Stern vs Popovich. Who ya got?

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Originally Posted by Cycl1

You can't bet W/L in NBA?

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F the moneyline

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Originally Posted by CyJack13

You're mad that they covered?

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I would be, I hate winning money. That's why when I went to Vegas a few weeks ago I made sure to leave most of my money there...

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Originally Posted by CyJack13

Do you also have a problem with teams resting their players before the playoffs?

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Yes, unless it is announced well in advance that the teams will be resting players during certain games.

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Originally Posted by CyJack13

Popovich's goal is to win a title, not one game in Miami in November, it's not his job to sell tickets for other teams.

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Popovich is part of a larger entertainment-based organization that derives it's revenue from fans. He doesn't work in some ideal basketball league divorced from reality. If fans don't buy tickets and watch games, he doesn't get paid, and the league ultimately fails. As such, he must perform his job within parameters that assure the league's profitability.

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Yes, unless it is announced well in advance that the teams will be resting players during certain games.

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How "well in advance" is advance enough? Surely some people bought tickets for the game a week or 2, possibly even longer, before the game.

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Originally Posted by Cycl1

You can't bet W/L in NBA?

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The Spurs were up with 4 mins left and eventually covered the original spread that was set with all their stars playing, it you bet the moneyline on a 6.5 point underdog, that's your own problem, there's a reason the odds on that were +200 or so.

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Originally Posted by Senolcyc

Popovich should turn it back on the NBA for its FUBAR scheduling. Spurs have played something like six road games in nine days and Heat have played five games total in two weeks. Who the hells comes up with a schedule like that?

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NBA scheduling is very difficult because many of the NBA venues are multi-purpose facilities and host a variety of other events (i.e. concerts, other sporting events, conventions, etc.), and some of those events are scheduled years in advance. These venues can't survive on NBA revenue alone, so they schedule other events.

The schedulers have to work around these other events. Often when a team takes an extended road trip, their home venue is being used for something else. I follow the Lakers, and this often happens for them, because Staples is in demand for many different events.

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Originally Posted by CyJack13

The Spurs were up with 4 mins left and eventually covered the original spread that was set with all their stars playing, it you bet the moneyline on a 6.5 point underdog, that's your own problem, there's a reason the odds on that were +200 or so.

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Yeah, it would have been real dumb to bet against miami, considering they could barely beat the spurs bench.:twitcy:

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Originally Posted by CyJack13

Yes, Stern has done soo so much to help out small market teams, and dissuade major stars from going to big markets. Like you said in another post the NBA is a star driven league and it's driven by having those teams play in major markets. San Antonio is not a major market. They aren't going to pull in marquee free agents, their best route to being a successful team is resigning their stars, which is what they have continued to do for the last decade.

It's not Pop's fault that every other team passed on Parker and Ginobili. The Spurs are the winningest NBA team over the last decade, Popovich rested his guys throughout the season last year as well. What's next putting a mandatory minutes per game requirement for star players?

Do you also have a problem with teams resting their players before the playoffs? Popovich's goal is to win a title, not one game in Miami in November, it's not his job to sell tickets for other teams.

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You're either wrong or I am reading sarcasm into something not sarcastic. He did block Paul to the Lakers doing both of the things you implied he did not.

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Originally Posted by 3TrueFans

How "well in advance" is advance enough? Surely some people bought tickets for the game a week or 2, possibly even longer, before the game.

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If players need rest, then the NBA should plan "rest games" into the schedule announced when the schedule is released, or they should develop some sort of "bye week" concept where teams just take time off to rest up.

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Originally Posted by jbhtexas

If players need rest, then the NBA should plan "rest games" into the schedule announced when the schedule is released, or they should develop some sort of "bye week" concept where teams just take time off to rest up.

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Those seem like nice ideas, doesn't really matter in this situation though. But how far in advance do you suppose is the right amount of time to tell people who will and won't be playing?

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Originally Posted by jbhtexas

Yes, unless it is announced well in advance that the teams will be resting players during certain games.



Popovich is part of a larger entertainment-based organization that derives it's revenue from fans. He doesn't work in some ideal basketball league divorced from reality. If fans don't buy tickets and watch games, he doesn't get paid, and the league ultimately fails. As such, he must perform his job within parameters that assure the league's profitability.

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What difference does it make when it's announced? Most people don't buy NBA tickets the day before the game, they buy them months in advance. Should Miami announce right now that they're going to hold Wade and LeBron out of the last week of the regular season? What good does that do for season ticket holders? Good luck selling those Heat tickets at face value to watch Rashard Lewis and Norris Cole get 30+ minutes.

By this logic, Stern has a lot of reasons to hate Popovich. The Spurs-Pistons finals, Spurs-Cavs finals, Spurs-Nets finals, think of how much better the ratings would have been if a big market team like the Lakers or the Rockets had been in the finals instead. Or if the Spurs had a more outgoing superstar, Pop should have made Tim Duncan act more like Dwight Howard, think of all the extra endorsements he could have had! If Popovich's main goal is to to help the NBA's bottom line, then he has been ******* things up for the NBA for a very long time.

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Originally Posted by Tre4ISU

You're either wrong or I am reading sarcasm into something not sarcastic. He did block Paul to the Lakers doing both of the things you implied he did not.

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What market did Paul end up in?

Ironic to me, as Pop was praised last year for resting players. And where was Stern, when I forked $400 to see LeBron play, and Cleveland chose to rest him before the playoffs.

I think what got the attention was, he sent them home, instead of just not making them play and that it was a marquee team match up. Had they been there on the bench, and just not played, Stern probably couldn't say a thing.

And what determines who is a star or not. Quite frankly, as someone who watches the NBA and goes to NBA games, I could give a rats behind about Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker.

Stern pulled the trigger too fast on this move instead of thinking it through.

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Originally Posted by twistedredbird

Ironic to me, as Pop was praised last year for resting players. And where was Stern, when I forked $400 to see LeBron play, and Cleveland chose to rest him before the playoffs.

I think what got the attention was, he sent them home, instead of just not making them play and that it was a marquee team match up. Had they been there on the bench, and just not played, Stern probably couldn't say a thing.

And what determines who is a star or not. Quite frankly, as someone who watches the NBA and goes to NBA games, I could give a rats behind about Duncan, Ginobli, and Parker.

Stern pulled the trigger too fast on this move instead of thinking it through.

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well put. Now Stern has to either follow through on his threat and show the league that he believes he has control over team lineups, or back down and look like a fool. It's not a great position.

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Originally Posted by 3TrueFans

Those seem like nice ideas, doesn't really matter in this situation though. But how far in advance do you suppose is the right amount of time to tell people who will and won't be playing?

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Announce the "rest games" when the schedule is released. This way the fans will know that the stars might not be playing that night, and they can decide the risk/reward benefit of buying a ticket on that night at whatever price is charged. Otherwise, apart from injury or family emergency, the best players (which are usually the stars) should be on the floor.