It is not only among young people that coaches ask to play less in order to benefit from more training sessions. Even in the NBA, the debate is on the table, and on Friday, it was Steve Kerr who expressed his point of view on the calendar and the arrival of the In-Season Tournament. A popular success, the NBA Cup did not resolve the rest problems demanded by the players and their coaches. On the contrary…
“I like the work of the league… but there is also the disadvantage of the extra game. “I have the impression that the extra travel was detrimental to the Lakers and the Pacers and I don't know if that can be corrected,” says Steve Kerrreferring to the Final Four of the first tournament, played in Las Vegas. “ But I really like the progress and the idea of a tournament during the season. I'm all for experimentation. And I'm also in favor of a 75-game season, but they'll never do it.”
The quality of the game would be improved
Steve Kerr is not the first to campaign for a change from 82 to 75 matches, and beyond the question of players' rest, and therefore fatigue, he mentions the “quality of the product”. “What concerns me is that we play almost a match every two days because of the configuration of the season. While it's nice that players don't have to play back-to-back, they barely have time to practice and I think the quality of the game suffers due to the lack of time spent training. »
And Steve Kerr finds the situation almost paradoxical compared to the time when some teams played up to four matches in five days. “Ironically, we trained more after this period of four matches in five days, because we took advantage of several days of rest, with three good days of training. Today, with a game every other day, the day without playing is a day off…I love what the NBA is doing, but no one listens to me when I suggest a shorter season” he concludes.
