Welcome to the latest edition of The “Buzz”: Basketball Roundtable. We pose several basketball related questions to our panel of life-long NBA fans for their candid opinions. We invite anyone to participate by answering the same questions in the “Comments” section at the bottom of this article. Our panel consists of Jordan Leung, Matt Fish (of “Fish on Sports”) and Kaine Elmy.
In Today’s Roundtable we are going to discuss the NBA’s New Concussion Rule and how we have seen things play out in this year’s NBA Playoffs. The concussion suffered by Indiana’s George Hill in their second round series vs the New York Knicks has become somewhat of a controversial issue, especially with the difficulties the Pacers faced in getting their point guard cleared to return to action. Our writers give their take on the new rule.
Jordan – I was at Game 6 when Harrison Barnes took a huge fall and had a big head injury. The new concussion policy should definitely be enforced during the regular season, but it becomes a little trickier during the playoffs.
Each NBA team has just as much interest (if not more) in protecting its players as the NBA, and if the Pacers want to have George Hill on the active roster I think they should be allowed to. David Lee was ruled out for the season, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t give the Warriors about 5 solid minutes a game.
Sometimes during the regular season, players will sit out games due to minor injuries, then reassure fans by saying that they would be able to play this game if it was a playoff game, but they are sitting this one out as a precaution.
Playoffs are just a completely different animal.
Matt – For all the people bemoaning the extensive nature of the NBA’s concussion procedure, the bottom line is that it is necessary. Concussions are relatively rare in basketball, in comparison with other big-market sports like football and hockey, but that doesn’t mean they are any less worrisome when they do occur. Both the NHL and NFL have instituted similarly strict mandates for these types of injuries, and guess what – their players, statistically, are more apt to overcome these injuries than they have been in past decades. Keeping their own players healthier and making sure they’re 100% once they return to the floor is good for the long-term survival of the NBA.
Kaine – I am in full support of the NBA’s concussion rule. Seeing George Hill miss the game was certainly disappointing for the Pacers and their fans, however his long term health and welfare is much more important than seeing an Indiana basketball team at full strength. If the concussion protocol tests don’t provide the desired results, a player must stay off the court until they do. The long term health of a player is just too important, and there needs to be an independent standard here to ensure that teams do what is in the best interests of the player and not what is in the best interests of winning games.
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