NBA May Slowly Stop Sleeping on Sleep Science

↵↵It was just a passing story early this week, but Houston Rockets coach Rick Adelman had some fairly pointed things to say about his team’s brutal schedule this month, which includes four straight back-to-backs. He’s right to complain: Back-to-backs tax teams from top to bottom, and some of the “These players aren’t trying” criticism of NBAers probably comes from seeing guys try to play basketball at a high level for an extended stretch for the second time in 24 hours.↵

↵↵But Adelman’s concerns are about a relatively rare phenomenon. Though all teams play back-to-backs over the course of the year, only a few get saddled with such an onerous schedule. Far more insidious, according to an excellent piece by Howard Beck in today’s New York Times, is the effect of morning shootarounds on players’ energy.↵

↵↵⇥⇥The typical night game ends at about 10 p.m. By the time players shower, dress and speak with the news media, it is close to 11 p.m. They are usually famished, so everyone eats a late dinner. Even the most conservative players — those who do not frequent nightclubs — will not get to sleep until at least 2 a.m. If the team is traveling, players may not reach their hotel until 3 a.m.⇥⇥⇥↵⇥↵⇥⇥For a shoot-around or practice that starts at 10 a.m., players have to arrive as early as 9 a.m. to lift weights, receive treatment or be taped.⇥⇥⇥↵⇥

↵⇥⇥↵⇥↵⇥⇥“You’re talking about our players functioning on five or six hours of sleep a day,” (Boston coach Doc) Rivers said, “and that’s just not good enough.”⇥⇥⇥↵⇥

↵↵↵I sometimes have trouble functioning on five or six hours a day, too, and nothing I do is nearly so draining as playing professional basketball. So I can only imagine the drain that endorsement obligations, near-constant travel, late dinners, possible club-going, and early mornings have on players when it comes time to play the actual games. (No wonder Tracy McGrady was rumored to spend half the day sleeping: He was saving it all for the court!)↵

↵↵The grind in baseball is what led to the wide availability and abuse of amphetamines in the 1970s, and that probably continues today, perhaps under different pretenses. The NBA hasn’t had the same problems, and if this trend toward sleep -- six teams have moved or eliminated morning shootarounds -- becomes a movement, they might never crop up, with players naturally getting the rest necessary to perform at full capacity.↵

↵↵You can’t fail a sleep test, after all.↵

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