Airplane points compelled the Golden State Warriors right into a cramped journey schedule that may see them play the New York Knicks on the identical day they arrive within the Massive Apple after enjoying a recreation the evening earlier than. However not everyone seems to be sympathetic to this subject, together with radio announcer Jim Barnett.
After Draymond Inexperienced posted a collection of tweets exhibiting that he wasn’t comfortable about this journey itinerary, Barnett, the Warriors’ radio coloration analyst, posted a collection of tweets of his personal showcasing the wild recreation schedule that the San Diego Rockets performed over 50 years in the past.
The implication right here, that previous generations of NBA gamers and groups needed to take care of a lot worse facilities than present ones, is true on the floor, however, as is usually the case with these comparisons, it misses the purpose.
Throughout that period of basketball, most of the well being considerations that the league and its gamers are cognizant of now weren’t even mildly thought of. Many gamers chain smoked, the league thought it was good for abnormally tall people to be cramped in industrial planes to avoid wasting the homeowners a couple of bucks, and relaxation and restoration was seen as an indication of weak point greater than an integral a part of an athlete’s bodily well being.
Most notably, there may be an express a part of the current collective bargaining settlement that works to forestall this sort of state of affairs from taking place. The Warriors’ journey schedule to New York is as near breaking that as is legally allowed, so it’s comprehensible why a member of the gamers’ union is upset that that’s taking place.
If nothing else, the instance Barnett used was the 1967-68 season for the San Diego Rockets; that season, they completed final in a league of 12 groups with a file of 15-67. Immediately’s Warriors, in the meantime, are first in a league of 30 franchises at 22-5 — it is also value noting that via 27 video games in 1967, the Rockets had the precise reverse file of 5-22. In different phrases: The Dubs in all probability shouldn’t be emulating something that staff was doing on the time.
