Resting stars isn’t a bad idea after all
Wiggins’ World used to think that the practice of NBA teams sitting out healthy players was a downright abomination.
How dare they disappoint customers often paying a king’s ransom for seats to see pro basketball’s greatest — that’s how WW’s self-righteous rant went.
Um, scratch those thoughts. And, sorry ‘bout that.
The injuries occurring in epidemic proportions this season — many possibly impacting teams’ postseason chances — have made us rethink the situation.
These days, WW is not quite so down on the practitioners of starsitting, like San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich.
We still find inexcusable the irascible Pop’s rudeness to well-intentioned media types, who mean him no harm.
But WW now also gives Popovich a hall pass for, in the past, having given ageing Spurs stars like Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker the occasional night off to ensure their freshness for the play-offs.
And we can understand, for the same reason, why LeBron James, the hardest-working player in the NBA to these eyes, would be forced to sit by Cleveland coaches — much to the disappointment of fans in away cities who are robbed of their once-a-year, in-person glimpse at King James.
The medical events of this season enabled WW to finally see the light.
Topping the wounded list is Golden State superstar Stephen Curry, currently out with a knee injury that threatens the Warriors’ title repeat chances.
Curry seems to think he’ll be ready for the play-offs, which open next Sunday, Thai time.
His coach Steve Kerr feels he’ll have to sit out at least one postseason series.
But Steph’s injury merely headlines a host of maladies that have befallen stars on other teams, affecting whatever hopes for championship glory they and their clubs may have had (a list of those hurting players to follow shortly).
WW is thoroughly convinced that the spate of injuries — both recent and over the course of this entire season — is directly attributable to the nine-month NBA season and the wear and tear on the players’ bodies that is unique to the sport of basketball.
These guys basically have two months off, if they make it to the Finals.
You can’t tell WW that, with all the running and jumping involved and the physical pounding they endure over the course of the pre-season, 82 regular season games and play-offs — combined with all the travelling they do — doesn’t take its toll on their muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones and joints, making them susceptible to the leg and upper body injuries so commonplace in the NBA these days.
There HAS to be some sort of correlation between the rigours particular to pro hoops and the injuries occurring in the sport at an alarmingly increasing rate.
It’s no coincidence.
Wiggins World says: Sit ‘em for the occasional home game but not away games.
Announce in advance when stars will be in civvies and offer refunds to those fans who want them.
This is a fair and equitable solution for all concerned: the players, teams, fans and the league as a whole.
This way you might be able to avoid the following laundry list — and it’s only a partial one — of injured players that have dented the title hopes of their teams.
— Kyrie Irving, Boston’s leading scorer, will miss the rest of this season after recent knee surgery. Celtics have already lost prized free agent Gordon Hayward to a gruesome leg injury in the regular season opener.
— Washington’s all-star guard John Wall has just returned from knee surgery. How effective he’ll be in the postseason remains to be seen.
— Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio’s offensive and defensive leader, has missed most of the season due to a series of injuries and will not return this campaign, leading vet floor general Tony Parker to intimate Leonard is lollygagging.
Parker says his quadriceps injury is “a hundred times worse” than Leonard’s current quad ailment and that he still plans to play in the postseason.
— DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis of New Orleans made a formidable front-court pair before Cousins went down midseason with a ruptured achilles, blowing up the Pelicans play-off aspirations.
— Fast-rising Minnesota saw their chances of making a rare play-off splash dimmed with a knee injury to star forward Jimmy Butler, who likely miss a series or more.
— Cleveland’s Kevin Love missed two months with a broken hand and is just now returning to the Cavs line-up.
These are just the tip of the NBA injury ice pack, err iceberg. WW could go on but you get the picture.
The toll the drawn-out NBA season takes on its players seems to have finally caught up with the league.
Things are so bad that five-time champions San Antonio, perennial title contenders, may miss the postseason for the first time in 20 years.
Why, it’s ALMOST enough to make Wiggins’ World feel sorry for the ornery Popovich.
But not quite.