When did teams cater to fans when it comes to wins?

250 thou fine was out of line if you ask me! its a coaches job to get the most from players. Its looking like our goverment telling you what healthcare we need! What pops did for his starters with 4 games in five nights with a big game coming up with grizz was a thing of beauty if you ask me! I would love to see owners rest all starters the same day and let stern know we'll do what we think is best for our teams without the fine behind it. It really makes sense to rest all to come back fresh in bigger game plus it keeps heat thinking maybe we cant beat in big games come playoffs.

I think stern over steped his power on this fine! You see the samething going into the playoffs all the time, With no fine. What gives?
If i was the players that got the rest i would give back that money to owners for that one game to help pay it back and let stern know!!!
Next time bring then in for first play then bench em all and if it comes down to close game stick em in the last minute of the game

Funny thing is, I think that the punishment was too small and meaningless.

Resting one or two players at a time is one thing.... but basically packing it in and not even dressing almost half the team is ridiculous. I think that putting the fans ahead for a change is a good thing. Who the he'll do these guys think pays their salaries?

Now, on the other hand, I think that this has just as much to do with Stern trying to act like he gives a crap. I think Stern knows how hated he is, and this is a bit of a publicity stunt. If it was actually about the punishment and being fair then the fine would be higher and/or Pop's would be suspended.

I think the true test will be how it is handled when this happens again. Half the teams in the league, especially the Spurs, rest players toward the end of the season.

San Antonio has done this for years. By Stern fining them NOW it is a slap in the face to Utah fans, golden state fans and any other fan base that has watched a San Antonio team while they were resting their big three. Why fine them now? Because it was a nationally televised game and it was the Miami heat.

What I want to know....where is the fine for tanking? Golden State should be fined if we are going to open up this canon worms.

All that is fine and dandy, but what about the underlying problem causing both the phoning in games and the tanking issues, the NBA's schedule?

I mean, that was the last game of a 6 game road trip and their 4th game in 5 nights, that is a game that you can pretty much just put an "L" next to before the season even starts.

The fact of the matter is the Fans probably saw a better basketball game because Pop sent the old timers home rather than forcing them to play 15-20 minutes of tired and uninterested basketball, so the argument of "putting fans first" doesn't really hold water with me.

The NBA schedule, and the fact that it includes so many games that are pre-destined to be terrible, is the thing fans should be complaining about, not the failure to see "stars" play a couple quarters of bad basketball.

And it doesn't take much to fix that problem, just taking 6 games out of the season would make a massive difference.

But nobody, not even the players, would support something like that. Because the league is all about money, and fewer games means less money for everybody.

The Voice of Reason wrote:

San Antonio has done this for years. By Stern fining them NOW it is a slap in the face to Utah fans, golden state fans and any other fan base that has watched a San Antonio team while they were resting their big three. Why fine them now? Because it was a nationally televised game and it was the Miami heat.

What I want to know....where is the fine for tanking? Golden State should be fined if we are going to open up this canon worms.

You take away a couple draft pick for tanking i see what happens? What a slap in the face to jazz fans watching it half off last year with GSW! Prob was stein wanna to see heat slap around a bunch of worn out spurs? Pops played it smart and made stein look stupid for the way matchup fell? I think stein should've keep his mouth shut like he has over the last few years with the same thing happening. Grade F Stern.