The NBA announced a series of potential new rules yesterday that will have some effects on the Detroit Pistons and their fans.
The league is trying to crack down on load management, the practice of resting healthy players in an effort to keep them that way. It’s become a problem in the regular season, as teams choose certain games to rest their stars, usually against weaker teams whose fans often get stuck watching the B team.
But it’s not just the good teams and the stars that are robbing their fans some nights, as teams like the Detroit Pistons find nefarious “injuries” for veteran players late in the season to tank away more games to increase their lottery odds, which is arguably even worse.
I agree that the league needs to do something, but am not sure these rules will have the desired effect, as there are so many loopholes and ways around them.
NBA Board of Governors is expected to vote this week on new policy that a team is unable to rest two star players in the same game, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Many league discussions over past 1-2 years have centered around stars playing more, curbing load management.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 11, 2023
More specifically, they can’t rest “star” players at the same time, particularly during nationally televised games, so Tom Gores’ pocketbook is safe, as the Detroit Pistons don’t have any stars and only a couple of nationally televised games. Being terrible finally paid off, Tom!
ESPN Sources: The NBA's Competition Committee has recommended stricter guidelines on resting players for national television games and multiple stars together in the same games. The league's Board of Governors expected to vote Wednesday to pass the measures.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 11, 2023
We’ll see how this all pans out, but it seems silly at the moment, as teams can just start a player and then pull him in the first quarter, so they are going to find ways to rest guys. The penalty is just a fine, which I am certain some owners (Clippers?) would rather just pay rather than risk paying a star all season to sit on the bench injured.
Under new rules, teams would be fined $100K for a first violation, $250K for a second violation and $1 million more than the previous penalty for each additional violation, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/ZOQjJpoNaD
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 11, 2023
My guess is that these fines are not stiff enough to really change behavior, so don’t expect guys like Kawhi Leonard to suddenly start playing 82 games per season.
There will be both pros and cons for the Detroit Pistons and their fans.
Pro: The Detroit Pistons are exempt
The league defines a “star” player as someone who has made an All-Star or All-NBA team in the last three seasons. Good news! The Detroit Pistons don’t have any!
So don’t worry, Monty Williams can load manage away without risking any of Tom Gores’ money. And if the Pistons are terrible again, we can expect to see their veteran players on the bench with dubious tank injuries as fans pay good money to watch Eugene Omoruyi and RJ Hampton battle the Warriors’ bench players.
I’m being facetious here, but it does seem to be a disadvantage for teams that are loaded with stars, though they can still rest any one of them on a given night.
These rules are really only targeting a small number of teams, which is another reason I don’t like them. Not only are they going to be very subjective to enforce (who decides if a player is really injured? Will there be Dr. detectives at the games testing Lebron’s knees?) but target only the top teams on big TV games.
It may stop teams from resting guys during “big” games, but what about the not-so-big games?
Pro: Fans should get to see more stars live
I mostly think about the fan experience when it comes to load management. Ring culture and obsession have devalued the regular season, so we can’t blame teams and players for following the evidence and playing their stars less in an effort to keep them healthy for the playoffs, which we’ve been told repeatedly are the only thing that matters.
But it sucks for fans who buy tickets for games against the Lakers, Warriors, Suns etc… to see stars like LeBron and Steph play, but often end up having to watch the bench instead. It’s not like it has led to wins for the bad teams, by the way, and coaches like Gregg Popovich have been using “rest” games for years in order to get bench players reps in high-profile games, which is smart.
Theoretically, fans should feel safer buying tickets for these games, as it should increase the likelihood they’ll get to see the players they bought seats to see.
This is a big deal for most fans, many of whom only get to attend one live game in a season and don’t want to watch the scrubs while the stars smile and laugh on the bench.
These new rules could help, though I suspect they won’t. We shall see.
Con: The Detroit Pistons won’t get any “easy” games against good teams
Let’s face it, the Detroit Pistons have been one of the teams the good ones rest against for some time now.
Stars or not, Detroit won 17 games last season, so it’s not like load management has provided them an advantage.
But it did give their young players a chance to play against the young players on the good teams and gave them a better chance for a W against teams that were resting their stars.
If there really is going to be less of it (I have my doubts), the Detroit Pistons can expect to play more good teams at full strength, which won’t boost their chances of getting wins.
The first step to solving any problem is to admit you have one, so at least the NBA has done that, but it’s hard to see how these rules will be enforced and whether fines which are like $10 to billionaires will be enough to keep them from protecting the much-larger investments they have in star players.
Theoretically, it will be better for fans who pay to see live games or look forward to a big one on national television, but it will have little effect on the day-to-day business of teams like the Detroit Pistons.