[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

We all know Popovich likes to keep his cards close to his chest.  The Warriors are a team he might meet in the playoffs and because of that, as well as the fact that his team is older than most, helped him come to the decision that he will bench Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili for tonights game, as well as the injured Tony Parker.

If you recall, last season he was fined a ridiculous $250,000 for benching his stars and Danny Green last season against the Heat in a nationally televised game.

Clearly undeterred, he is benching them again on Thursday night’s nationally televised game on TNT against GSW.

I agree that Popovich should have complete control of who he wants to play in any given game because at the end of the day, it is his team and he knows them more than anybody else but as a fan, how would you feel if you bought a ticket to the game and this news came up?

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

 As a fan, I’d be upset. I remember going to see the Thunder @ Knicks at the Garden last year and found out Melo was out. But I don’t think the Spurs are in a similar situation. It’s a back-to-back and Pop likes to rest his stars in these stretches. Unfortunately for the fans, it’s on a televised game.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

If I were attending the game and paid 200-800 for a ticket, I’d be very upset but as a spectator, I can see why he would do it.  It makes sense to bench your stars, especially when they’re older than most.

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

 Timmy is 37, Manu is 36 and Tony is injured. Why stress your aging/hurt stars in a back-to-back road trip? We don’t need them in December. We need them in April+.

[3 No Biases 3Participant]

 I understand where all you guys are coming from, saying its his team.  In fact it is probably best for his team to rest some older players… 

But he got fined that large amount because thats around what he cost the NBA that one night.  For example, tonight there are only 2 games and they are nationally televised.  If one game lacks star players the ratings drop tremendously and the NBA loses that potential money for the season.  

Now whether the NBA needs that money is a different argument but there is no doubt he deserves to be fined if he simply decides to rest players on a big TV night for the NBA.  If it happened on a Monday when there are 20 games he would not have been fined at all..

[3 No Biases 3Participant]

 I understand where all you guys are coming from, saying its his team.  In fact it is probably best for his team to rest some older players… 

But he got fined that large amount because thats around what he cost the NBA that one night.  For example, tonight there are only 2 games and they are nationally televised.  If one game lacks star players the ratings drop tremendously and the NBA loses that potential money for the season.  

Now whether the NBA needs that money is a different argument but there is no doubt he deserves to be fined if he simply decides to rest players on a big TV night for the NBA.  If it happened on a Monday when there are 20 games he would not have been fined at all..

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

 Timmy is 37, Manu is 36 and Tony is injured. Why stress your aging/hurt stars in a back-to-back road trip? We don’t need them in December. We need them in April+.

[Tongue-Out-Like-23Participant]

If I were attending the game and paid 200-800 for a ticket, I’d be very upset but as a spectator, I can see why he would do it.  It makes sense to bench your stars, especially when they’re older than most.

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

 As a fan, I’d be upset. I remember going to see the Thunder @ Knicks at the Garden last year and found out Melo was out. But I don’t think the Spurs are in a similar situation. It’s a back-to-back and Pop likes to rest his stars in these stretches. Unfortunately for the fans, it’s on a televised game.

[doubledribblerParticipant]

Would you rather he sit them out when he needs to so they can win more games (and it also helps to prolong the careers and productivity of these guys as they age) or wear them down? As a fan my goals for a team are as follows: Win Championship > Make Playoffs > Draft Awesome Player > Win lots of games > Everything Else.

I can understand being upset after spending a lot of money on a game, but to me it comes down to wanting your team to compete for championships or to entertain you. Ideally you want both, but these guys are old. Duncan is a 7 footer and he is still very effective. The rest he gets during the year helps him a lot during playoff time. Spurs are one of the few teams that are literally in the running for a championship every year. You have to trust what the coach and ownership is doing to keep it going like they have.

Maybe I am coming from a different place though. I see what Thibs puts Deng and Noah through. Those guys are tough and fight through injuries, but he wears them down. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both guys just completely break down in the next 2-3 years.

[doubledribblerParticipant]

Would you rather he sit them out when he needs to so they can win more games (and it also helps to prolong the careers and productivity of these guys as they age) or wear them down? As a fan my goals for a team are as follows: Win Championship > Make Playoffs > Draft Awesome Player > Win lots of games > Everything Else.

I can understand being upset after spending a lot of money on a game, but to me it comes down to wanting your team to compete for championships or to entertain you. Ideally you want both, but these guys are old. Duncan is a 7 footer and he is still very effective. The rest he gets during the year helps him a lot during playoff time. Spurs are one of the few teams that are literally in the running for a championship every year. You have to trust what the coach and ownership is doing to keep it going like they have.

Maybe I am coming from a different place though. I see what Thibs puts Deng and Noah through. Those guys are tough and fight through injuries, but he wears them down. I wouldn’t be surprised to see both guys just completely break down in the next 2-3 years.

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

 this shouldnt come as a suprise pops has been doing this for a few years now was ridculious last year that he got fined that amount its his team and if he wants too rest players theres nothing saying he cant a simple dnpcd 

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

 this shouldnt come as a suprise pops has been doing this for a few years now was ridculious last year that he got fined that amount its his team and if he wants too rest players theres nothing saying he cant a simple dnpcd 

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

 this shouldnt come as a suprise pops has been doing this for a few years now was ridculious last year that he got fined that amount its his team and if he wants too rest players theres nothing saying he cant a simple dnpcd 

[mj23mj23besteverParticipant]

 this shouldnt come as a suprise pops has been doing this for a few years now was ridculious last year that he got fined that amount its his team and if he wants too rest players theres nothing saying he cant a simple dnpcd 

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 It isn’t just back to back on the road, they played on Monday night (Clippers) on the road as well. So not only is his team tired from having played the night before, they have also been traveling since Saturday. This is an important strategy for an older team like the Spurs. He is mainly doing this to cut down on chance of injury. 

But that said, this is an important game for the fans. The Spurs don’t play that often on national TV (which is partly the league’s fault) and this is a great matchup of styles. So the fans are cheated out of a good game. Though the Spurs starters would likely be so tired that it wouldn’t be that great a game if they did play tonight. 

But I also see where the league is coming from. The league needs to keep those 82 regular season games meaningful. That is hard because they are in many ways just practice for the playoffs. Seeding is important, but all the decent teams make the playoffs and certainly all the contenders make it. Homecourt helps in the NBA, but really playing 82 games to basically just decide homecourt in the second round of the playoffs is a bit much. Resting players is probably going to become more and more of an important strategy. The Spurs tend to get copied in a lot of stuff they do. So the league does not want this to be common. 

 

[TallmanNYCParticipant]

 It isn’t just back to back on the road, they played on Monday night (Clippers) on the road as well. So not only is his team tired from having played the night before, they have also been traveling since Saturday. This is an important strategy for an older team like the Spurs. He is mainly doing this to cut down on chance of injury. 

But that said, this is an important game for the fans. The Spurs don’t play that often on national TV (which is partly the league’s fault) and this is a great matchup of styles. So the fans are cheated out of a good game. Though the Spurs starters would likely be so tired that it wouldn’t be that great a game if they did play tonight. 

But I also see where the league is coming from. The league needs to keep those 82 regular season games meaningful. That is hard because they are in many ways just practice for the playoffs. Seeding is important, but all the decent teams make the playoffs and certainly all the contenders make it. Homecourt helps in the NBA, but really playing 82 games to basically just decide homecourt in the second round of the playoffs is a bit much. Resting players is probably going to become more and more of an important strategy. The Spurs tend to get copied in a lot of stuff they do. So the league does not want this to be common. 

 

[Afactor4Participant]

Pop won’t be fined this time around. Apparently, he let the league know in a timely manner that the trio would not take part in the game.

[Afactor4Participant]

Pop won’t be fined this time around. Apparently, he let the league know in a timely manner that the trio would not take part in the game.

[XYRYXParticipant]

 Pop is great. If you manage to beat the Warriors with a shorthanded group by two you did something right. 

When he was fined they almost beat the Heat and imagine he gets fined if they are still winning the game like last night…

Pop is really one of my all time favorite coaches!

[XYRYXParticipant]

 Pop is great. If you manage to beat the Warriors with a shorthanded group by two you did something right. 

When he was fined they almost beat the Heat and imagine he gets fined if they are still winning the game like last night…

Pop is really one of my all time favorite coaches!

[HitsterParticipant]

I can understand fans getting a bit annoyed if they have paid big money for a ticket and don’t see a certain star player. But you have paid to see the Heat/Spurs and not LBJ/Tim Duncan etc.

A coach has a roster and is entitled to use it as he sees fit and we know that loads of teams will sit players to rest them for the play offs near the end of regular season and lottery teams will often give their younger players more time when they are out of contention or even try to improve their lottery odds.

I don’t see how anyone can dictate who should or should not play, to take it to a slightly cynical point lets say a team sits it star rookie and plays an inferior veteran in his place, people may moan about it but the coach could say the veteran is on more money so he played him.

Coach Poppovich won with a virtual scrub team last night another great performance to add to his legacy.

[HitsterParticipant]

I can understand fans getting a bit annoyed if they have paid big money for a ticket and don’t see a certain star player. But you have paid to see the Heat/Spurs and not LBJ/Tim Duncan etc.

A coach has a roster and is entitled to use it as he sees fit and we know that loads of teams will sit players to rest them for the play offs near the end of regular season and lottery teams will often give their younger players more time when they are out of contention or even try to improve their lottery odds.

I don’t see how anyone can dictate who should or should not play, to take it to a slightly cynical point lets say a team sits it star rookie and plays an inferior veteran in his place, people may moan about it but the coach could say the veteran is on more money so he played him.

Coach Poppovich won with a virtual scrub team last night another great performance to add to his legacy.

[GronounoursParticipant]

 The problem is that there are too many games. 82 ot them is just ridiculous. When you get to the point where you have to coerce coaches into fielding their best players (which shows that the coach himself doesn’t care too much about winning a particular game), you know that you sport has become a circus.

[GronounoursParticipant]

 The problem is that there are too many games. 82 ot them is just ridiculous. When you get to the point where you have to coerce coaches into fielding their best players (which shows that the coach himself doesn’t care too much about winning a particular game), you know that you sport has become a circus.

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