The NBA is wrestling with its own eternal question.
It’s a soliloquy that is being recited in arenas around the league. To rest or not to rest. That is the question.
And the controversy.
The league has been wrestling with the issue of resting star players, especially in the final weeks of the regular season, for years. The matter of contention came to the forefront last week when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a memo to team owners. An all-star roster of players were rested in back-to-back Saturday night games that were televised nationally in prime time.
It was not a good look for the league. It prompted Silver to take action, and the issue will be addressed again when the Board of Governors meets next month.
The tenets of the debate were capsulized by Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer and Wizards coach Scott Brooks when the teams met this week. Each offered different sides of the debate. Budenholzer is a proponent of the practice and has rested players in the past. Brooks said rest is a good night’s sleep, and in his playing days no one wanted to miss games or practices and by labeled soft as Charmin. Here’s a look at the two takes.
Budenholzer: “When you are thinking about, probably most importantly, your players’ health and your players … both for that season and hopefully that season and career. I think for them it makes sense. I think organizationally it makes sense to be healthy and playing your best basketball going into the playoffs.
“I’ve been a part of it for a long time. On a lot of different levels it makes sense to me. At the same time, I’m very appreciative of the commissioner and all the other TV partners and how great they are to us. Hopefully, we can strike a balance.”
Brooks: “You are talking basketball. It’s 32 minutes a night. This is not hard work. This is fun. To me, rest is a good night’s sleep. … Hard work is a lot of things that a lot of people do other than athletes. I’m not knocking what we do and it’s hard to get here and we are all blessed and privileged. But the rest thing is blown out of proportion in my opinion. You are talking about a game that we love.
“We do it every day in the summer. These players play every day in the summer for two hours. Some of them go back at night and play another hour and a half working on their game. So the rest, I get it in certain cases. If you are banged up and your body needs to recuperate and get healthy, absolutely we have to do that. But if you are just resting as a badge of honor, I don’t know that is the right thing to do.”
The Warriors rested Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala for a nationally televised game against the Spurs on March 11. Coach Steve Kerr said he did so because his team was playing its eighth game in eight cities in 13 days. Kerr had been vocal in his complaint about the stretch of schedule.
A week later, the Cavaliers rested LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in a prime-time game against the Clippers. Irving was dealing with an ankle sprain, and Love recently had returned from back surgery. General manager David Griffin got a call from the league before the game that expressed its unhappiness.
Budenholzer said he learned the practice from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. The Spurs were heavily fined $250,000 in 2012 for sending Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green home from Miami on the last game of a road trip.
“I think the way he managed players and managed their health and extended careers and had great success in the playoffs,” said Budenholzer, who served under Popovich for 19 seasons before joining the Hawks. “He engaged us all. We were all part of the conversation. We were all part of the decision. From the top of the organization to the bottom of the organization. That’s had a big influence on me in a lot of areas, but obviously in this one, too.”
Brooks said he will rest players for practices or shootarounds if he sees they are fighting through injuries.
Both coaches said they understand the plight of the fans who pay money to see the game’s stars and the TV networks who pay billions of dollars to broadcast games.
“I don’t know, to me, if obligated is the right word,” Brooks said. “I think we are all obligated to earn our keep. We all sign the contract to play games and play as many minutes as the coach wants you to play. I think it’s important. I don’t know what has changed. When I played, you didn’t sit out games. You didn’t even sit out practices. There was a lot of trash talking if you sat out a practice. You didn’t want to be called those names, so you took pride and you can imagine some of the names — soft and Charmin. There are all kinds. I’ll keep it PG.”
Several veteran Hawks players said the philosophy is different from coach to coach. Kris Humphries said he noticed a change during the lockout season of 2011 when teams played on consecutive nights when games returned. Mike Dunleavy said the use of analytics has played a role in resting players — in some cases.
“It’s kind of ironic to me that everyone wants to subscribe to analytics with contested 2-point jump shots and more 3’s,” Dunleavy said. “But people are pushing away the analytics of medical science. Guys listen to some stuff, but when it comes to resting players they throw it out the door.”
Budenholzer has rested top players in the past as the Hawks prepared for the playoffs. He has sat Dwight Howard several times this season when the team played back-to-back games.
Dunleavy offered one caution when discussing the old-school-versus-new-school way of thinking when it comes to resting players.
“One thing I would say is you have to be careful if you are not resting guys on losing out on a competitive advantage,” Dunleavy said. “If everybody was playing 82 games back in the day, then it’s an even playing field when you get to the playoffs. But if some of these guys are a little bit more rested, you have to be careful of that. It is something to consider.”
About the Author
