Player-rest rules put Spoelstra to test

As if there isn’t already plenty on the pandemic plate of Erik Spoelstra while coaching the Miami Heat through these most unusual of times, he now will have to guide his team while also keeping an eye on the league’s national television schedule.

According to a memo issued by the NBA and obtained by the Sun Sentinel, the league has advised that, “Teams are prohibited from resting healthy players for any high-profile, nationally-televised game. Any violation of this provision shall constitute conduct prejudicial or detrimental to the NBA and shall result in a fine of at least $100,000.”

Two of the Heat’s first three games are on national television, including the Dec. 29 opener of a home back-to-back set against the Milwaukee Bucks at AmericanAirlines Arena.

In addition, the NBA warned, “Absent unusual circumstances, a team should not rest multiple healthy players for the same game,” and, “Absent unusual circumstances, teams should not rest healthy players when playing on the road.”

For the Heat, the road element could be particularly tricky considering there is a 13-day, six-game trip in February.

Spoelstra said after Tuesday’s practice at AmericanAirlines Arena that it is something he will assess closer to the start of the season, after he first prioritizes the league’ s pandemic protocols.

“I haven’t really dug into that yet,” Spoelstra said. “There’s just beens om anything son our plate, the protocols and health and safety, first and foremost. Just getting through those memos and everything, and then preparing our practice plans.

“We’ll get to the rotation and our plan when we get there. That really feels more day by day.”

The league noted in its memo, “For purposes of the Resting Policy ,‘ rest’ includes any instance when a player in the team’ s regular rotation does not play in a game because he is ‘Inactive’ or a‘ D NP— CD .’ A‘ coach’ s decision’ in this context does not absolve a team of its duty to comply with the Resting Policy.”

The league noted that certain mitigating factors that would allow for non-injury absences, including ,“the player’ s age, injury history, recovery from C OVID -19, season and career workload, and other relevant scheduling-related considerations (e.g., game density, number of consecutive road games and number of recent high-profile, nationally-televised games).”

The league also has taken into consideration the unusual circumstances of this season, which have the Heat in training camp less than two months after competing in the NBA Finals.

To that end, the NBA noted, “Accounting for the unusual circumstances associated with the 2020-21 season, teams will be afforded flexibility to manage their rosters in a reasonable manner in non-nationally-televised games at the beginning of the regular season, particularly within the context of back-toback games (e.g., to rest a key veteran player who played a substantial role on a team that advanced deep into the 2020 playoffs, or to rest a player who is still returning to full strength after recovering from COVID19).”

Spoelstra generally has avoided the term “load management,” but he appreciates the need to keep players fresh.

“We’ll evaluate everything as we get thought this training camp and preseason and when we start the season ,” he said .“And we’ve done certain things in the past to protect guys and keep them fresh. We just haven’ t called it ‘load management,’ I guess.”

As for injury updates, the NBA will utilize the following statuses on injury reports:

Available: Player is fully expected to be available to play in the game.

Probable: 75% chance that the player will play in the game.

Questionable: 50% chance that the player will play in the game.

Doubtful: 25% chance that the player will play in the game.

Out: Player will not play in the game.

HEATPHOTO MIAMI While camp might allow some time for levity from the Heat, the NBA won’t be humored by injury reports listing players as out for rest.