Only if you think 1 game at a time. The Spurs are doing quite well and their top 5 are playing 32.5, 29.7, 26.7, 25.7, and 25.7. Over the course of the season, players who play less early, are also fresher late.
If you think the bullshit the Pistons did was defense, you should really get another hobby. Look at your clip, it wasn't even basketball.
It's a photo negative to your claim that they didn't play defense back in the day...and I'll enjoy my hobby along with my other ones thank you...it's the basketball that was played in the 80s....Bird punched Laimbeer....but I guess Bird didn't play basketball? You must hate hockey..refs sure let them play back then...notice the lack of free throws in the clips?
The Pistons played great defense...and the games got heated on both sides of the court. Notice Laimbeers clean blocks of McHale that were called fouls. They frustrated the best teams in the league.
Yeah you have some good takeaways. The intensity of each possession is much higher and more physically demanding. Now that we're resting player there are fresh guys on the court to hustle. The advancements in training and recover have made it more grueling for those players who are playing big minutes. There used to be a bunch of tired starters playing with less effort. I think they should eliminate back to backs. I avoid paying money for a ticket when either team is on a back to back; why would I pay to watch a tired team? If more fans do that the league will change. But then it makes you wonder if starters will end up playing more minutes if they are rested? Maybe the league needs to combine this with reducing time outs during games and reducing time on free throws. Then players will have to sit. They could extend half time and end of quarters by a few minutes so total ad slots are the same but just reduce the stoppages and TV timeouts.
Part of what makes Pop so damn good. He didn't just accept it; he helped invent it. I rember Jerry Sloan doing innovative rest with John Stockton and the guy played at an elite level into his 40's. If I were a GM I might have a team of a few doctors and specialized training experts who determine players minutes, then give that to the coach. Why does a coach have to be in charge of every decision? Just hand it off to a more qualified expert then the coach works within those parameters. It's funny listening to guys like Jeff Van Gundy who think players are soft and more rest is bad. Good reason no team is offering him a head coaching position.
I wasn't talking about the "more rest" aspect of his post; just the "less defense" part. I've advocated before for giving guys 5-12 games of over the course of the season as a matter of policy. Especially when we talk about "not having enough minutes" for certain players. We'd easily increase several players' minutes per game if everyone were occasionally given a few games off.
Yeah; I think thats been a big benefit to the Blazers this year as only Dame and CJ are averaging over 30 mins. The travel is the other huge problem. These guys have such weird body clocks and sporatic sleeping times. East coast teams starting games at 10:30 and getting to the next city at 4 am in the morning. That's just not conductive to being a rested high performing athlete. A huge benefit of eliminating back to backs is teams could do all their traveling on off days. Teams would never arrive in the city real late at night from a game the day before. Players could get used to going to sleep so many hours after a game. I couldn't imagine working an intense work day then having to fly that same night and repeat dozens of times a year. I know they have a better plane then I get but still that travel is going to really wear on you.
These guys are in their mid 70s....no NBA player has put more miles on a career than any of them and NBA stars are athletes
A couple of years ago, the Blazers started to "stay on Oregon time" which helped the player's body clocks. It's a bit weird for the players because they'd have practices starting at 10pm NY time when they were in NY. I assume they still do this, but I don't really know.
