Today’s NBA Player, Soft or Softer?

Storyline: Coaches are diminishing the quality of games when they allow star players to sit out during road games. Fans are being cheated out of great NBA action AND their hard-earned money.

This particular article is very dear to my heart. Not that my previous articles weren’t special to me, but I’m finding it extremely difficult to turn the other cheek on this issue.

NBA great, Jerry West (photo, nextimpulsesports.com)

I’m referring to the current crop of NBA Superstars. When I hear about how many games these current stars play or about their flight schedules I’m in a constant state of nausea! GIVE ME A BREAK!

I remember the toughness associated with superstars of yesteryear. I’m talking about players like Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, John Stockton, Karl Malone, and Reggie Miller.

Today, most NBA franchises have private jets or charter private planes. And consider the medical technology that exists for today’s athletics.

I remember the late 80’s-90’s when guys like Bernard King and Danny Manning had to miss nearly TWO full seasons because of ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears. I can remember when having arthroscopic surgery may have shelved a player for half the season. In today’s NBA, a player can have arthroscopic surgery and return within a few weeks.

The Pacers’ Paul George overcame serious injury.

The Pacers’ Paul George had a career year during the 2013-14 season. But he suffered a gruesome leg injury while training with USA Basketball during that summer. While he did miss much of the following NBA regular season, George was able to return and play roughly 20 games before the season ended. This would have not been possible 15 or 20 years ago.

It’s a nod to modern day medicine.

But I think these advancements have a negative side effect: they have made today’s athletes SOFT! And the idea of resting players because of back-to-back games is ludicrous!

I watched an interview on Saturday with LeBron James after the Cavaliers’ loss to the Grizzlies in Memphis. A beat reporter asked James why he didn’t play in the game and his answer befuddled me. He seemed irritated by the reporter–as if the reporter was out of line for questioning him.

Let’s examine a couple of scenarios.

First of all, if you’re in a different conference, then a team’s season ticket holders will get to see a visiting star only once a year and only three or four times a season if the visiting team is in the same division. These ticket holders spend from $250-$500 a game for prime seats. They love their team, of course, but they also enjoy watching their team play against high-profile players.

LeBron, seeking to rest, sat out a game in Memphis (photo, Wikipedia.com)

Secondly, if you’re a marquee NBA player and feel the need to rest your body, then sit out a home game. Home fans get to see you forty-one times a season. Sitting out a few games won’t matter in the larger scheme of the season.

Sitting out road games is just plain selfish! Not only are you cheating your teammates, but you’re cheating the fans in the host city. Its actions like these that have legends of the NBA openly questioning the toughness of today’s generation of players.

Players like Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars, Chauncey Billups, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, and other champions would never sit out to rest.

Recently ESPN’s Jalen Rose talked to Hall of Famer Allen Iverson about sitting out. Here’s what Iverson had to say: “If one of my coaches would’ve told me to sit out a game and I wasn’t injured we would DEFINITELY have a problem!”

Current players are afforded too many luxuries too soon into their careers. I personally don’t care how long you’ve been in the League. These guys play a sport for a living! They’re not staying up hours at a time trying to find a cure for cancer. They only work four hours per day. The extra work they put in to stay ahead of their peers is just that–extra work! They’re not contractually obligated to do so.

Charles Barkley was anything but soft ( photo, blackandsmart.wordpress.com)

I was on board when players argued that the All-Star break needed to be extended. What other job affords you a three-to-four month vacation every year and pays you a minimum of $788,000 per year?

The Jordan’s, Pippen’s, Iverson’s, Bryant’s, O’Neal’s, Bird’s, Barkley’s, Miller’s, Malone’s, Stockton’s and others averaged nearly 100 games a season for close to a decade straight. These guys NEVER took off games!

That’s why it’s so difficult to compare today’s players with the greats of the game whose work ethic produced deep playoff runs and championships.

Any job that offers me these incentives would never have to worry about me “needing” time off for rest–especially if I have days off in between my work days.

The manner in which these players are being handled has to be addressed by Commissioner Adam Silver. The coaches are diminishing the quality of games when they allow star players to sit out during road games. Fans are being cheated out of great NBA action AND their hard-earned money.

Whatever the solution, it shouldn’t be at the fans’ expense. Let’s find a solution that’s fair to everyone involved.