The NBA has done a great job with its schedule, reducing the number of back-to-backs and four-in-fives this season.
The league is embracing technology that helps create the best schedule possible. Truthfully, the NBA probably should have turned to it sooner.
But before the technology existed, a man named Matt Winick formed the annual schedule.
As you’d guess, that led to some funny moments.
Howard Beck of Bleacher Report:Winick once had an owner lobby him not to schedule his team a specific weekend.
“Why? It was the owner’s son’s bar mitzvah,” he said, chuckling. “How do you put that in a computer?”
Another year, a head coach asked Winick to give his team more home games on the first night of a back-to-back. Winick did his best to accommodate him. The coach got fired before the new season began, and landed with a divisional rival.
The next time the two crossed paths, the coach groused that his old team had a better schedule than his new team.
“I said, ‘Look, you sonofabitch, I gave you what you wanted! I didn’t tell you to get fired!’” Winick recalled with a smile and laugh.This is a really interested read about Winick and his career. I recommend reading it in full.