Cuban has a good reason for resting starters: 'We're not stupid'
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich began the practice of resting staters long before resting starters was cool.
Now coaches throughout the NBA are picking spots for their players who are either getting up there in age or are still working through past injuries to give them a night off, particularly on the second night of a back-to-back.
Typically coaches will sit one player. Popovich has been known to sit his entire Big Three — Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker — in one game.
A few weeks ago, Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle really took things to the extreme when he sat four of his five starters — but still managed to pull out a win at New Orleans. That game came the night after a double-overtime win against Sacramento. A week later, coming of an overtime loss to Cleveland, Carlisle again chose to sit four starters the next night at Oklahoma City. All five starters ended up not playing after center ZaZa Pachulia was a late scratch with soreness in his Achilles. Dallas didn't fare so well in that one.
Some think this growing trend is a problem the NBA must address. Fans buy expensive tickets believing they'll see their favorite players on the court. But Mavs owner Mark Cuban has no problem with the practice, and thinks resting players is good business.
Here's what the outspoken Cuban had to say, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
“We’re not stupid. The game’s gotten faster, there are more possessions per game. The game is more athletic, and so you don’t want to increase the chance of your guy getting hurt."
Carlisle does have a unique situation with multiple starters. Dirk Nowitzki is 37 years old. Wesley Matthews and Chandler Parsons are both returning from major surgeries and offseason rehab. And Deron Williams has a history of injury issues and has dealt with several nagging ailments this season.
Carlisle defended that he has the big picture to manage. As for the fans shelling out big bucks only to see the Mavs "B" team on that particular night? Unsurprisingly, Cuban had something to say about that as well:
“I’ve said many, many, many, many, many times, it’s our job to create a great experience,” Cuban said. "But you can’t control when guys are going to get hurt, when they’ll play, whether they’ll play well, whether they’ll get in foul trouble. ... We’ve got 14 other guys on the team, and so they’ve got to do their job, and you never know. That’s when the breakout star happens."
