No rest for the leery? NBA factoring into Heat player-availability decisions

NEW YORK — The rules have changed. This weekend is another example.

Where Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra previously would check with the team’s training and medical staff when it came to guiding his older players through back-to-back games, he now must take it an extra step … and go to the rule book.

While the Player Participation Policy adopted by the NBA this season hasn’t exactly turned the league upside down, it has added another layer to the process for Spoelstra when it comes to navigating sets of games such as Friday night against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden and then Saturday night against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center at the conclusion of this five-game trip.

“We’re going along with it,” Spoelstra said, “and I think the intentions are right, to get players, teams treating the regular season with more intention, to have more guys available, without putting players in harm’s way.”

The Heat entered Friday with forward Jimmy Butler yet to complete both ends of a back-to-back set this season. In the first of the three back-to-back sets to this point, Butler sat out the third game of the season for rest on the road against the Minnesota Timberwolves, after playing in the road game the previous night against the Boston Celtics. Butler then missed the first game of a road back-to-back set for personal reasons against the Atlanta Hawks, before returning the next night against the San Antonio Spurs.

In that most recent back-to-back set, guard Kyle Lowry was held out the second night for rest in San Antonio.

Because he earned All-NBA status last season, Butler is in a specific group of players that the league mandates not rest during nationally televised games or games in the league’s new In-Season Tournament, unless with an ailment verified by the NBA.

Butler met those requirements by playing in the nationally televised game in Boston before sitting out the following night in Minnesota.

Now the Heat find themselves in a similar scenario, with Friday night’s game against the Knicks both nationally televised and part of the In-Season Tournament.

To a degree, that forces Spoelstra’s hand, where he previously might have turned to the analytics to decide the most optimal scenario for potential rest.

“We’re going to treat every back-to-back separately,” Spoelstra said, “and some of the determinations will be made after the first game, and then we’ll adjust and evaluate accordingly, as the season goes on.”

With Butler 34, Kevin Love 35 and Lowry 37, it is a delicate balance for an older Heat roster.

That, Spoelstra said, has to factor in, as well.

“It’s their welfare and how they feel after the first game,” Spoelstra said. “If there’s something we have to address that they’re working through, we won’t know until we get to that point.”

The Heat’s next back-to-back set is a pair of home games on Dec. 13 against the Charlotte Hornets and Dec. 14 against the Chicago Bulls.

By then, the In-Season Tournament will be over and neither of those games are nationally televised, with no travel involved.

But eventually it will be back to the minefield of an older roster and the requirement of getting leading men on nationally televised games (which are defined by the league as those on ABC, ESPN, TNT, but not NBA TV).

So, yes, there has been some advance scouting of the schedule.

“We did as a staff,” Spoelstra said, “but we’re still going to treat each one separately.”

For his part, Lowry shrugged off Spoelstra’s conundrum. At his age, Lowry is exempt from the policy. He also appreciates the league’s policy.

“The NBA is a great business, and we understand as players and representatives of the NBA, we understand that it’s business,” Lowry said. “I appreciate that they try to make business decisions, but at the same time, as players, you also have to be understanding of who you are and you’ve got to know your body.”