The NBA has been considering, or at least entertaining the idea of finding ways for the regular season to be shorter in some way to help prevent its valuable players from being too worn out.
So in Sunday’s upcoming preseason contest between the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets, the league will try out a 44-minute game for the first time ever just as a simple sample to evaluate. Here are the details, from ESPN:
The contest will be four minutes shorter than the NBA’s standard 48-minute game. The league said Tuesday that the preseason game will feature four 11-minute quarters, one minute shorter than normal.
Acting on a suggestion by coaches to tighten up the games, the league will use the matchup at Barclays Center to examine if the shorter model flows better.
No long-term changes are currently being considered, but shorter games could be a way to keep players healthier, since there are no plans to shorten the season.
“At our recent coaches’ meeting, we had a discussion about the length of our games, and it was suggested that we consider experimenting with a shorter format,” Rod Thorn, the NBA’s president of basketball operations, said in a statement. “After consulting with our Competition Committee, we agreed to allow the Nets and Celtics to play a 44-minute preseason game in order to give us some preliminary data that will help us to further analyze game-time lengths.”
Since this was an idea brought on by the coaches, most of them are at the very least entertained by the experiment. Here are what some of them had to say:
“I’m looking forward to gauging its impact on the flow of the game. Since there is a shorter clock, it affects playing time, so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays into substitution patterns,” Nets coach Lionel Hollins said.
Hollins called it a “unique experiment that was worth participating in,” and Boston coach Brad Stevens agreed.
“I appreciate the NBA’s long history of forward thinking and willingness to try new ideas,” Stevens said. “We told the NBA that we’d be happy to participate in this trial during a preseason game. I look forward to experiencing it and continuing the dialogue after Oct. 19.”
Some others, however, believe shortening each quarter by a minute is not enough to make a serious impact on the recovery period for players. Erik Spoelstra was one of them:
“I don’t think it’s a matter of how long the game is,” Spoelstra said. “I think there’s too many games, to be frank. I think if there’s some way to find a way to cut out some of the back-to-backs so there aren’t 20-plus of them. I think that’s the bigger issue, not shaving off four minutes in a particular game. But I’m open to seeing what happens with that.”
“I think everybody probably agrees there’s too many games in a short period of time.”
Naturally, LeBron James – the leagues’ most important player – also chimed in on the matter and explained why less games is ultimately the answer the league is looking for, from Chris Haynes of Northeast Ohio Media Group:
“It’s not the minutes, it’s the games,” James said. “The minutes don’t mean anything. We can play 50-minute games if we had to. It’s the games that I think we all as players think is too many games in our season. 82 games are a lot. But it’s not the minutes, taking away minutes from the game is not going to shorten the game at all.
“Once you go out and play on the floor, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing 22 minutes, like I’m playing tonight, or you play 40 minutes. Once you play, it takes a toll on your body. So it’s not less minutes, it’s games.”
“At the end of the day, we want to protect the prize and the prize is the players,” James said. “We have to continue to promote the game and if guys are being injured because there are so many games, then we can’t promote it at a high level. We got two of our top guys in our league out right now. I’m not saying it’s because of the games, but anything will help.”
Dirk Nowitzki was also asked about the experiment and he believes 82 games needs to be trimmed down by more than 10 games, from Tim MacMahon and Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“I think you don’t need 82 games to determine the best eight in each conference,” Nowitzki said Wednesday. “That could be done a lot quicker, but I always understand that it’s about money, and every missed game means missed money for both parties, for the league, for the owners, for the players. I understand all that, and that’s why I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon.”
“I think everybody probably agrees there’s too many games in a short period of time.”
Nowitzki said he would recommend that regular-season schedules be trimmed from 82 games to the “mid-60s,” although he said it’s not his place to say. Like Spoelstra, Nowitzki’s biggest issue with the current format is the back-to-back games.
“Honestly, I never was a big fan of back-to-backs even when I was 20 years old,” said Nowitzki, a 36-year-old entering his 17th NBA season. “I think that you should never have to play at the highest level there is two consecutive nights and flying in between. You obviously make it work. We have the best athletes in the world, we feel, but I think it hurts the product some. Last year, some teams get here for the fourth game in five nights and we’ve been sitting here on rest and just blow them out.
So there appears to be a general agreement from most that the best way for the NBA to put out the best product with less injuries is to play less regular season games. Whether we’ll ever see that day remains to be seen, but at least one coach likes things just the way it is, from Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports:
“Personally, I don’t really like it,” Vogel told reporters.
“I don’t have enough minutes to get all my guys enough minutes to keep them happy,” he said. “You’re going to take away four (minutes) a game, that’s going to make my job harder.”
Obviously, nothing concrete will happen this season, but the league will continue to do their research to decide what the best course of action will be in future years to minimize injury risk for players as much as possible.
OTHER NEWS AND ITEMS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE:
Kobe Bryant and Byron Scott have agreed to a minutes restriction for Bryant this year. Surprisingly, Bryant suggested playing less minutes than what Scott had in mind, from Mark Medina of Daily News: “It appears Kobe Bryant and Lakers coach Byron Scott have accomplished something critical that further suggests their close relationship will help the team overcome rocky waters. Scott reported after Wednesday’s practice that the two agreed upon how many minutes the Lakers’ star will play in the 2014-15 season. “His number was lower than mine,” Scott said after Wednesday’s practice at the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo. “That surprised me. It helped me as well.” Scott would not divulge specifics other than Bryant will play “between 30 and 40″ minutes per game. But it’s safe to assume Scott will strive for Bryant to play fewer than the 38 minutes he averaged in the two previous seasons before tearing his left Achilles more than 18 months ago.
Former player John Starks thinks a rebound season is coming for Andrea Bargnani. Why he thinks that is anyone’s guess, but here’s more from Ian Begley of ESPN NY: “”I know he’s going to have a bounce-back year,” former Knicks great John Starks said on Anthony Donahue’s “The Knicks Blog Podcast” last week. “This is a tailor-made offense that’s good for guys who can shoot the ball, especially big guys, and he’s one of the best in the league that can stretch the defense. So I’m looking for him to have a very big year.”… “He’s a great outside shooter,” Starks said of Bargnani, who hit 44 percent of his field goals (28 percent from the 3-point line) last year. “Go back to those days that Chicago played, and they always had good big men that can shot outside — and he’s one of the best in the league.”
Chris Webber has joined the group that is interested in buying the Atlanta Hawks, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports: “Five-time NBA All-Star Chris Webber is part of a potential ownership group that has submitted a letter of interest to the NBA about its desire to purchase the Atlanta Hawks, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Webber would have a modest financial investment in the partnership, but is expected to emerge as a face of the bid with an ultimate goal of becoming a prominent figure on the basketball side for the Hawks, league sources told Yahoo Sports. The primary investors are expected to become public in the near future, sources said. Several prominent groups with interest in buying the Hawks are also expected to become known soon.
There are a number of teams interested in acquiring Ray Allen. The Milwaukee Bucks were one of them, but Allen has shown no desire to go back there, according to Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel: “Bucks coach Jason Kidd said the team had sincere interest in bringing veteran Ray Allen back to the team during the past summer, but the former Bucks player was not inclined to return. Allen, an unrestricted free agent, still has not signed with any NBA team and has not said if he plans to retire. He played with the Miami Heat the past two years and helped it win the 2013 NBA championship. He also won a league title with the Boston Celtics in 2008. “We did contact Ray,” Kidd said. “He’s weighing his options to see where he wants to go. But we did have interest.”… We thought, just like the fans, that it might be a good situation for him to be able to come back and also teach the young guys,” Kidd said… “We thought he would be a good piece for us to try to get but he didn’t have any interest.”
Bryant recently chimed in on the BRI situation that will challenge the NBA again in a couple of years, with details from Kevin Zimmerman of SBNation: “We are overpaid, but so are the owners. And you have to fight for what your market value is,” Bryant said… “Business is business, and I think people get that confused very easily in understanding that players should take less than their market values … to win championships,” Bryant said. “We don’t look at what the owners get paid and the revenue they generate off the backs of their players.”… “You can’t be a business person if the decisions that you make are held hostage by the perception that others have of you,” Bryant said to CBS. “You can’t be a successful businessman, from my point of view, and sit in a room with these owners — who are phenomenal business people — and have a peer-to-peer conversation if they know at the end of the day you’re going to capitulate to public perception.”
Andre Iguodala came off the bench for the Warriors in his last game, and will look to do so again in the next game. Is he okay with that? Here is his take on the matter, from Rusty Simmons of SF Chronicle: “How did you feel coming off the bench Sunday?: “It doesn’t matter to me who I’m playing with. I think I’m going to make anybody better. When I’m out there playing basketball, it’s just ‘let me do me,’ and everybody is going to benefit. I feel confident that whoever I’m out there with is going to win.” Do you care if you start?: “Do I care? I don’t know. That’s a good question. I’m just playing ball. You try not to make a big deal out of it. I’ve been in the league for a really long time, and there a lot of stories about anything and little things. If my shoes are tied the wrong way, that can become a story. I’m trying not to make it a story this year, and I’m trying to win a championship.” You had eight assists and zero turnovers off the bench: “I think it was just growing up and being smart about the situation. You could do the opposite and just kind of tank it to say that it’s wrong, but our whole focus with this team is to try to continue to improve and to make the most out of our unit. We have so much depth that there will be opportunities to get where everybody wants to be. That’s the main focus.”
When you play with someone as talented as LeBron James, others will naturally have to defer a bit and sacrifice their games. Kevin Love is well aware of the fact that some part of his game will have to go this year, from Michael Lee of Washington Post: ““It’s tough to say. There will be things. I don’t know one stat in particular that will have to take a hit,” Love said. “I’ve been fortunate and unfortunate. Very, very, very bittersweet to say the least that I’ve had to watch playoff basketball for the last six years. I’ve watched [Chris] Bosh. I’ve watched guys like [Dwyane] Wade and different players throughout that teams have to sacrifice. I’d be lying to myself and everybody here if I was telling you I didn’t have to sacrifice. I’m willing to do whatever it takes for this team to win because at the end of the day, that’s what we want, is to win.”
- James, by the way, continues to rake in the dough from off-the-court endorsements. Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today has details: “LeBron James reaches endorsement deal with Kia and will be the brand ambassador for the car company’s luxury K900.”
- Frank Vogel believes the Cavaliers have the best team in the East on paper. Shocking. Dave McMenamin of ESPN has the quote: “Frank Vogel on the Cavs’ standing in the East this season: “On paper, they’re the favorites”
- Stephen Curry believes the Golden State Warriors have a real shot at winning the Western Conference this season: “.@StephenCurry30 on what the @warriors goals are for the season – “We have realistic expectations of winning the West”
Steve Nash somehow injured his back carrying bags and it could become a cause for concern for the fragile point guard. Byron Scott is already discussing the possibility of starting Jeremy Lin over Nash, according to Mike Bresnahan and Eric Pincus of LA Times: “Lakers Coach Byron Scott indicated Jeremy Lin could become the starting point guard because of Nash’s recurring back problems, a switch that made sense because of Nash’s on-again, off-again availability… Scott said he hadn’t officially decided on a permanent switch but appeared to lean toward Lin for continuity’s sake. “I have no doubt in my mind that if I went to Steve and said tomorrow, ‘You know what, I’m going to start Jeremy and the games that you’re available, we’re going bring you off the bench,’ he’s such a professional that I don’t think it would be a problem whatsoever,” Scott said Tuesday.
- The Mavericks have signed Japanese guard Yuki Togashi from Summer League: “The Dallas Mavericks have signed Japanese guard Yuki Togashi after he played on their summer league team. Togashi averaged 5.3 points in four summer league games. The native of Niigata, Japan, played high school basketball in the U.S. at the school that produced Kevin Durant. After his graduation from Montrose Christian School in Maryland in 2012, Togashi played professionally in his native country in 2013-14, averaging 16.3 points and a league-high 7.6 assists per game for the Akita Northern Happinets.
- Dwyane Wade once got fired while working for KFC. See what happened in this video clip.
- Not surprisingly, Gregg Popovich will give some of the members on his team a day off in the next game. A bit surprisingly, he’s also giving himself a day off, according to Jabari Young of the SA Express-News: “Knew Kawhi, Tim, Patty, and Tiago wouldn’t travel vs #Suns but Pop is out too. That surprised me #Spurs.”
- Believe it or not, Tyler Hansbrough has extended his range to the 3-point line. Check out what Ryan Wolstat of Toroto Sun reported: “Tyler Hansbrough was nailing 90% of his dead-on threes this morning. Casey said he has green light on those too, but corner ones preferred.” This is certainly something to keep an eye on during the regular season.
- If you missed it, there was some serious drama going on between Nick Young’s girlfriend and rapper Iggy Azalea and Snoop Dogg late into Tuesday night. Young, of course, had to get involved due to Snoop Dogg’s belligerent ways. Deadspin has details here.
James Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.