This rest issue annoys me on several levels.
First, it simply doesn't make sense for any fan to be upset about it. Teams rest their stars for one reason only: to increase the odds of winning a championship. If sitting players once in a while does that, so be it. You could use the same "it isn't fair to the fan who bought a ticket" logic to say that players shouldn't rest in blowouts, or play less than 38mpg. And it's not the coaches who schedule 82 games, a zillion playoff games and multiple back-to-backs. The owners did that, for one reason alone (more on that below). And concurrently, coaches and GMs have gotten more sophisticated in understanding the importance of rest. It's the same reason that starting pitchers rarely throw complete games any more. You can't blame them, they are doing their best to pursue the ultimate goals in their professions.
Second, Silver's memo to the owners is the height of hypocrisy and is nothing more than grandstanding. He's grandstanding to the fans when he could just say "Look, stars miss games in March but the quality of play in May and June is higher. If you want one you can't have the other, so when coaches decide rest is needed, we need to respect that."
But he doesn't do that, it's hypocrisy to assert it has anything to do with the fans because, as SL noted above, it all boils down to the almighty dollar. Silver doesn't care whether a Sunday game in March is the epitome of high-level basketball. He cares about his $2 billion TV contract, which is driven by ad revenue during those games. That's why the season runs into the third week in June now, instead of the second week in May like it used to. In 1980 the Lakers won a ring by playing 16 playoff games. The 2008 Celtics played 26. You've extended the season by a month and in some cases 10 games, which are each far more grueling than any regular season game.
So now he sends this memo, and to whom? The owners. Because they are the ones with a financial stake in all of this. It has nothing to do with the quality of play and everything to do with money.
And sorry, Lebron, it has very little to do with you specifically as a player. What's changed isn't how important you are as a talent, compared to Timmy Duncan. What's changed is how many dollars the owners stand to lose when you sit out a nationally televised game, compared to when Pop sat his players in 2004 or whatever.
BB out.