Patrick Beverley Thinks Players Resting Is Disgraceful ‘Bullsh*t’

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The debate about whether NBA players should sit out games for rest when they’re perfectly healthy isn’t going away anytime soon. At least not until the league figures out a way to adjust the schedule so that marquee players aren’t skipping out on some of the biggest revenue-generating showcases in prime-time.

The data supports the argument that players are more likely to get injured when playing back-to-backs and that less mileage on the body could potentially add years to a career. But the fans also have a legitimate gripe when they don’t get to see their favorite players, who might only come to town once a season.

The players themselves even seem to be divided on it. LeBron James has been feeling pretty ambivalent about it lately, while James Harden recently said that he’ll only rest when he retires. Harden’s teammate Patrick Beverley was a bit more adamant about his stance. Via SI.com:

“I think that’s bulls—,” Beverley said after Sunday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. “I think that’s a disgrace to this league. I think that fans deserve better.

“I could care less about coaches asking players to rest or not. It’s up to you to play or not, and if you don’t, you’re disrespecting the game,” Beverley added. “And I don’t believe in disrespecting the game, because there was a time where I wasn’t playing in the NBA and I was trying to get here. So me resting, I feel like, is disrespecting me, disrespecting the name on the front of the jersey and disrespecting the name on the back of the jersey.

“We understand that it’s tough,” Beverley said. “We understand that you can’t play all 82, trust me, with injuries and all that. But if you’re feeling OK — a lot of people have been banged up, but if you’re feeling OK, then you should play. That’s what you get paid for. That’s what fans deserve. The fans definitely deserve that. That’s what the city deserves.”

I don’t know how things work in D’Antoni’s locker-room, but it’s usually the coach who determines minutes, rotations, and DNPs, not the other way around, as Beverley is suggesting.

Still, it makes sense that a hardscrabble guy like him would want to play every minute of every game if he could, but the irony is that, as someone who’s battled various injuries over the years, he’s likely a prime example of someone who might benefit from a little rest now and then.

(SI.com)

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