The Hornets owner and former Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan doesn’t seem to agree with other owner’s philosophies on load management.
Throughout a full 82-game regular season slate, there’s always injuries and fatigue that can emerge for a good bulk of the players in the NBA. Especially considering how active a lot of these players stay now during the offseason, there’s ample shot for injuries to arise at almost any time. There’s always the argument that’s brought up surrounding the Chicago Bulls and all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan from his endurance throughout the NBA Championship dynasty years in the 1990’s.
Over the course of nine of the seasons Jordan played in the NBA, with either the Bulls or the Washington Wizards, he played in all 82 games during the regular season. In three other seasons, Jordan played in at least 78 games. He was truly a warrior that had some of the most impressive endurance over the course of an entire 82 game regular season schedule for any Hall-of-Famer in NBA history.
However, Jordan still gets to speak his mind behind closed doors on the load management strategies that a lot of NBA teams take on now to preserve their brightest stars for the playoffs. Los Angeles Clippers superstar forward Kawhi Leonard is often the subject of the speculation and controversy surrounding load management in today’s NBA.
Last season with the defending NBA Champion Toronto Raptors, Kawhi played in 60 regular season games to preserve his endurance for their playoff run. It looks as if he’ll be kept on a similar workload this season with the Clippers under head coach Doc Rivers.
And dating back to the 2017-18 season, Kawhi played in just nine regular season games with the San Antonio Spurs.
Earlier this week, former Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford (now with the Orlando Magic) opened up on what he used to hear from the team’s owner (MJ) to the New York Daily News. Clifford shared some interesting views that MJ used to have on load management and players holding out to rest during the regular season.
"For me, my background frankly, it all goes back to expectations. Being with Michael in Charlotte, Michael used to tell them every year, you’re paid to play 82 games."
The Bulls do have one of the more old school head coaches it seems now with the recently extended Jim Boylen. Former Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg used to get a rap for being soft on players. But the coach previous to Hoiberg, Tom Thibodeau, had a reputation similar to that of Boylen as being one of the toughest on their players in the entire NBA.
With the way the NBA is strategized in the modern day, load management is just a part of the game. We want to see the NBA’s brightest stars healthy and productive when it matters most.