were just asked to play a 4 in 5 and then come out against an up-tempo transition based team on the back of a 4 day break.

Honestly, they probably had a better chance playing well rested guys than if all 4 of those stars played big minutes.

Take one off here as rest, and have a healthier season. Honestly, the 250,000 may even have been worth it for the Spurs... but it's still a big crock of s*** that they never should have had to swallow.

You want a competitive balance? Maybe think twice about scheduling and choosing to televise an aging team on the back of a 4 and 5, playing against an athletic up-tempo transition based team on the back of a four day break...

Pop did it because they thought it would be the best decision to make in order for the Spurs to be a competitive team this season.

Stern's just pissy because he's spent his whole career stripping down basketball and turning it into a superstar league (part of why the US team has had such a problem at an international level in recent years despite having a far talented player base - they spend their time playing an individulaised version of the sport) and Pop brought a team without its stars to the table... he was then able to have them play competitively in that game.

Well said.

I've heard this repeated a few times today, but Pop was more concerned with the team, while Stern was more concerned with the business.

[Docker2.0]

Hound is dropping knowledge!

[Doc Samson]

I understand both sides of the coin. The Spurs just so happened to have The Heat on the back end of their stretch, but it's not like they're the only ones who have that schedule, everybody gets their turn. Logically, Pop could've sat them down any of the other games during that stretch.

But I still feel Stern should've fined him the first time he did it, instead of waiting until a big televised marquee game. He should have anticipated something like this happening at some point. If you let them get away with it before, you can't go back now and expect to have any credibility.

[Just_Human]

[runawayboulder]

Uh, wtf?

[Just_Human]

lowl

[JaD]

Frank Castle & Nick Fury?