NBA Power Rankings: Week 3 brings forth the load-management debate … again

With the LA Clippers’ decision to sit Kawhi Leonard for a nationally televised game last week, the debate over load management dominated the NBA in Week 3.

Week 3 of the NBA’s schedule was marked by the league’s last unbeaten team falling out of those ranks spectacularly with THREE OR FOUR consecutive losses and by the ongoing saga of teeth gnashing over NBA teams opting to strategically rest players with an eye on managing their workload throughout the season.

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Referred to often — and sometimes incorrectly — as load management, the issue came to the forefront last week when the LA Clippers opted to sit Kawhi Leonard for the first game of a back-to-back set.

The controversy erupted because it was a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals battle between Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo and featured the Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks on a national stage.

Of course, Leonard hasn’t played both ends of a back-to-back since late in the 2016-17 season, but don’t let that detract anyone from screaming from the mountaintops how soft the NBA has gotten in the 21st century.

Fans are mad they didn’t get to see The Klaw and The Greek Freak match up. My demographic is full of angst because there was no such thing as load management 30 or 40 years ago when we remember the game was at its best ever of all-time, so there!

To which I say: Bunk. Because bulls*** is not proper on a family platform.

When decrying the so-called softness of today’s NBA player, bear in mind these facts:

• Medical science knows more now than it did then. It’s called progress. It’s not a bad thing or something to be afraid of. Really. It’s why we have things like electric lights and indoor plumbing.
• The players of yesteryear had barriers that today’s generation doesn’t have, such as smaller rosters, insane travel schedules and a tough-guy mentality that dictated that if one was ambulatory, he should play.
• The players of yesteryear were also not nine-figure capital investments by their teams. Not saying teams didn’t value their star players in the NBA of old, but it was certainly not to the extent of the contemporary iteration of the NBA.

Here’s a case study on the load management question. Leonard played in 60 games last season and was able to remain healthy enough to put the Toronto Raptors on his back and carry them to an NBA championship.

Now imagine the career of one of the all-time greats, Larry Bird. Bird was a three-time NBA MVP and won three titles with the Celtics, all while playing 38.4 minutes per game over the course of 13 seasons while battling back and heel problems.

Outside of the 76 games he missed after heel surgery in 1988 and the 59 he was out over his last two seasons because of his back, Bird essentially played 79-82 games a season for a decade and played in the neighborhood of 40 minutes a night.

Throw in a stretch of 145 playoff games over his first nine seasons while playing 42.6 minutes per game and it’s no wonder his body wore out in his mid-30s.

How much longer could Bird have been at an elite level had some thought gone to maybe not playing him in some back-to-backs or resting him once during the old four-games-in-five-nights and five-games-in-seven-nights scenarios?

So you can choose to spit bile and decide you know more than the doctors and trainers who work with these players on a daily basis. For my money, I’m going to defer to the folks who know more than I do on this topic and realize that change is an inevitable outcome of, you know, being alive.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled NBA Power Rankings after Week 3 of the 2019-20 season, another week with a lot of noise and turbulence based on smallish sample sizes.

Last week: Lost to Houston 107-100, beat Minnesota 137-121, lost at Orlando 118-86, lost to Dallas 138-122

This week: Monday at San Antonio, Wednesday at Charlotte, Friday vs. Utah, Sunday vs. Denver

The Memphis Grizzlies had a very uneven week, going 1-3 with a dominating win over the Timberwolves and lopsided losses to both the Magic and Mavericks. The Grizzlies sparked some load-management rumbles of their own by sitting Brandon Clarke and Ja Morant for Saturday’s loss to Dallas at FedEx Forum.

Jae Crowder had an effective week for the Grizzlies, even as his performances were about as consistent as the ball club’s. For the week, he put up 13.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.3 steals on a shooting slad of .486/.440/.700, hitting 11-of-25 from 3-point range, improving his overall rate this season to 31.7.

Memphis’ game of the week was turned in by Dillon Brooks in the win over the T-Wolves, as he went off for a season-high 31 points. and is averaging 12.7 points and 4.1 assists in 26.2 minutes per game over nine starts this season. His 39.2 percent overall shooting isn’t terrific, but he’s at 37.5 percent on 4.4 attempts from deep per game.

It’s going to be a season of growth for the young Grizzlies, who have three starters younger than 25 and no active player on the roster that has hit the age 30 mark.

Last week: Beat Portland 127-118, lost at Houston 129-112, lost at Minnesota 125-119 (OT), lost at Oklahoma City 114-108

This week: Monday vs. Utah, Wednesday at Lakers, Friday vs. Boston, Sunday at New Orleans

The Golden State Warriors continue to bounce along with a share of the worst record in the NBA at 2-8 after going 1-3 last week.

Perhaps no player summed up the week better than two-way guard Damion Lee, who has played in 10 games already and is a regular rotation member. At this rate, Lee will burn up his allotment of 45 days with the parent Warriors before Christmas.

Lee was terrific in Golden State’s lone win last week, scoring 18 points on 4-of-8 shooting while hitting 10-of-11 at the foul line against the Trail Blazers. Lee was less terrific in the Warriors’ three losses, averaging 6.7 points in 25.7 minutes per game while shooting 6-for-29 (20.7 percent) overall and going 2-for-11 from deep.

D’Angelo Russell made his way back from a sprained ankle with some serious thunder, going for a career-high 52 points with nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks in the overtime loss at Minnesota on Friday. He followed it up with 30 points and seven dimes in Saturday’s loss at Oklahoma City.