San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is no stranger to the rest issue burning a hole in advertisers' pockets. The trend started in 2012, when Popovich saw the need to rest the likes of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, as they were playing nearly 90 games or more per season between regular season and postseason games.
When he chose to leave his trio at home alongside the rest of his starters against the Miami Heat that year, the organization was fined $250,000 by the league, hoping to set a precedent and keep the rest of teams from making this a habit.
The deed backfired, instead making teams look into Pop's unorthodox ways and see the science behind it — as Duncan was able to prolong his career a few more years due to continued rest and minutes management.
“Its a legitimate concern. We all have it,” Popovich said Saturday, according to ESPN's Michael C. Wright. “I think they used the example of the young man and his dad or whatever. They've saved up their money. They want to go see somebody play, and that person's not there… I'd be miffed myself. But we all have different roles, different jobs, and different goals. We can't satisfy everybody. But I think that every owner's gonna be different. I think it's a slippery slope.”
Popovich has put himself in the league's place, seeing how resting starters can break the NBA's promise to put their best product out for TV networks like ABC, who have been victims of two consecutive rating duds.
“The one comment that I've heard that makes a lot of sense, is that if you're gonna rest somebody, if you can do it at home, then you should,” Popovich said before the Spurs' win over the New York Knicks at the AT&T Center. “Like, we're resting Danny Green tonight. Danny Green is not LeBron James, but if we rested Kawhi (Leonard), if there's a way we could do it at home, that seems like a logical thing to me.”
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