Dave McMenamin's post on LA Lakers | Latest updates on Sulia

The 3 best head coach interviews in the NBA in my opinion: Popovich, Rivers & Karl. Here's GK on Pop's restgate ...

"I do see both sides of it," Karl said before the Nuggets played the Lakers on Friday. "I’m a big supporter of the fans and I do understand what Commissioner Stern is trying to do supporting the fans. In the same sense, I think it’s the territory of coaching. I’ve said for years, our influence, our arena of influence, our bucket of influence, is shrinking. "Now we’re talking about who can play and when they can play. Are we going to talk about how many shots they got to get? Are we going to go that far? What plays to run? I mean, I’m making a facetious statement, but it’s a territory that I know Commissioner Stern has a proud love for the game of basketball, but I think he’s dealt with it in an area that made me a little nervous." Has he ever done something like Pop did before? "When I was in Seattle we didn’t play some guys. Like Nate McMillan wouldn’t play when we knew we were going to win and we had good enough players to win the game. Sam Perkins wouldn’t play when he was older. But we would never take four guys out of the lineup. I mean, I tinkered a little bit, but I think the big thing was the four guys." Then what about Karl's idea to shorten the season (http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/09/george-karl-thinks-a-shorter-nba-season-would-be-better/), thus eliminating four-games-in-five-nights situations that can cause a decision like Popovich's to be made? "I don’t think that’s going to happen. Philosophically, it sounds great. But, again, it’s season tickets and the money. They’re not going to reduce the GNP (gross national product) of the NBA."