It’s a familiar complaint from players, coaches, management and the media – the NBA’s regular season, a seemingly endless six-month slog, features way too many games.
For now, the L is willing to compromise by experimenting with a reduction of the minutes in a preseason game (from 48 to 44.)
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra argues that it would be a lot more beneficial if the NBA figured out a solution to its brutal 82-game scheduling.
Per CBS Sports:
“It’s something that we talked about in Chicago as coaches,” Hawks’ coach Mike Budenholzer said during pregame [Tuesday]. “I think there’s a lot of different opinions. I personally think it’s something we should look at as a positive. I think just for a lot of different reasons — how we manage players, how we manage the season, the fans’ experience, and everybody’s experience. […] I think it’s great that the league is open-minded and looking at everything and not just following the same path because it’s been done that way for however many years. I think it’s a real testament to Adam Silver and the league that they’re open.”
“I don’t think it’s a matter of how long the game is,” Spoelstra said. “I think there’s too many games, to be frank. I think if there’s some way to find a way to cut out some of the back-to-backs so there aren’t 20-plus of them. I think that’s the bigger issue, not shaving off four minutes in a particular game. But I’m open to seeing what happens with that.”
Spoelstra added, “I think everybody probably agrees there’s too many games in a short period of time.”
