After one of the greatest early round games in NBA playoff history, fans were treated to transcendent performances by some of the Eastern Conference’s brightest stars. Luis Scola, D.J. Augustin, and DeMar DeRozan carried their teams in must-win situations, wait…..what?
Well, when some of your highest paid players resemble this gentleman spotted with Selena Gomez (right), coaches aren’t able to worry about who should be getting minutes according to fans, management, or the media, they simply have to play whomever can get the job done.
So far we’ve seen Jose Calderon ($6.7M annual salary) benched for Devin Harris ($1.2M) as the Mavericks tried to contain Tony Parker, Patrick Patterson ($3.1M) log more minutes than Amir Johnson ($6.5) for the Raptors, and Augustin- who was plucked off the street for a measly $755K- vastly outperform the highly overpaid Carlos Boozer ($15.3M) as the Bulls best, and sometimes, sole option on offense.
The Pacers have gotten the most drastic results from ignoring salaries, as their freshly minted free agent center spent Tuesday night as a $14.2 million cheerleader, while the 33-year-old Luis Scola showed Hibbert how offense is supposed to be played. To be fair, the man who was known as “The Big Stick” at Georgetown, received that much money as an outstanding rim protector, yet for months he’s shown an inability to rebound, defend the paint without fouling, and is continually exposed by quicker big men such as Paul Millsap as the league transitions to a new, faster-paced style of play.
If Indiana manages to dispatch the quicker Hawks, perhaps Hibbert will see an expanded role against the Wizards or Bulls, two teams that possess true centers in Marcin Gortat and Joakim Noah. For now, he doesn’t have a role on the court if he can’t score over the top of Atlanta’s smaller defenders, since he certainly doesn’t have the foot speed to match up on the other end of the floor.
This is somewhat of a cautionary tale against overspending, a trend we’re seeing play out across sports (Clayton Kershaw and Miguel Cabrera anyone?), but in the NBA’s case, it’s an opportunity for coaches to finally nix the stigma that it’s a “players’ league” as they bench some of their best players and curb their egos in the process.
