Spuurs Being Punished for Not starting Players

 
 
MIAMI -- The NBA's most powerful man and its most respected and iron-willed coach plunged into an unexpected battle of wills Thursday over a basic tenet: A coach can decide what is best for his team.
San Antonio's Gregg Popovich sent stars Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, plus key role player Danny Green, on a commercial flight home instead of playing them in a nationally televised game against the Miami Heat so they could rest ahead of the Spurs' Saturday home game against the league-leading Memphis Grizzlies. NBA commissioner David Stern issued a statement before the game started apologizing to fans and saying, "This was an unacceptable decision by the San Antonio Spurs and substantial sanctions will be forthcoming."

So short story short: Duncan, Parker, Manu, and Danny Green all got benched the other night against Miami. Looking at it from both sides of the fence you can understand the problems. On one side the NBA is a "product" not ONLY a sport. It's sad that the professional sports system has turned into a market, but that's the world we live in. So when Spurs fans go to a game in Miami, they should hope to see the 4 best players on their team play. BUT these guys are so old! Tim Duncan is 36, and he's 6"11. Those numbers just don't scream out durability to me. Here is the weird thing: Last season, NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said the Spurs would not be disciplined after not bringing Duncan, Parker and Ginobili to a road game in Utah. Overall, Popovich held his top three players out of three games for rest last season.

So now I'm wondering what the difference between this year and last year is. I mean morally wouldn't it make more sense for the league to continue this since they are only getting older? Either way I get it. You wanna go to the game and see Manu run around with his bald spot, and Tim just wipe his 36 year old dong all over Chris Bosch, but these guys are spent. They need some time to play chess, keep their bread in the oven, and buy those little caramel candies that they keep in their Oldsmobile. (The joke is they need time to do old people stuff..). Anyway I would give these guys a break, they bust their ass on the court day in and day out.