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- May 23, 2012
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Bill Simmons keeps making interesting points on his podcasts that all time legends like Bird, Jordan and Magic kept playing through the injury barrier and tried to play as many games in the regular season as they could, whereas the likes of spoilt, pampered 'superstars' like Embiid and esp Jimmy Butler often have to be rested/managed throughout the regular season.
Think a legitimate argument can be made that both Jojo and Butler are too soft/avoid regular season games when they clearly could play and as a result haven't got the true winners mentality to lead their team(s) to a chip.
How many years in a row has Embiid avoided playing Jokic in Denver now ? 4 or 5 ?
Load management is for piss weak flogs imo.
LeBron is older than peternorth's great great great grandma yet he still fronts up for the Lakeshow game in night out.
Got to give LBJ props for that at least. Probably the most mentally strong player and professional prepared player who has ever played the game (and maybe in all of pro sports worldwide)
Load management is the calling card of cowardly coaches (and players)
It's a bit simplistic, especially when load management is a collective decision, but it is a discussion worth having.
Not really sure Jimmy Butler is a great example to use though when he routinely puts up huge numbers in the playoffs. In fact he and Miami last season might be Exhibit A in the case for load management, not against.
One problem is that home court advantage in the playoffs isn't really what it used to be, unless you're Denver. So regular season wins only provide marginal value to begin with. You could tweak the playoff formula to have the top 4 seeds playing each other, a la the AFL or NRL, but the problem is that having a 'series' off for the winner results in a two-week break in the NBA, which is probably too long. Perhaps shortening the first and second round playoff series to five games would be a partial remedy for that.
Another way the regular season is devalued is draft position. The Bucks technically had the 30th pick in the June draft, despite being knocked out in the first round, while the Lakers had the 17th pick despite making the WCF and the Heat had the 18th pick despite making the Finals. Penalising teams for winning regular season games by demoting them in the draft ain't sending a great message to coaches and management about 'load management'.