Image from bleacherreport.com
Okay. At this point, you may have already heard about the controversial decision made by the San Antonio Spurs coach to send his stars home for a little beauty sleep (at least, that’s how the rest of the world is portraying it). If not, let me begin with a quick back story to fill in those of you who are just tuning in.
Just a night or two ago, the Spurs were slated to make there first and only visit to Miami for the regular season. However, it wasn’t long before tip-off that the legend of a coach that is Gregg Popovich sent his top four players home to get a little rest in lieu of wearing them out on their second trip of the month lasting over six days, earning the franchise a $250,000 fine. Now, there are a couple of reasons why his decision IS controversial and there are a couple of reasons why his decision SHOULD NOT be controversial. I’ll start with the former. While Gregg is known for making the right decision, he did fail to inform the media and the Heat in a timely manner before the game. I’ll give you that. I’ll even give you the problem of it being their only visit to Miami for the regular season, sure. But, there are more compelling reasons for why this decision should not have been turned into what it was/is. As I said before, Pop is known for making the right call, especially when it comes to his players’ best interests. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that he had his reasons. Not just any reasons, but reasons that should have the media and David Stern thrown off of his back. Let’s look at the “Poor kid in the stands who finally was getting to see his hero live, in action” example. I’ve been that kid that everyone is referring to. I went to Cleveland to see the Knicks come into town and romp LeBron and his squad. This was a little while back and I was more than anxious to finally get to see Stephon Marbury in person to crossover the King himself. I was however disappointed when I arrived at Gund Arena to find out that he was on the injured list, but once the game started, I didn’t stress out about it because I was at a live NBA game watching my team play!
As for Stern’s apology to the league and its fans, I find it unnecessary. As a matter of fact, they should all be thanking Pop for his expertise because it is only a regular season game and think about it, would you rather they sit out this one measly, insignificant game or would you rather they get rundown throughout the season and miss their trip back to the finals to face the Heat in June?