Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson is joining his peers in pleading for a shortened NBA schedule.
On Monday night, before his team's 116-95 victory over the Detroit Pistons, Atkinson went on a tangent about having a three-game-in-four-night stretch during the opening week of the regular season.
Avid fans of the league are well aware of Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr's strong position on the current model of 82 games, and his former assistant is hopping on the bandwagon.
“We go to 70 games, 72 games, the league will be more spectacular, more phenomenal,” Atkinson said. “Just doubling down on what Steve always said. I think about that all the time. Guys would just be able to perform at a higher level.
“It's hard. Donovan Mitchell, you're getting his best three games in four nights? You're getting the best version of him? I think the fans look at it like, ‘Oh, yeah, oh yeah.' Easy to say 34 minutes, 34 minutes, 34 minutes [consecutively]. What are we getting that last night?”
When asked about his thoughts on the matter and whether he'd be in favor of reducing the number of games, Mitchell respectfully declined to answer. As much as his head coach has an argument, the All-Star guard's production has been off the charts to start the year, with his 31.3 points per game on 56.4% from the field.
Before ranting and apologizing for it with a chuckle, Atkinson spoke on Cleveland's philosophy of managing his players.
“This is what the NBA is. You really have to have a good plan going into the season, managing minutes,” he said. “Now, it makes it doubly difficult when you have guys out, right? It's not as easy when you get a full, healthy roster. You can even rest guys, so to speak. So makes it harder, but we still have to have a plan, right? [If] you played Donovan 40 minutes last night, what's he going to give you tonight?
“I'm always conscious. Obviously, we've got the game in front of us that we have to win. But I also know the schedule going forward, and we have a particular plan for that. Part of an NBA coach's job is to manage this hellacious schedule.”
The Cavs will trudge through their gauntlet by traveling to Boston next. They'll unfortunately be without Sam Merrill, who is dealing with a right hip contusion suffered on Monday night in Detroit.
