The Cleveland Cavaliers were fined $100,000 by the NBA for violating their player participation rules in their recent road trip to Miami. The Cavs rested both Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley in a game they beat the Heat 130-116.
“I’m just gonna be frank, no,” Atkinson said about whether or not he agrees with the league’s decision.
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“I gotta look at the Cavs’ best interest. … And I will say, we won that game too. So like, 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? We’re in a competitive environment here… on top of it, we helped develop guys and we won the game, and then we get penalized for it…. that doesn’t make sense to me.”
The Cavs won in Miami behind a big 30-point performance from Allen. But other young players such as Jaylon Tyson, Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Craig Porter Jr. earned valuable minutes they normally wouldn’t.
The league has seen a growing number of star players suffer from soft tissue injuries to start the season. The Cavs themselves have seen multiple star opponents in Ja Morant and Giannis Antetokounmpo leave games with those types of injuries. Atkinson says every coach is aware of this and is trying to protect their players.
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“Part of my job is to keep these guys on the court, and it’s become, I think, a bigger part of the job,” Atkinson said. “There’s definitely conclusive data at the intensity is higher… our sports science guys are saying it’s like baseball, everyone’s trying to be so efficient in what we do, which is our job, every pitcher is trying to throw 100, and when you look for efficiency sometimes you just got to do it intelligently.”
The Cavs have had a busy schedule to start the season. They’ve already played in three back-to-backs and have their fourth on the horizon. Atkinson pointed this out when initially talking about the league’s fine.
“Fifteen games in 27 days, let that sink in to everybody,” Atkinson said. “My number one job will continue to be to protect the health of our players.”
