Official NBA 2012/13 Thread
#41
11-30-2012, 07:09 PM
Artist excuse me but what the Miami Heat yesterday was not good, almost lost in the second Spurs squad. The Spurs were playing the fourth game in five nights and still earn almost, if not for the egoism of Gary Neal, and De Colo errors on closing. Commissioner David Stern would be apologizing to pop.
My team always San Antonio Spurs
My team always San Antonio Spurs
But then again they went on half pace and still managed to win..so im happy.
And to be honest the Spurs deserved to loose for fielding their 2nd team.
Serves them right!
#43
11-30-2012, 07:56 PM
I think Stern is overstepping his control, and personally I dislike the guy. His point is, tickets are sold on a tier basis and top teams like lakers, spurs, heat, celtics, etc.; are considered gold teams and tickets are sold at much higher rates. I got 4th row tickets for the Nets at only 400/each, for the Heat game those same seats are 1200/each. So if I paid that much and the big three did not play so they could rest, I would be furious. We can all understand if that happened to us, it would not be fair.
With that said, not sure that a fine on the spurs should be done. Stern needs to chill the hell out.
With that said, not sure that a fine on the spurs should be done. Stern needs to chill the hell out.
On the other hand I think gregg pop issued a sign of protest sending their players back.
Finally, I think in a few years you will pay a little more to see the Nets as long as they remain on top.
#44
11-30-2012, 10:06 PM
What do you think of Gregg Popovich’s decision to rest four key players — including Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili — Thursday night in Miami?
Steve Aschburner: I didn’t like Gregg Popovich‘s moves in the past and I had a sense in April that we hadn’t seen the last of them. The league should have rebuked him then before it became a full-blown Popgate, but that doesn’t mean it can’t start now.
Was this right according to Popovich’s priorities? OK, on a micro level. But on every macro level, this was wrong.
Wrong in terms of the integrity of the game, which is the foundation of the Spurs’ championship ambitions. Wrong for ticket buyers in Miami or any other city in which the stunt gets pulled.
Wrong pragmatically – what if, like the Celtics Wednesday, the leftover Spurs lost one player to ejection and a couple to injury during the game. Wrong for TNT, which pays huge rights fees to broadcast the NBA’s showcase night. Wrong for the NBA product overall, too, in terms of something farcical in place of a potentially great matchup. If Pop didn’t like the schedule, then be Mr. Honest (he’s getting praised for not lying about phony injuries) and criticize that. But a TNT game does matter more because it attracts more casual NBA fans.
Obviously, this was a flop job by the Spurs. And yes, it would have been better to have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green on the bench or playing just five minutes, rather than skipping the trip altogether. Maybe one of them would have signed an autograph for somebody. I don’t buy the slippery slope hand-wringing about NBA HQ dictating future playing time.
Deal with this for what it was – a fine now, suspensions for future offenses – and take it out of San Antonio’s network TV cut. Or frame the case as a salary-cap violation (the Spurs doling out too many paid holidays).
Fran Blinebury: It’s not about taking away Pop’s control over his own team. The issue is the integrity of the game and, as much as nobody wants to hear it, the business of the league. Many teams, the Heat included, have tiered pricing for tickets. That means they charge more for games against elite teams, of which the Spurs are one. Injuries cannot be avoided, but a blanket holdout of All-Star players is simply a slap in the face of customers.
As for the complaint about grueling schedules — back-to-backs, four games in five nights, etc. — please, spare me. When the 1971-72 Lakers set the all-time record of 33 straight wins, they played several sets of three games in three nights in three cities. And they flew commercial, not on cushy charter flights. Is the 82-game schedule too long, too often crazy? Yes. Of course, the solution is to play a shorter schedule, which would produce better basketball, but fewer home games and less revenue for owners. That’s doable if the players and coaches all take a commensurate salary cut. Let me know when pigs fly and that happens.
I do believe it is wrong for David Stern to come down with a fine or punishment of Pop and/or the Spurs in this instance, because the league has winked and chuckled and allowed this practice to go on previously. It shouldn’t be an overreaction to a plum TNT game. This should be the red line, the declaration that the practice stops now and will be clearly punished in the future.
Jeff Caplan: David Stern has legit concerns: Sponsors belly up to the bar with multi-million-dollar television contracts and the golden goose lines the pockets of players — and coaches — with set-for-life salaries. Then there’s the paying customer who couldn’t know he’d paid regular-season prices for a game Spurs coach Gregg Popovich treated like the preseason, regardless of how hard his subs played.
Fine, but show me the rule that states a coach must play, or dress, or even send all his players to the arena. Maybe there should be one. It would have been nice for Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginoboli, and old man (hardly) Danny Green to at least be in the building. But I can’t find the rule that says they had to be. And look, the schedule stinks — last of a 10-day, six-game road trip, fourth game in five nights and the Spurs play again Saturday against division rival Memphis. The Heat were off since Saturday. So what kind of competitive game did the league think it would get anyway? Probably not one half as competitive as the one they got.
And what if the Spurs had played the champs on national TV on Wednesday and Pop sent the gang home for the road finale at Orlando? Just a meaningless November game? Yep, we certainly wouldn’t be having this debate. Pop did what he believes is best for his team in the long run.
With apologies to Stern and, I suppose, the fans, until there’s a rule that states otherwise, Pop can manage his team as he sees fit.
Scott Howard-Cooper: Unfortunate for fans in Miami who paid big bucks to see the real Spurs. Unfotunate for TNT viewers who wanted the real matchup. But Gregg Popovich did his job. While the moral debate is a good one, his responsibility is to win championships. If he feels his actions Thursday put San Antonio in a better position for that end result, he should know. Popovich played within the rules. He had made similar lineup decisions in the past without being told he was crossing a line of integrity. He owes fans in every city something 82 times every regular season. But he owes Spurs fans the best chance to win a title. Anything less would be a drag on the integrity of the game.
John Schuhmann: I blame the schedule maker. Spurs and Heat on TNT sounds awesome at first. But when one team is playing its fourth road game in five nights and the other is playing just its first game in those same five nights, you’ve got a real potential stinker on your hands. Teams just aren’t as good when they’re not rested, and I imagine that the Heat would have won by a lot more if the Spurs played their tired stars.
I know it’s impossible to give each team a day of rest before every national TV game, but the discrepancy between San Antonio’s rest and Miami’s rest was too much if you really wanted to showcase those two teams on that particular night. The networks pay a lot of money for those showcase games, and it’s up to the league (via the schedule it creates) to make sure they’re getting the best of both teams.
So I guess I’m taking Popovich’s side here.
Sekou Smith: I’m siding with Pop this time and every other time in the future when he makes a decision on what to do with his team. And this has more to do with folks in the stands and board rooms always trying to do the coach’s job for him, be it in pee-wee football, college hoops, European football or the NBA.
Pop is the man in charge of his team, not me, you, Heat fans or anyone at the league office. Do I feel for the kid who’s never been to a game and showed up looking for Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and (to a lesser extent) Green? Sure. But this is as good a time as any to teach him that you don’t always get what you pay for.
Furthermore, to dismiss the Spurs’ reserves the way everyone did before the game was played is a disservice to the professionalism and competitive nature of the guys who did suit up. All of this moral outrage over him resting guys and sending them home is ridiculous and completely overblown.
Blogtable: What About Pop? « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
Spurs Fined $250,000 For Resting Players
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – There were very real consequences for the actions of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich resting four players Thursday night in Miami, 250,000 of them to be exact.
The NBA fined the Spurs $250,000 this evening for sending Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green home before Thursday night’s 105-100 road loss to the Miami Heat.
Per the statement released by the league, “the Spurs’ actions were in violation of a league policy, reviewed with the NBA Board of Governors in April 2010, against resting players in a manner contrary to the best interests of the NBA.”
NBA Commissioner David Stern made clear his displeasure with the actions of Popovich Thursday night and then followed that up with the “substantial sanctions” he promised:
“The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case. The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team’s only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans.”
If you thought the hours after the game generated a heated debate about whether or not Popovich did right by his team, the fans and the game, you better believe the hefty fine handed down will be debated just as vigorously.
So, was penalty right on the money (sorry) or too harsh?
Spurs Fined $250,000 For Resting Players « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
Steve Aschburner: I didn’t like Gregg Popovich‘s moves in the past and I had a sense in April that we hadn’t seen the last of them. The league should have rebuked him then before it became a full-blown Popgate, but that doesn’t mean it can’t start now.
Was this right according to Popovich’s priorities? OK, on a micro level. But on every macro level, this was wrong.
Wrong in terms of the integrity of the game, which is the foundation of the Spurs’ championship ambitions. Wrong for ticket buyers in Miami or any other city in which the stunt gets pulled.
Wrong pragmatically – what if, like the Celtics Wednesday, the leftover Spurs lost one player to ejection and a couple to injury during the game. Wrong for TNT, which pays huge rights fees to broadcast the NBA’s showcase night. Wrong for the NBA product overall, too, in terms of something farcical in place of a potentially great matchup. If Pop didn’t like the schedule, then be Mr. Honest (he’s getting praised for not lying about phony injuries) and criticize that. But a TNT game does matter more because it attracts more casual NBA fans.
Obviously, this was a flop job by the Spurs. And yes, it would have been better to have Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green on the bench or playing just five minutes, rather than skipping the trip altogether. Maybe one of them would have signed an autograph for somebody. I don’t buy the slippery slope hand-wringing about NBA HQ dictating future playing time.
Deal with this for what it was – a fine now, suspensions for future offenses – and take it out of San Antonio’s network TV cut. Or frame the case as a salary-cap violation (the Spurs doling out too many paid holidays).
Fran Blinebury: It’s not about taking away Pop’s control over his own team. The issue is the integrity of the game and, as much as nobody wants to hear it, the business of the league. Many teams, the Heat included, have tiered pricing for tickets. That means they charge more for games against elite teams, of which the Spurs are one. Injuries cannot be avoided, but a blanket holdout of All-Star players is simply a slap in the face of customers.
As for the complaint about grueling schedules — back-to-backs, four games in five nights, etc. — please, spare me. When the 1971-72 Lakers set the all-time record of 33 straight wins, they played several sets of three games in three nights in three cities. And they flew commercial, not on cushy charter flights. Is the 82-game schedule too long, too often crazy? Yes. Of course, the solution is to play a shorter schedule, which would produce better basketball, but fewer home games and less revenue for owners. That’s doable if the players and coaches all take a commensurate salary cut. Let me know when pigs fly and that happens.
I do believe it is wrong for David Stern to come down with a fine or punishment of Pop and/or the Spurs in this instance, because the league has winked and chuckled and allowed this practice to go on previously. It shouldn’t be an overreaction to a plum TNT game. This should be the red line, the declaration that the practice stops now and will be clearly punished in the future.
Jeff Caplan: David Stern has legit concerns: Sponsors belly up to the bar with multi-million-dollar television contracts and the golden goose lines the pockets of players — and coaches — with set-for-life salaries. Then there’s the paying customer who couldn’t know he’d paid regular-season prices for a game Spurs coach Gregg Popovich treated like the preseason, regardless of how hard his subs played.
Fine, but show me the rule that states a coach must play, or dress, or even send all his players to the arena. Maybe there should be one. It would have been nice for Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginoboli, and old man (hardly) Danny Green to at least be in the building. But I can’t find the rule that says they had to be. And look, the schedule stinks — last of a 10-day, six-game road trip, fourth game in five nights and the Spurs play again Saturday against division rival Memphis. The Heat were off since Saturday. So what kind of competitive game did the league think it would get anyway? Probably not one half as competitive as the one they got.
And what if the Spurs had played the champs on national TV on Wednesday and Pop sent the gang home for the road finale at Orlando? Just a meaningless November game? Yep, we certainly wouldn’t be having this debate. Pop did what he believes is best for his team in the long run.
With apologies to Stern and, I suppose, the fans, until there’s a rule that states otherwise, Pop can manage his team as he sees fit.
Scott Howard-Cooper: Unfortunate for fans in Miami who paid big bucks to see the real Spurs. Unfotunate for TNT viewers who wanted the real matchup. But Gregg Popovich did his job. While the moral debate is a good one, his responsibility is to win championships. If he feels his actions Thursday put San Antonio in a better position for that end result, he should know. Popovich played within the rules. He had made similar lineup decisions in the past without being told he was crossing a line of integrity. He owes fans in every city something 82 times every regular season. But he owes Spurs fans the best chance to win a title. Anything less would be a drag on the integrity of the game.
John Schuhmann: I blame the schedule maker. Spurs and Heat on TNT sounds awesome at first. But when one team is playing its fourth road game in five nights and the other is playing just its first game in those same five nights, you’ve got a real potential stinker on your hands. Teams just aren’t as good when they’re not rested, and I imagine that the Heat would have won by a lot more if the Spurs played their tired stars.
I know it’s impossible to give each team a day of rest before every national TV game, but the discrepancy between San Antonio’s rest and Miami’s rest was too much if you really wanted to showcase those two teams on that particular night. The networks pay a lot of money for those showcase games, and it’s up to the league (via the schedule it creates) to make sure they’re getting the best of both teams.
So I guess I’m taking Popovich’s side here.
Sekou Smith: I’m siding with Pop this time and every other time in the future when he makes a decision on what to do with his team. And this has more to do with folks in the stands and board rooms always trying to do the coach’s job for him, be it in pee-wee football, college hoops, European football or the NBA.
Pop is the man in charge of his team, not me, you, Heat fans or anyone at the league office. Do I feel for the kid who’s never been to a game and showed up looking for Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and (to a lesser extent) Green? Sure. But this is as good a time as any to teach him that you don’t always get what you pay for.
Furthermore, to dismiss the Spurs’ reserves the way everyone did before the game was played is a disservice to the professionalism and competitive nature of the guys who did suit up. All of this moral outrage over him resting guys and sending them home is ridiculous and completely overblown.
Blogtable: What About Pop? « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
Spurs Fined $250,000 For Resting Players
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – There were very real consequences for the actions of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich resting four players Thursday night in Miami, 250,000 of them to be exact.
The NBA fined the Spurs $250,000 this evening for sending Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green home before Thursday night’s 105-100 road loss to the Miami Heat.
Per the statement released by the league, “the Spurs’ actions were in violation of a league policy, reviewed with the NBA Board of Governors in April 2010, against resting players in a manner contrary to the best interests of the NBA.”
NBA Commissioner David Stern made clear his displeasure with the actions of Popovich Thursday night and then followed that up with the “substantial sanctions” he promised:
“The result here is dictated by the totality of the facts in this case. The Spurs decided to make four of their top players unavailable for an early-season game that was the team’s only regular-season visit to Miami. The team also did this without informing the Heat, the media, or the league office in a timely way. Under these circumstances, I have concluded that the Spurs did a disservice to the league and our fans.”
If you thought the hours after the game generated a heated debate about whether or not Popovich did right by his team, the fans and the game, you better believe the hefty fine handed down will be debated just as vigorously.
So, was penalty right on the money (sorry) or too harsh?
Spurs Fined $250,000 For Resting Players « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
#45
12-01-2012, 12:18 AM
Other than the fine And a meaningless regular season game Pop had nothing to lose. By resting his starters he motivated his B squad to rise to the occasion and prove themselves worthy of more playing time. It caused the Heat to not show up too. If he wins the game he just set himself up to be a hero and an a genius if he loses ...well no one expected him to win.
#46
12-01-2012, 02:43 AM
Being a Lakers fan sure is frustrating. Which team is going to show up from night to night? 
Tonite they were magnificent, previous night against Pacers they were their absolute worst, game before that was great against Mavs. This is getting old.
They are showing how great they can be, please get more consistent.
Tonite they were magnificent, previous night against Pacers they were their absolute worst, game before that was great against Mavs. This is getting old.
They are showing how great they can be, please get more consistent.
#48
12-04-2012, 10:41 PM
The Heat was just a slip, more worrying is what is happening with the Lakers, if they continue in this way they will get into the danger zone, with one of the best rosters in the NBA. With Kobe only, and not enough to win games.
#50
12-05-2012, 05:43 PM
Hornets Set For Name Change
The name on the front of the jerseys will reportedly remain the same. The NBA franchise in New Orleans is not going anywhere.
But the same can’t be said for the nickname that the franchise brought to town from Charlotte. The Hornets could soon become the Pelicans … that’s right, the state bird (technically it’s the brown pelican) is set for global stardom as the new nickname of the franchise with new ownership in charge.
The Hornets’ new owner, Tom Benson, who also owns the New Orleans Saints, owns the rights to the Pelicans nickname, per a report from Yahoo! Sports that first announced the pending name change.
If it happens as planned, the change in New Orleans could trigger not only a mascot and color scheme change in the Pelican State, but also some changes back in Charlotte, where Bobcats owner Michael Jordan said the Hornets nickname would be welcomed if available.
Gayle Benson, [Tom] Benson’s wife, told Fox Sports New Orleans recently her preference for new team colors was navy blue, red and gold. The Hornets came to New Orleans in 2002 from Charlotte. New Orleans has also had an NBA team called the Jazz, which moved to Salt Lake City in 1979.
Since the fine folks in Utah have no intention of parting ways with the Jazz nickname, the Bensons had to come up with something.
Source: Report: Hornets Set For Name Change « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
PS
Do not think this solves your walk in the league.
But the same can’t be said for the nickname that the franchise brought to town from Charlotte. The Hornets could soon become the Pelicans … that’s right, the state bird (technically it’s the brown pelican) is set for global stardom as the new nickname of the franchise with new ownership in charge.
The Hornets’ new owner, Tom Benson, who also owns the New Orleans Saints, owns the rights to the Pelicans nickname, per a report from Yahoo! Sports that first announced the pending name change.
If it happens as planned, the change in New Orleans could trigger not only a mascot and color scheme change in the Pelican State, but also some changes back in Charlotte, where Bobcats owner Michael Jordan said the Hornets nickname would be welcomed if available.
Gayle Benson, [Tom] Benson’s wife, told Fox Sports New Orleans recently her preference for new team colors was navy blue, red and gold. The Hornets came to New Orleans in 2002 from Charlotte. New Orleans has also had an NBA team called the Jazz, which moved to Salt Lake City in 1979.
Since the fine folks in Utah have no intention of parting ways with the Jazz nickname, the Bensons had to come up with something.
Source: Report: Hornets Set For Name Change « NBA.com | Hang Time Blog
PS
Do not think this solves your walk in the league.
Last edited by Tango; 12-05-2012 at 05:47 PM.