NBA Commissioner Adam Silver prior to Friday night's NBA Finals Game 4 said that he "expects league guidelines regarding rest will be in place next season," according to ESPN.com. Silver said, "Where we're heading is the adoption of guidelines that will be in place for next season which will strongly recommend that the extent they rest, they rest at home, and teams also not rest multiple starters on the same night. ... Let's see how that plays out." Silver added, "I'd like to come up with a system that relies on the good faith of our teams that to the extent rest is necessary -- and it is on occasion -- that it's done in an appropriate (manner) but the league executives are not dictating to coaches and GMs precisely what games their players should or shouldn't be playing in" (ESPN.com, 6/9). CBSSPORTS.com's Chris Barnewall wrote Silver's solution is "clearly meant to combat two issues: Teams resting players on the road (when it might be a fan's only chance to see that team) and sitting out entire units of star players during nationally televised games." Silver is "not restricting teams from keeping their players fresh and healthy" for the full season, but he is "trying to avoid harming his product." Rest is "good for teams, but the NBA is entertainment and they can't have their stars missing national TV games or road trips when it's the one time all season they'll be in town" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/10).
TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME: YAHOO SPORTS' Kelly Dwyer noted Silver "isn’t ready to fully litigate" to enact the changes because he has "little to work with at this point beyond acting in the spirit of ever-evolving and eternally nebulous ideas regarding 'what’s best' for the NBA from year to year." To enact new policies, the league "would have to work arm-in-arm with the NBPA between collective bargaining discussions." Dwyer notes this would constitute a "borderline-emergency session that either side would be less interested in discussing during a summer than, say, the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars of television money, and whether or not we’re allowed to spend it all at once" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 6/11).
