San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has insisted that he will not coach in July amid talk around the league of how to ease the schedule on the players.
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Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has suggested extending the league’s schedule into July, which would allow the NBA front office to eliminate back-to-backs and three games in three nights on the schedule.
While Popovich would be in favour of easing the strain on the players given that he regularly rests his stars due to a packed schedule, he isn’t a fan of the idea of spending time in the summer inside the gym.
Pop, on spacing out schedule at the cost of playing into July: "I will not come to work in July. If there's a game in July, count me out."
— Dan McCarney (@danmccarneySAEN) March 4, 2015
Pop added that he wouldn’t even come back for a Game 7 of the NBA Finals such is his disdain for the idea of pushing the season back deeper into the summer and he will likely receive support around the NBA too.
While it is important to consider the players and offer them some sort of relief by stretching out the season, the impact on team staff, media and fans must also be taken into account with many arguing that it would have a negative result.
A separate suggestion has been to scrap the pre-season schedule and start earlier in October, and so commissioner Adam Silver will have to consider all the possibilities if he is to make any changes.
Silver has previously stated that he would be interested in making changes, but it remains to be seen what the ideal solution for all concerned is as it is unlikely that the number of games in the 82-game regular season will be reduced.
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