Cavaliers’ head coach Kenny Atkinson had a strong reaction to the news that Cleveland had been fined $100K for violating the league’s player participation policy, Chris Fedor writes for Cleveland.com.
“I think my number one job is to continue to protect the health of our players,” Atkinson said. “So [it’s] kind of that simple. I think that Miami game, we came home at 3:30 in the morning, so you have to anticipate sometimes too, what the schedule looks like. We have those discussions, we make decisions. I’ll rock with that decision.”
The policy was changed prior to the 2023/24 season to try to address what the NBA felt was an issue of star players resting despite being otherwise healthy.
Stars under this policy are defined as players who made an All-Star or All-NBA game within the past three years. By that definition, the Cavs were in violation of the policy due to resting both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, though Atkinson disagrees with the message that sends.
“We win that game too,” Atkinson said. “So, to me, you throw that on top of it and it’s like, wait a second, are you discrediting the guys that played that night? Is that a weird way to look at it? We’re in a competitive environment here. So, on top of it, we helped develop guys and we won the game and then we get penalized for it.”
Atkinson said that while he understands that the league has its policies, he doesn’t plan to change his approach moving forward.
We have more from around the Central Division:
The Bucks have struggled to maintain leads with Giannis Antetokounmpo off the floor, a trend that will be put to the test with the news that the star forward will miss at least the next week, writes Eric Nehm for The Athletic. Nehm notes that the Bucks this season have outscored opponents by 7.6 points per 100 possessions with Antetokounmpo on the floor, but have been outscored by 12.8 points per 100 possessions with him off. Nehm writes that everything will rely on the early-season breakout guard Ryan Rollins, who has led the team in scoring in games Antetokounmpo has missed. “It doesn’t look good right now,” coach Doc Rivers said. “*We got [**Kevin Porter Jr.*] out and Giannis out. That’s not great for our team, but we’re either going to find somebody or find something to run that will pay dividends later, and that’s the stretch we’re about to go through.”
The news of Antetokounmpo’s injury is also a blow to the budding chemistry between the Bucks‘ newly formed partnership between the former MVP and Myles Turner. Grant Afseth of RG.org writes that the addition of Turner has given the Bucks a chance to bridge the past iterations of the team to its future. That connection started on the court, but extends to how they support each other in terms of the mental side of the game, as evidenced by the team’s first game in Indiana following the acquisition of Turner. “To be able to come here in Indiana, all-time leading block leader, to be booed… he might not say it, but it kind of hurt,” Antetokounmpo said. “We are here to pick him up, tell him how much we love him and respect him. We understand how much he gave for the team Indiana and how much he’s willing to give for Milwaukee.”
As the Pistons have gotten off to one of the hottest starts in the league, head coach JB Bickerstaff has been particularly impressed by star **Cade Cunningham‘s demeanor and relationship with his teammates, whether the team’s experiencing success or the losing seasons he went through early in his career, writes The Athletic’s Hunter Patterson. “He could’ve been pissed off. He could’ve been frustrated. He could’ve blamed everybody else, but never once did you hear him do that. The only thing he ever did was put his head down, go to work and accept responsibility*,” Bickerstaff said. “*I marvel at a guy that age, who is able to handle his teammates the way he does. (He’s) a guy who very easily could separate himself from the group, but he never does. He’s always the one pulling people together. He doesn’t want to be treated any differently. He can eat without taking food off your plate. There’s nothing better than that from your superstar.”