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Kobe, Dirk advocate for shorter season

Mike Stone / REUTERS

In the past several years, the NBA has gotten hip to the importance of rest, and various other means of durability enhancement and injury prevention over a long season, from cryotherapy to biometric data and wearable tech.

And yet, as ESPN's Baxter Holmes and Tom Haberstroh found in a report published Tuesday, the 61 games missed this postseason by rotation players (defined as players in their teams' top seven in minutes per game) is the highest total in the past two decades, and the playoffs aren't even done yet.

There's a growing belief in NBA circles that the biggest culprit - and the most realistic fix - is the length of the season. The issue with changing that, the ESPN report shows, is that shortening the schedule would mean less revenue, a prospect few league employees - be they players, coaches, or front-office execs - not to mention the owners, are willing to live with.

"You can't (just) lose five-to-10 games (off the schedule)," the now-retired Kobe Bryant told Holmes and Haberstroh. "If you're going to do it, you've almost got to go quality versus quantity. If you're going to shorten the schedule, then you've got to shorten the schedule and look to enhance your TV numbers substantially ... because now every regular-season game is worth a s---."

Regardless of the logistical complications, Bryant sees the value in limiting players' workloads, whether that means abbreviating the schedule or the length of the games.

"You shorten the games, you shorten the risk for injury and things of that nature," Bryant said. "It definitely helps."

The concern isn't simply with injuries. A shorter schedule would also limit fatigue, something Bryant insists would greatly improve the NBA product.

"We can give the fans a greater show," he said. "If guys were able to get more rest and were healthier and all this other stuff, you wouldn't have players sitting out games, back-to-backs and all this other s---. So everyone would get a maximum performance because players would be extremely well-rested and coming in looking to kick ass every single night and looking to put on a show for (the fans) every single night."

Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, a paragon of durability who will turn 38 this month, suggested the regular-season schedule be slashed from 82 games to something in the mid-60s. But Nowitzki also acknowledges the challenges such a proposal would bring.

"I always understand that it's about money, and every missed game means missed money for both parties, for the league, for the owners, for the players," he said. "I understand all that, and that's why I don't think it's going to change anytime soon."

LeBron James, who has played more minutes through his age-31 season than any player in history, echoed that sentiment.

"We all know that, without even seeing the books, that less games (means) less concession stands and less selling of tickets and all of that," James said.

Still, Bryant feels that if the current issues persist, the notion of shortening the season - whatever the financial cost - may start to gain traction.

"I'm sure something can be done," he said. "It's just a matter of, do they want to put in the effort to turn the Titanic around?"

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