Second Thoughts

Kerr in favor of taking one for the team

Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said he’d take a pay cut if it would help the NBA come up with a reasonable solution to the issue of resting marquee players during the regular season.
Golden State Coach Steve Kerr said he’d take a pay cut if it would help the NBA come up with a reasonable solution to the issue of resting marquee players during the regular season.

Golden State Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said he would be willing to cut his own salary if the NBA shortened the schedule as a potential solution to the issue of stars resting during regular-season games as preventative maintenance.

"I wouldn't be opposed to it, even at the expense of my own salary, but it's something that everyone would have to agree to," Kerr said before Tuesday's 112-87 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. "I think even just going down to 75 games, I think that would make a dramatic difference in schedule. Now I don't see that happening because there is money at stake for everybody.

"I do think this can be remedied though -- maybe not remedied -- but I think it can be dramatically helped with what the league is already working on for next year and the consideration of geographics when it comes to the schedule."

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called the practice of resting stars "an extremely significant issue for our league" in a memo sent to team owners that was obtained by ESPN.

Silver's memo stated that the issue would be a major topic of discussion during the league's board of governors meeting April 6 in New York.

"I think this is something that every organization needs to partner together with the league and our broadcasting partners and figure out what's best for everybody," Kerr said. "We all have the same interests at heart, which is we need to do what's best for the league. And I think that's where Adam is really good in terms of taking a lot of opinions and finding solutions. This is not a right-or-wrong issue. It's what can we do to best serve the league, best serve the players' health. Is there a compromise?"

Near-perfect employee

A West Virginia factory worker won $100,000 for correctly picking the first 29 games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's first round, outlasting everyone else who entered the competition for Berkshire Hathaway employees.

He also picked the winners of the 31st and 32nd games correctly. The 30th game, between Marquette and South Carolina, cost him big time. If he had correctly picked South Carolina to win, he would have pocketed $1 million with a perfect first-round bracket.

At least he didn't have to split the pot like last year's two winners.

Berkshire Hathaway didn't release the employee's name in its statement announcing the win.

The ultimate prize in Buffett's competition is $1 million a year for life. To win that, an employee must pick the winners of all 32 first-round games, plus the 16 second-round games.

This year's competition had more than 96,000 entrants -- more than a quarter of Berkshire Hathaway's 367,000 employees.

Ticket, please

An iguana caused quite a racket during a professional tennis match Wednesday at the Miami Open, perching atop a scoreboard and then scurrying across the court.

The rather large reptile showed up at Court 1 midway through the final set of Jiri Vesely's 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-5 victory over Tommy Haas, delaying play for several minutes.

At first, Vesely and Haas tried to continue the match, but action was halted despite futile attempts to remove the iguana.

Haas wandered over with a cellphone and snapped a selfie with the critter.

At one point, the unpaid spectator climbed down from the scoreboard and ran across the court before winding up on top of another scoreboard.

Eventually, someone used a towel to grab the iguana by the tail and carried it away.

Sports quiz

How many teams did Steve Kerr play for in his NBA career?

Answer

Six: The Phoenix Suns (1988-1989), Cleveland Cavaliers (1989-1992), Orlando Magic (1992-1993), Chicago Bulls (1993-1998), San Antonio Spurs (1999-2001 and 2002-2003) and Portland Trail Blazers (2001-2002).

Sports on 03/24/2017

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