Shaq and Alonzo Mourning’s message for the current generation of players : Shaq: “The moms and the dads that pay all that money to watch you perform, give them a great show.” AM: “And no more load management. The greats that paved the way, they played basketball.”
by rapelbaum
17 Comments
Zo was a bigger top 75 snub than Dwight.
Load management is bad for fans who pay tickets. I agree.
If I paid for a game months in advance to watch Warriors vs. Celtics, then I would want to see Curry, Klay, Draymond vs. Tatum, Brown, and Smart. Given how ticket prices are correlated with how good a team is, I would be pissed if a star sat out for load management reasons.
Back when Shaq and Zo played they didn’t have Ticketmaster and Stubhub so you could buy tickets like 6 months in advance and then find out someone’s not playing
That’s why you always buy tickets like 2-3 days before gameday max
Literal old hats telling guys to be like him. Shaq never played a full season in his life.
I obviously agree with the sentiment.
But coming from Alonzo Mourning who was hurt a lot, and refused to play just because he didn’t like where he was traded to – is a bit hypocritical imo.
Shaq should have stayed in better shape for those fans who wanted to see him dominate for a long time
Lets be real if load management was more acceptable back then they wouldve done it too
Didnt Shaq “get hurt on company time so rehabbed on company time”
Someone who only played more than 70 games in five seasons of a 15-year career telling people about load management is a lark.
I think load management is fine but it needs to be scheduled some time in advance or something. It really sucks for the fans that chose one game to go to and their favorite player ends up sitting out.
The ticket payers that day will suffer, but the global fans as well as the players themselves may suffer for years should a catastrophic injury happen because of irresponsible load management. Power to the players since they know their bodies best and they’re the ones putting their careers on the line. But with great load management power (fuck I hate that I’m quoting Spider-Man), comes great load management responsibility.
Cant get rid of load management without getting rid of the status quo of grassroots basketball, especially AAU.
As long as kids are playing an unhealthy level of hyperspeciallized athletics, i will always support load management.
They played basketball and majority of them played less than 15 seasons
If playing 65-70 games means 18-20 year career then by all means, take some rest.
They really do need to start regulating this more. Submit a load management schedule to the league a month out and make examples when needed if good faith exceptions are taken advantage of.
I should be able to buy a ticket 2-3 weeks out and trust that whoever I paid to see is active
Load management has added 3-4 years to some of these guys career. That’s 1-2 more contracts.
Recent examples of “play a whole season” James Harden and Russell Westbrook are always cooked by the playoffs and fans say they can’t get the job done. Why would anyone invite that?
Nope load management is needed, guys like Kawhi would be out of the league by now if they didn’t let him load manage. In sports even outside of basketball guys are often pushed passed their limits for the “good of the team” a lot of former stars end up with life long physical issues due to what they put their body through during their playing days.
As a team if your paying a guy 30+ mill a year you better do your best to keep him healthy. Yea it sucks not seeing stars play every game during the season but it sucks even more to go into playoffs with your star injured, knowing your season is about to go up in flames.
There’s got to be some balance. Players can’t play until they’re dust, but also there is such a thing as being too careful. I can see why fans would be upset: salaries are skyrocketing while many players play less.