What if Pop listed the players with various injuries; back spasms, flu, strained calf, etc and sent them back to SA for evaluations, is that OK? OF course. The Spurs have two players out now with injuries, what if over the course of games leading up to the Miami game “strains, sprains and spasms” lead to these players being unavailable, then what? What’s the number limit? Would the league rather teams make up fake injuries?

I remember a few years ago Pop was so disgusted with the way the starting five played just minutes into a game, he benched all of them and put in the reserves. I know that was before the more recent talks, but still a coaching decision.

It seems to me that the Spurs or any team that doesn’t play their stars (injuries not withstanding), is already taking their lumps. Look at the bottom of the box scores, what do you see? DNP-Coaches Decision. Where on the bench do you draw the line? Is this middle school ball where everyone has to play at least one quarter?

Another lawyer joke waiting to happen….Disgusting!

It seems that the closer he gets to leaving, the more disingenuous and underhanded his decisions. His legacy won’t be about how much he grew the league, it’ll be about how much his balls shrank. It takes guts to tell the truth, admit you were wrong, and find consensus on important issues. This pasty-faced troll does none of those things.

He is backtracking and try to spin his way out of it.

Politicians do this all the time. “I am not against a certain policy, I just think states should decide.” BS BS BS!

Same here. “It’s about the relationship with the owners and teams… wha???”

There is no spinning this. Little Napoleon went on a power trip. What a sad little man.

So, clearly, he was just throwing every reason he could think of out there because he didn’t want to reveal his real reason: He was protecting TNT, the corporate sponsors, and possibly Vegas.

As far as when the Spurs next game is (or any other NBA team) I haven’t a clue and don’t care…. AND didn’t mention it above. So when is it and I’ll know……

I do know what professional athlete’s put their bodies through. We’ve all seen the toll of over scheduling in the name of the all mighty dollars does. NBA, NFL (sunday and then thursday night or monday night followed by sunday road game….), MLB, adds to the increased risk of injury due to lack of recovery….. Really whomever at any league office scheduling teams (aged or not) without thought of what they are doing to RISK damaging multimillion dollar players – possibly tarnish the image/brand ought to be paying the $250k themselves. 6 travel games at 110% in 9 nights, again REALLY???

Think about the maximum success/growth/profit the NBA could achieve in a single year… whatever else that might look like, it would absolutely have every *team* achieving their maximum success for that year.

In this case, San Antonio will have a more successful season by resting their old guns. Go ahead and tell me that the NBA is worse off having a San Antonio team relevant and in the hunt come playoff time.

In other news, David Stern still wonders why Bud Selig doesn’t pass out stiff sanctions every time a MLB team hits a sac-fly.

In this sense and in thinking of the sake and health of THE PLAYERS, which in reality is the product that is the NBA, Stern is saying what strikes me as a slave mentality that these players will play regardless of what they physical condition is.

If that’s the case, players shouldn’t be allowed to be held out of games at all. It’s a very fine line, either the players have to play all the time, or it’s at the discretion of the franchise, or in this case the coach of that franchise to make the decision based on the health of his players.

In this case Stern has completely compromised the integrity of his brand by creating rules that say if you don’t play certain players in marquee television games, you can be fined. Show me where this rule exists other than in Sterns mind.

These players are humans just like the rest of us, and if their boss tells them they have the night off, that’s his call to make and nobody elses.

They were sent home to…rest… during the first month of the season… the FIRST month… 15 games in… and people are trying to equate this to resting players at the end of the season… trying to elevate it to a “brilliant strategic” move by Pop… really???

Let us all take some advice from Kurt… Let’s be honest… all this vitriol aimed at Stern is just hate for Stern…

The Spurs are a TEAM, run as a TEAM, winning as a TEAM, something that is clearly anathema to The Troll’s philosophy of emphasizing designated individuals.

I left the NBA close to 25 years ago as a patron/fan and won’t be back as long as Stern has anything to do with it…… for obvious reasons.

If I’m a Spurs fan (I’m not) I’m thrilled my coach is smart enough to recognize the postseason hinges on what teams are healthiest and clicking on all cylinders when the time comes.

Beating Charlotte and beating Miami are worth exactly the same when it comes to seeding. Rout the Charlottes, Portlands and Torontos of the world and spare your stars the extra energy and fatigue that could come against trying to beat Miami (a lot less certain of a win even with the stars)

There wouldn’t be hundreds of NBA blogs, millionaire NBA players, or Charles commentating on TNT..

In 1985 (when Stern came in):

The average salary was $370k.
Salary cap was $4.23 million.
Magic Johnson was the highest paid at $2.5 million per year
13 players made more than $1 million.

In 2012:

The average salary is around $5.2 million
Salary cap is $58 million
Kobe Bryant is highest paid at $27.85 million
387 players make more than $1 million.

Average NBA salary went up around 14x.
To compare, NFL average salary went from $162k to $1.1 million. Around a 7x increase.
MLB average went from $476k to $3.44 million, around a 7x increase.

So the NBA grew twice as fast as the other major leagues.

Who pays for that? Stern has to protect the brand. If teams just all of a sudden decide there’s too many games on the schedule and don’t show up, then you screw the other teams, you screw your media relationships, and you screw your fans. Then you start losing your paying customers. I don’t think anyone wants that.

Relationship between the teams and owners? That’s pure BS
It’s more of the relationship between the NBA and ESPN/ABC/TNT/commercials/endorsements

Good thing you’re leaving the league before you make things worse as they are

This is the same guy running the league that just a few years ago had exposed a referee gambling on games who outed virtually the rest of the NBA referees for controlling games.

The same guy who had no credability, yet got hired by the NBA.

Any time there’s that much money at stake, there’s a person like Stern controlling things in the background.

It is definitely time for him to retire.

I think Pop was trying to stick it the Stern because they had them play Miami on TNT on the last
night of a 5 game road trip……………..