Resting

[KingSpeed]

I am so sick of the posts about resting players here, resting players there. These players are paid to play 82 games. Fans pay big money to see them play. People say Pop knows to rest his players and we should do that but Duncan never missed when he was the age of our players. FURTHERMORE, I keep saying it but no one listens:

In the final 10 days before the playoffs, we have TWO games. Both at home. There is PLENTY of time to rest coming up. For the WHOLE TEAM. Not just our stars. Look at the schedules. We will be the most rested team when the playoffs start. That is a fact. And we are incredibly good when rested. I'd be nervous if I were the Clippers.

 

[rasheedfan2005]

Yeah duncan needs rest cause hes like 56 years old. Stotts has done great keeping minutes of stars where they should be no need to sit one of the youngest teams in the league.

 

[Draco]

I'm sick of old get off my lawn folks who are unwilling to accept innovative ideas.

NBA players are overworked more than any professional athletes in American sports. Just because they all used to be overworked together years ago doesn't change what's best today. Some teams are smarter about it now.

Doctors and trainers have said the effects are the same as someone who's intoxicated. Blame the NBA's stupid schedule for the mess; not fans who want to see their players perform at their best.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Look at how well we play with 2+ days of rest, and you have your answer. I'm excited for the playoffs because of all the rest we'll get right before, regardless of who plays in the games (2 days of rest, then 3 days of rest, then X days before Game 1)

 

[blue32]

'dis a joke?

 

[Draco]

One thing I do personally; not buy as many tickets to games where a team is on a back to back or 3 in 4 nights stretch. I wanna see games where both teams are at their best. Between that and the tanking in the league we have probably 20 games a year that are actually fair and competitive for both sides such as Boston the other night. Those games are awesome; would make the sport so much better if we had more of them. If the NBA losses ticket revenue and TV ad money they will be forced to change the stupid schedule.

The NFL has 16 games but triple the revenue of the NBA 82 games. Way too many meaningless NBA games.

 

[Draco]

Interesting study on injuries, minutes and rest.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/insid...fastest-nba-players-risk-injury-come-playoffs

"
By isolating key factors, Talukder and Vincent were able to build a predictive statistical model. The chance that an NBA player will get hurt over a random seven-day stretch is about 5 percent. But if he logs a lot of minutes and plays at a blistering pace, his odds can triple or quadruple -- which is what happened to Derrick Rose just before he reinjured his knee in February 2015. Overall, the 20 percent of players carrying the most projected risk suffered 60 percent of the actual injuries that Talukder and Vincent studied. It's these athletes who need extra rest.

With the playoffs about to begin, Talukder and Vincent say the active players carrying the highest injury risk include Russell Westbrook of the Thunder, Marvin Williams of the Hornets and Paul Millsap of the Hawks. The end of the regular season is when you give these guys time off -- and when trainers should make sure they aren't overlooking minor injuries. "We can't predict specific injuries," Vincent says. "We can identify high-risk players, and then it's up to teams to do something about them."

To tackle its injury problems, the NBA must risk revenues by cutting back its schedule. And it will need to keep pursuing research on everything from preventing jumper's knee to the effects of smartphone screens on sleep. In the meantime, strategic rest is the best bet for keeping players healthy.
"

 

[Pinwheel1]

The NFL has 16 games but triple the revenue of the NBA 82 games. Way too many meaningless NBA games.

They might triple the revenue, but the football stadiums hold 4 times as many people. And the TV revenue is crazy.

 

[BBert]

There have been many discussion about this, and many posts pointing out that the players of yester-year played a full schedule. My memory of those by-gone days is that most NBA games were a yawn-fest until the last half of the fourth quarter. All too often, both teams would coast during the game, doing just enough to keep the lead, or not let a lead get too big. Then you could visibly see the energy level ramp up as the players kicked it into gear to try to win the game at the end. I'm just suggesting there was a lot of resting going on, and I believe the players work and play harder today.

 

[BBert]

Back-to-backs on the road should absolutely be abolished. You want to talk about diluting the quality of the product. I'd rather see teams rest starters and play the rested bench players instead.

 

[BigGameDamian]

I am so sick of the posts about resting players here, resting players there. These players are paid to play 82 games. Fans pay big money to see them play. People say Pop knows to rest his players and we should do that but Duncan never missed when he was the age of our players. FURTHERMORE, I keep saying it but no one listens:

In the final 10 days before the playoffs, we have TWO games. Both at home. There is PLENTY of time to rest coming up. For the WHOLE TEAM. Not just our stars. Look at the schedules. We will be the most rested team when the playoffs start. That is a fact. And we are incredibly good when rested. I'd be nervous if I were the Clippers.

And if you where a Clippers fan you'd be worried if your a Blazers fan.

 

[BigGameDamian]

Duncan also played in the league a few years when it was a real man's game. Before the NBA got soft.

 

[BBert]

As far as the Blazers resting for the playoffs, I've already posted that, as King-Alberto-Nathan-Eric said, it is not just unnecessary it is unwise. The Blazers only have two games in a week. They will be rested. What they need to do is work on their playoff intensity and defense in the one remaining game they have, not go into the playoffs cold and rusty.

 

[e_blazer]

Look at how well we play with 2+ days of rest, and you have your answer. I'm excited for the playoffs because of all the rest we'll get right before, regardless of who plays in the games (2 days of rest, then 3 days of rest, then X days before Game 1)

Just to be contrary, the Blazers pretty much player like crap Saturday after 3 days rest. Threw the ball away like crazy and played crappy defense.

Remember that it's only a small step from rest to rust.

 

[PDXFonz]

Just to be contrary, the Blazers pretty much player like crap Saturday after 3 days rest. Threw the ball away like crazy and played crappy defense.

Remember that it's only a small step from rest to rust.

Good post.

I feel like more often than not it seems the advantage goes to the team who has more recently played/practiced and is therefor already in the swing of things. In the NBA playoffs each team is going to come out ready to play playoff basketball regardless of how much rest they have. If they don't do that then they are in trouble, again regardless of how much rest they have.

It's different in every sport but you see this a lot in the NCAA tournament. One of the play in teams wins to get in and then upsets their opponent because those fresh legs can sometimes be a bit wobbly.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Just to be contrary, the Blazers pretty much player like crap Saturday after 3 days rest. Threw the ball away like crazy and played crappy defense.

Remember that it's only a small step from rest to rust.

I wonder what our record is in games that start at 7:30.

I don't know why Portland didn't play great other than Minnesota is playing well right now and they were allowed to play very physical defense on us.

 

[Draco]

There have been many discussion about this, and many posts pointing out that the players of yester-year played a full schedule. My memory of those by-gone days is that most NBA games were a yawn-fest until the last half of the fourth quarter. All too often, both teams would coast during the game, doing just enough to keep the lead, or not let a lead get too big. Then you could visibly see the energy level ramp up as the players kicked it into gear to try to win the game at the end. I'm just suggesting there was a lot of resting going on, and I believe the players work and play harder today.

Yeah. I remember that all the time too. Bulls often did that where they'd coast until the 4th. Now teams do a better job of playing deeper into their bench and while players rest some games; they give more effort when they do play.

It sort of compounds the problem for players trying to play 82 games today; now they have to go against more intense opponents where back in the day every team was full of tired guys.

 

[Draco]

Just to be contrary, the Blazers pretty much player like crap Saturday after 3 days rest. Threw the ball away like crazy and played crappy defense.

Remember that it's only a small step from rest to rust.

We didn't play like crap. Minnesota is .500 against recent playoff opponents. We were up with a few seconds left. We've played worse and won many games lately.

 

[BigGameDamian]

We didn't play like crap. Minnesota is .500 against recent playoff opponents. We were up with a few seconds left. We've played worse and won many games lately.

We had 17 turnovers to there 11.

 

[Orion Bailey]

We had 17 turnovers to there 11.

Doesn't matter what theirs was to ours. Iy matters what ours was to our average. We average 14 TO's a game. Not far from our average. So we didn't play that bad using that as the metric.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

We had 17 turnovers to there 11.

Yet we had 21 points off turnovers to their 18.

A single stat does not tell the whole story of a game.

 

[Shaboid]

Not sure why it matters either way going into the playoffs. Every team gets extended rest and then after the first game they have the same exact game schedule. If a coach wants to give his star players limited minutes in a game that doesn't matter, that is up to him. Regardless of both sides of the argument, our last game matters so we need a win and we should just expect everyone to play hard.

"You play to win the game" (unless you're tunchi) - Herm Edwards

 

[e_blazer]

We didn't play like crap. Minnesota is .500 against recent playoff opponents. We were up with a few seconds left. We've played worse and won many games lately.

Seventeen turnovers and a porous defense argues it was far from the Blazers' best effort. The Blazers shot well, but allowed the TWolves to shoot 49% for the game. The "defense" on the crucial last play was abysmal.

 

[noknobs]

It wouldn't make sense to rest players, but not because they have only 2 games in ten days, and not because "fans pay big money to see them play", and not because they're "paid to play 82 games", and not because they're not old.... but because they still actually have something to play for.

If Memphis and Dallas were to lose again before we play, then it makes sense to limit the starters minutes against Denver, although I'd definitely play them some to keep their rhythm.

Just to be contrary, the Blazers pretty much player like crap Saturday after 3 days rest. Threw the ball away like crazy and played crappy defense.
Remember that it's only a small step from rest to rust.

It was two days rest and the Blazers have been good overall on two days off, so I wouldn't read too much into the Minny game. As far as rest/rust, the last time they had an entire week off they destroyed Goldenstate and Lillard put up 51.

 

[e_blazer]

It wouldn't make sense to rest players, but not because they have only 2 games in ten days, and not because "fans pay big money to see them play", and not because they're "paid to play 82 games", and not because they're not old.... but because they still actually have something to play for.

If Memphis and Dallas were to lose again before we play, then it makes sense to limit the starters minutes against Denver, although I'd definitely play them some to keep their rhythm.



It was two days rest and the Blazers have been good overall on two days off, so I wouldn't read too much into the Minny game. As far as rest/rust, the last time they had an entire week off they destroyed Goldenstate and Lillard put up 51.

Depends on how you count it. Seventy-two hours between tip-offs, but yeah, 2 days off in between. Potayto - Potahto.

I wouldn't read too much into it, either. As I noted, I was just playing contrarian with my initial post. There's definitely a balance to be struck between getting enough rest, particularly at the end of the season, and playing enough to stay sharp. I'm all for giving guys who are dinged up time off or fewer minutes at the end of the season. That said, the Blazers are a young team and the rest issue is less important than it would be for an old team like the Spurs. The Blazers still have something to play for and I think it would be insane to not play the regular starters on Wednesday and end up with a first-round matchup against the Thunder instead of getting the Clippers. Neither's going to be easy, but I have zero doubt that the Blazers will have better odds against the Clippers.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

We should rest our best players for the games we're going to lose and play them the games we're going to win.

That's 38 games this season that Stotts failed to rest our best players and give big playing time to our worst players.

 

[kjironman1]

These players are paid to play 82 games. Fans pay big money to see them play.

So let me get this straight....These guys get paid to play the games and fans pay the money so there is no reason they should get tired?
During the NBA season there are a number of times the team is simply worn out and they don't play well. That is due to fatigue. It happens. Fans like me don't like watching sub par basketball. No body anywhere is arguing about the last week. Where most were talking about rest was the month of March which is now over and yes they have plenty of time to rest. But look at the schedule and the win loss column not to mention stats and you will see a team that was very very tired and needed rest. Not just that but the chance of injury increases with tired play. That is proven fact. There are many that would prefer a 66 game season with no B2B's at all. It would make the season better and the games mean more. The quality of play would increase and the injuries would decrease. Problem is the almighty dollar and the league needing the revenue.

 

[Draco]

So let me get this straight....These guys get paid to play the games and fans pay the money so there is no reason they should get tired?
During the NBA season there are a number of times the team is simply worn out and they don't play well. That is due to fatigue. It happens. Fans like me don't like watching sub par basketball. No body anywhere is arguing about the last week. Where most were talking about rest was the month of March which is now over and yes they have plenty of time to rest. But look at the schedule and the win loss column not to mention stats and you will see a team that was very very tired and needed rest. Not just that but the chance of injury increases with tired play. That is proven fact. There are many that would prefer a 66 game season with no B2B's at all. It would make the season better and the games mean more. The quality of play would increase and the injuries would decrease. Problem is the almighty dollar and the league needing the revenue.

Yeah I really like the idea of a 66 game season. It would hurt the dollars in the short term but long term I think it would benefit the league and eventually make them more money. If fans knew every basketball game really mattered and players really gave it their all the sport would grow. The playoffs have insane ratings and the teams play hard with their best players. The playoff seeding battles would be much closer too with the fewer games. Currently the last 20 games half the league is either out of the playoffs or nearly locked into their seed. The NFL is exciting because games make a huge difference and players give it everything they have.

The rest is getting to be really bad this season, its a growing trend. I think its a much larger problem than the hack-a rules. I'd expect at the least they cut a couple weeks out of preseason. They could eliminate 4 in 5 nights; and reduce back to backs. I just see the owners and players as too short sided to reduce the number of games even though that would be best for the sport long term.