Steve Kerr and the Golden State Warriors may not be thrilled with a number of new rules expected to take effect this season.
Via Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, the NBA is expected to implement player-resting rules for the 2017-18 season, according to a source with “direct knowledge of the situation.” While it is not known at this time exactly what the rules are, how they will be enforced or what the punishment will be, Zillgitt speculates that resting multiple starters in the same game, resting players for road games and resting players for nationally televised games, and three scenarios that the league is likely to crack down on.
Not being allowed to rest players for road games is sure to irk Kerr, who often likes to sit his stars at the end of long road trips, something he famously did in a nationally televised game against the San Antonio Spurs last season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver explained why he’s opposed to resting players on the road in a press conference during the NBA Finals two months ago.
“There is a recognition from teams that on one hand a certain amount of resting is just inevitable and appropriate to keep the players healthy, but that they shouldn’t be resting multiple starters on the same night,” Silver said. “And, incidentally, wherever possible, they should rest at home. Because there, while I feel for the home fans, just as much as the away fans, the away fans may only get a chance to see that team once. And of course, the home team home fans can see that team many times.”
Here’s what Kerr said last month about resting players this season:
“I feel like we have enough depth where the way the NBA has promised to fix some of the scheduling, we’re going to probably rest one or two guys in any given game. No more than two in one game. We’re not going to do the four or five unless the schedule is a disaster again. But I think we can sit Andre and Shaun strategically and be comfortable with it because of Patrick and Nick and Omri. I’m pretty comfortable.
Punishing teams for resting players when it’s deemed inappropriate would seem very hard to enforce, as teams are likely to declare injuries when they simply want to give certain players a break. Unless a team is blatantly resting multiple stars, the league will likely have a tough time arguing that a team is lying about an injury. Still, it would appear Silver is going to do all that he can to appease both fans and the league’s business partners.
“There is an expectation among partners that teams are going to act in appropriate ways, (and) find, as I said, that right balance between resting on one hand and obligations to fans and partners on the other,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters at his April news conference.
The league has also announced a number of schedule changes for the upcoming season, in an attempt to eliminate situations where coaches feel they are forced to rest players. Among the changes are:
- The league will start a week earlier this season, creating more days to play an 82-game schedule.
- Elimination of four games in five days and 18 games in 30 days.
- Reduction of back-to-backs – 14.9 per team down from 16.3 per team last season.
- Reduction of single-game road trips by 17%.