There are reminders, occasional ones, that sports are most often a business first. People pay money to a group or person to see their contracted workers perform. The group that employs the workers have agreed with a sanctioning body to sell the rights to broadcast these events on television. The network has paid a large sum of money to broadcast a set number of performances each year. In turn, the network gets to decide, based on which performers the public likes, which performances it broadcasts.
And this is roughly how we got to the San Antonio Spurs at Miami Heat game on TNT last night.
Except the Spurs weren’t all there to perform.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich sent star performers Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and key reserve Danny Green home. On a commercial flight, of all horrors. For those playing at home, that’s four of the Spurs top five leading scorers. Popovich did this because he wanted his stars to rest up before Saturday’s home game against the current best team in the NBA, the Memphis Grizzlies.
He did it because the Spurs have played 10 road games in November, including six straight since Nov. 21. He did it because last spring, deputy NBA commissioner Adam Silver, David Stern’s heir, said the Spurs wouldn’t be penalized for bringing Duncan, Parker and Ginobili to a road game in Utah. Though it should be noted that Silver qualified that in the shortened, condensed season, the league understood. And Popovich has done it before, dating back to 2009.
He did because he thought he could and he has before.
But it doesn’t make it right.
Look, we all get it: the Spurs are old. And if they are going to contend, they need some nights off. Some of us may like it, others may argue that players should play if healthy. But he had to send them home before everyone else? That’s the part, right there, that really twists the knife. Stern issued a statement that basically apologized to everyone and promised sanctions and punishment.
Popovich’s move, while not unprecedented, was unique. And it brought up several questions.
Why couldn’t Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Green just sat at the end of the bench all night? They are so exhausted they had to catch the next flight out? Why couldn’t Popovich have called the NBA, so they could notify TNT? How long did Popovich know he was going to do this? Was it him trying to stick it back to the league because of the scheduling quirk that’s had them on the road much of the past month?
And all this has done is put the argument of sports or business right back on the table.
It’s entertainment, to be sure. It’s basketball, for certain. But make no mistake, it’s a business. Large sums of money are changing hands. TNT was counting on huge ratings for this early season matchup. The defending champs at home against the legendary Spurs. The fans came to see Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, not Splitter, Bonner and…and…and I can’t even think of who else played for the Spurs last night.
It doesn’t matter that the game was close after the fact. Advertisers don’t pick slots on TNT on a Thursday night game for the Spurs backups against the Heat. The league and the network don’t promote it as a marquee game. Fans don’t buy tickets to see that.
Popovich may be kind to his players. He may care about their well being. He may be smart and strategic as a basketball coach. He’s just not much of a businessman. And he didn’t go about it the best way.
“Perhaps it’ll give us an opportunity to stay on the floor with Memphis on Saturday night,” Popovich said prior to the game.
It’s just so…condescending.
Here’s the thing: If the Spurs need to rest this early into the season – to the point the players are flying commercial just to get home and in bed – then maybe this team is done. Maybe these guys should just retire. If they can’t even sit on the bench for a few hours and then fly home with the team, then call a spade a spade. If every single second of rest is that vital to the Spurs long term viability as a contender, I’ll go out on a limb and say they won’t win the NBA title come June.
Most teams do this in March and April, not the week after Thanksgiving. And most teams will rest a player or two one night, then a couple others the next game. But to rest four – including a younger player like Danny Green, who’s 25 – makes this situation all the more strange.
Then Popovich said he made the decision about resting players for this game in July – you read that right, July – when the schedule came out. He said it didn’t matter the opponent or the interest level of the game.
Maybe not to Gregg Popovich, but it mattered to a whole lot of other people who paid a whole lot of money. Again, why this game? Why not any of the previous three games? The Spurs beat the Toronto Raptors, Washington Wizards and Orlando Magic over the previous four days. The Spurs won by a collective 52 points over three teams with a combined record of 9-34.
Why not rest your guys for the entire fourth quarter of each of those games, against inferior teams that you knew your reserves could handle? Why this game?
It just seems as though Popvich wanted to not give anything away to the NBA. He wanted to stick it to the league for the schedule. And he did everything he could to rub their noses in it, going to great lengths to get those four as far away from AmericanAirlines Arena as possible.
While you can’t entirely fault him for his reaction to the schedule, Popovich is employed by a franchise in the NBA that has partnerships and deals with many, many payors. And the Heat counted on them too. Like most teams, the Heat employ a ticket-pricing system that fluctuates based on the opponent. So the Spurs game costs more than a game against the Phoenix Suns or the Charlotte Bobcats.
I wonder if the Duncan, Parker, Ginobili and Green were paid for Thursday’s game. DNP – Coach’s Decision? Could they refund some of that money to the fans who paid to see them?
That won’t be happening.
If Popovich is doing what’s best for the team, he could have had the fortitude to tell everyone beforehand so the rest of us didn’t waste our time and money. But instead, Pop got mad at the league for scheduling his aging team for so many road games, so he took his proverbial ball and went home, simple as that.
Maybe next time, we’ll do the same with our proverbial money and bypass Spurs games in person or on TV.
We can’t trust that they’ll be there.
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