Not sure if this topic has been discussed before.

It seems like coaches get a good chunk of the blame for not resting their starters during the course of the season by limiting their minutes. I don't recall the rest issue being such a hot topic during the Jordan era with players like Stockton, Malone, Dumars, Ewing etc. I agree that players do suffer from fatigue over the grueling 82 game schedule. But why is rest such a seemingly signficant contruibutor to overall performance/record in today's era vs. the past decade or so ago?

The players are bigger, faster and stronger. Todays NBA does not allow you to be physical on defense so it is kind of like playing flag football. You expend more energy trying to grab that little yellow flag rather than just blasting into the ball carrier.

First Chauncey Billups was Wilt Chamberlain; now Tayshaun Prince is Michael Jordan.

Don't get hung up on the players I mentioned. I am just making the point that in my memory player fatigue didn't seem to be a big topic a decade ago. Now days it seems to be a major factor regarding team performance.

If you haven't looked at it, here is a link to an article I wrote for the Forum comparing Pistons' player minutes to championship teams from other times. I think you have to look at both how many minutes in one season and the cumulative effect of lots of minutes and deep playoff runs over the course of multiple seasons.

http://www.pistonsforum.com/pistons-...y-minutes.html