The National Basketball Association (NBA) released the 2017-18 schedule, a total of 1,230 regular season matchups. Games are set to kick off on October 17, earlier than usual to spread the play dates a bit and give teams more days to rest players.
That move was also meant to prevent teams from purposely resting key players. The San Antonio Spurs have been notorious for doing so with other teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors following their lead. With the tweaked schedule, it will be interesting if teams will field in their players regularly and avoid resting them so that they can last the full season.
No guarantee
The move by the NBA is a good way to reduce the wear-and-tear that players have to deal with. However, it may not be a 100-percent assurance that teams will field in their stars.
The move made popular by Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was meant to preserve players for the playoff stretch. With an 82-game schedule, the chances of seeing players get injured or worn down are pretty high.
The move has been decried by basketball fans, an inadvertent way of robbing them of seeing their favorite players in action. The NBA has not been able to do anything about it until now but the recent tweaks made may not be enough to convince teams to assure their players will play all the games (regardless if they are crucial or no bearing).
Wait-and-see
The only thing good about the tweaked NBA schedule is that teams get a bit of a reprieve. However, there are other factors to consider.
At the top of the list is the condition of a player. With more rest, players get the luxury of getting added rest and not forcing the issue. That will be subject to the severity of the injury – some of which may be severe.
On that note, fans may go easy on NBA teams. However, ball clubs can easily declare injured players and save themselves the trouble of drawing the ire of fans. As one can see, the NBA can only do so much. The last say will still be on the team and their respective heads.
Players are unlikely to complain sitting out games unless they are aiming for something individually.
But the reality of it all is that seeing teams play 4 to 5 games a week has taken its toll.
The recent tweak could be an experiment by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and company, meaning further changes could happen moving forward. Rather than sit back, the adjustment in the schedule is a right move to reach a compromise for fans, players and teams to produce more exciting basketball games ahead.
