obv the spurs are the example everyone’s pointing at. they lost to sacramento last night. and they didnt mind that much. duncan played 33 min, parker and ginobilli played less. they lost by 13 points – it was not a blowout. does anyone think doc will ever have the discipline to rest his stars during the season like that? the discipline to sacrifice home court advantage (as the spurs have done) to stay fresh for the playoffs?

Steve — I get the idea that they need to play together to build chemistry, but I still don’t see how they benefit from playing together in blowouts. It seems like the benefit doesn’t outweigh the risk. I’ll agree that blowing out a team is fun, and that it helps build camaraderie, but I’d argue that sitting on the sidelines and watching the younger guys hold their own is just as much fun for the vets and builds about as much chemistry. Plus, you have the added benefits of developing the bench and giving young guys some confidence.

dude was only given a one year extension and management hired a head coach in waiting – doc came into the season on thin ice – figuring he cant be fired if he never loses, figuring going deep in the playoffs is a good enough addition to his resume, he risks playing 3 30+ y/o 40 a night.

i’ll be curious to see what happens if management asks him to trim their minutes and he just cant bring himself to do it.