Stern Slaps Spurs with $250K Fine for Sitting Players; Warranted?

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

San Antonio Spurs Greg Popovich tried to pull a fast one on David Stern by benching his core group of stars against the Miami Heat on Thursday night, prompting a league-wide backlash and a $250,000 fine handed down by Stern, according to Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski.

Popovich landed in hot water with Stern after he rested Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Danny Green and Manu Ginobili in order to keep them fresh following a long road-trip that spanned six games in nine days.  And many pundits, including the one that matters — the angel of Stern –  felt the Spurs were cheating the NBA and its fans who payed good money to see two of NBA’s best go head-to-head.

But was all that backlash warranted?

It’s complicated. There’s a serious conflict of interest in debating both sides.

First, if I shelled out hundreds of dollars to watch two top teams in the NBA face off, then I’d be upset. But let it be known that only those who went to the game have that argument. If you were merely watching it on television, then tough luck. There’s still dozens of other matchups that boast the league’s top talent, and it seems to happen on a bi-weekly basis. So get over it.

That being said, there’s no rule that gives (at least well known enough) Stern the authority to sanction a team from playing its best players every contest of the 82-game season. It’s downright stupid to believe a team can endure such a lengthy season without sitting its best players from time to time.  And Popovich is paid to win championships, not win a weekday game in the end of November.

This also hasn’t been the first time Popovich has sat his best players in order to keep his squad healthy.  In fact, the long-tenured Spurs coach has been sidelining his best players for the past six seasons to pace his team towards a championship.

Wojnarowski gave his thoughts on Stern’s decision to hand down a hefty sanction on the Spurs on Friday.

“They don’t forget how one of Stern’s top public-relations officials went out of her way to try to dissuade an NBA team owner from hiring a well-regarded Spurs executive as general manager…[Or] how Stern wanted to infiltrate the inner sanctum of the Spurs with TV cameras and microphones, with the kind of phony, superficial behind-the-scenes access that went against how the franchise conducted its basketball business and kept its edge.”