The La La Land battle will recur on Thursday night when the Clippers host the Lakers for the first time this season. This has been an important game in the NBA lately, especially in Los Angeles. But reports have surfaced that the Clippers . star Kawhi Leonardwho is coming back from an ACL tear that saw him miss all of last year, could come on from the bench to start the season as a way to “manage” his minutes.
That shouldn’t be a problem, as many players returning from more severe injuries have limited minutes when they return to play. But let’s be honest for a second. We know where this will lead. Leonard is the poster child of load manager and used to play for the load manager’s poster team, the San Antonio Spurs. But hey, if you can get away with it then do what you need to do. I don’t grudge Leonard for doing what he’s been allowed to do for years.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver comes out every year and talks about managing players’ minutes, but nothing has changed. We constantly hear about how today’s athletes are bigger, faster, stronger and more skilled in the NBA. However, no one seems interested in playing the full 82-match schedule.
To be fair, not everyone plays, but load management often comes down to star players who have the ability and freedom to choose as they play. But those are the people the fans go to see – the stars in the NBA. Over the past few years, a shortened NBA season has been in the works, and Commissioner Silver addressed that over the summer.
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“I don’t want to shorten the season, but it’s a conversation we should all have,” Silver admit. “What is optimal in terms of the number of games per player body? Be
fact about it. “
Sure, it’s a conversation that needs to happen, but unless the NBA can continue to get the same amount of money from their TV partners, it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Professional sports are still a business, and the association is just trying to make a few billion dollars like anyone else. I believe the commissioner wants to get rid of load management, but we’re so far ahead at this point that it’s going to be very difficult.
A few years ago, the league added the play-in tournament as a purgatory-like setup between the actual knockout and meeting Cancun in April. The match has yielded some exciting moments so far, as LeBron James and Stephen Curry did two tournaments ago, but it was nothing more than a big hit. The participating teams have little hope of making it past the first round once in the knockout round.
Now the NBA is considering one more mid season league on the cusp of making a major player. Another attempt to get more revenue is fine, but none of this looks like it will encourage players to play more. Even if you remove 10 games from the regular season schedule and add this tournament, that doesn’t create much respite. It depends on how many teams are in this tournament, although it sounds like a scarf with dollar signs on it.
Silver and the feds’ office have no clue how to solve this load management problem. The bottom line is that he’s let it happen for so long, and it’s almost impossible to go back now. I don’t see the NBA reducing the regular season schedule by more than 12-15 games. They will lose too much money in the process. But you can’t talk about dropping a few games just to add a league in the season like these guys are in college or high school.
For PR purposes, Silver may have to openly protest and take tough action. In reality, however, anyone who follows this tournament closely knows who runs it. It’s called the players’ league for a reason. When Robert Sarver accused of hurling stereotypical taunts at almost every minority group in America, Silver acted as if “there was nothing he could do”. The players had to speak up, and that got the ball rolling. Now, Sarver is on his way out. In 2014, players threatened to boycott after a recording of Donald Sterling leakedin which Sterling says he doesn’t want his girlfriend to bring black people into games, before Silver bans him and forces him to sell the Clippers.
In this situation, however, Silver will need to stand on his own two feet to find a way out of the load management team. The players wanted this and many adopted it as a regular part of their regimen throughout the season. It’s not just the players though. Many teams seem to encourage that, taking a page from the San Antonio Spurs books.
Silver expressed his thoughts on the origin of the download manage:
“There is nothing more frustrating for our fans than the fact that the players are not injured after some program schedule rested. i’m looking at [Spurs executive] RC [Buford], you started it all. That’s not obvious, at least to me. Whether it serves a useful purpose. So figure out how to strike the right healthy balance. “
Silver knows the deal, and he knows the coach, general manager and owner are as to blame as the players. If the commissioner really wants to stop this, he can. If he cared about fans’ enjoyment of the game, he’d step up to the plate and solve this problem. If not, it’s time to stop talking about it and accept this as the reality of the tournament.
