Shooting Stars or Sitting Stars?

Circling the headlines and conversations of many sports authorities right now is the topic of resting major NBA stars. While this has been cogitated in the past, it has become a serious topic with the recent decisions by both Kerr and subsequently Tyronn Lue to rest their starters. Both of these instances affected primetime matchups, but were they justified decisions? One lens to look through focuses on the fact that these games come close to the playoffs, and these are playoff teams with a real chance to obtain hardware. However, switch lenses for a bit, take a macro focus and realize that we are dealing with professionally trained athletes whose 48 minutes on the sideline arguably shouldn’t be this commonplace.

First, let’s look at the Warriors’ situation. In one of the most controversial scheduling snafus the league has ever seen, the Dubs had to play a lot of games in a lot of cities and travel a lot of miles in not a lot of days (to put it bluntly). So what do they decide to do at the end of that stretch? Rest Curry, Klay, and Draymond against the Spurs. Now, this is widely viewed as a middle finger to the league and ABC for such outlandish calendar organization. And I can see where Kerr is coming from with this decision as it does seem slightly unfair to punish the West’s best team with a schizophrenic road trip. But there’s more at play here than just the calendar. And if we switch gears to the Cavs, who weren’t anywhere near a strenuous road trip, we see that Lebron, Kyrie, and K-Love were also butt-planted on the bench. Time to dissect.  

For the sake of creativity, imagine you are in 7th grade. More specifically, you are an aspiring young basketball player who lives 5 hours outside of San Antonio. While you live in Texas, Curry has been your favorite player since you learned how to spell ‘basketball’. As a grand gesture from your awesome parents, they arrange a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see a primetime matchup and,  more importantly, your idol. With butterflies in your stomach and your Curry jersey on, you show up to your seats only to find out that the Chef and his two sidekicks are sidelined. Confused and disappointed, you watch with your parents as the B-squad plays a mediocre game while the starters are “resting”. Although you may typically be scorned for this, on the car ride home you frustratingly ask, “What the shit?” 

I’m right there with you, kid. For a few reasons. As a weak justification, the coaches of these games cited playoff proximity as valid reason for rest. These athletes are at the pinnacle of physical fitness. They have trained their whole life to play in the NBA, to be a star, to perform at this level. To think that they need to sit down for 1 game to recover is simply ridiculous. Now, I’m not an NBA player (I know, bummer) so no experience can be cited, but history can be. Can you imagine if Kobe or Jordan had decided to, instead of playing a crucial game, put on their pansy suit and sit? Me neither. Let’s never forget that Kobe, with a torn achilles, came back out on the floor to make both of his free throws. Playing is their job.  They signed up for the spotlight when they decided to put extra work in to be the best. So they should make use of those practice hours and show the world what they have. Every night. Because there are a special group of people watching, and they’re called fans. 

These are the people that make the world of sports revolve. They are not a group of people to take lightly. If decisions like Kerr’s and Lue’s continue to happen there won’t be a guarantee that going to see a game will result in live admiration of a star player. So to the stars and coaches out there inspiring today’s youth: Respect the fans, respect the hustle, and respect the game. Looking back, you’ll wish you played that primetime game and made some 7th grader’s dream come true. Suck it up, suit up, and play. 

P.s. That picture above is only one of Kobe’s many hero moments, sinking two free throws with a torn achilles. Donning a PE of Kobe VIII’s in Lakers’ colors, this injury later inspired the unique Kobe IX’s. An incredibly tall high-top, the Kobe IX’s took inspiration from boxing shoes in order to make sure Kobe’s feet were secure.