NBA Lockout: History of NBA Labor Shows Weekend Back-to-Backs Are Bad for Television

Anyone suggesting more back-to-back games on the weekend missed an important lesson from the history of NBA Labor.

Heat Shit List member Ira Winderman started a new series for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel with suggestions for improving the NBA: NBA ‘Change the Game’: Lose the 82-game season – Miami Heat – Sun-Sentinel.

His first suggestion was less games and back-to-backs every weekend.

Lessons from the History of NBA Labor teach about the length of the NBA schedule and back-to-back games. Under Tommy Heinsohn's leadership, one of the National Basketball Player Association's demands in 1962 was "the elimination of Saturday night games preceding Sunday afternoon television games".


The NBPA didn't get its demands from 1962 until they threatened to boycott the 1964 all-star game.

A quick look at the 2012 Miami Heat schedule shows no back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday.

Since the NBA allegedly has more intellectual capital than the players, it's amazing that it took the players to ensure the NBA was putting its best game on national television. NBAstuffer.com reported that offensive efficiency and pace decline in back-to-backs.

Exhibit A:

Heat fans want to see Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh at their best, not their worst.

Is it surprising that Ira Winderman made a stupid suggestion to improve the NBA? No, it's not.