Today, they’re saving it for later

One day, when we look back and wonder when the regular season ceased to matter in sports, we’ll look back at the year 2007.

The warning signs have been coming for a while now, starting with the 2000-01 Lakers’ half-hearted defense of their championship that turned into one of the best postseason runs in NBA history.

Now there’s Roger Clemens. It’s not the double-standard set of rules he seeks while on the team that gets me, it’s this pattern he has established for the last two years of skipping out on spring training and the first two months of the season to show up whenever he wants.

This could be the beginning of a trend. If ballplayers feel the need to get 26-inch rims on their SUVs because a teammate is riding on 24s, you know players will be lining up to get themselves a Clemens contract. Who wants to work on covering first base in the middle of Florida all March when they can be working out at home and say, “See you in June.”

Instead of being punished, Clemens will be rewarded with more money per start than any pitcher in baseball history.

The NBA, meanwhile, is showing there’s no benefit to winning as much as you can during the regular season. The Mavericks went 67-15. That used to almost guarantee good things in the playoffs, since 10 of the previous 11 teams that won at least 65 games went on to win the championship. Not the Mavericks. They’re already home, trying to figure out a way to present Dirk Nowitzki with his most-valuable-player trophy in the least awkward manner possible. (My suggestion: a knock on the door by a UPS delivery man.)

The point of securing the best record is supposed to be to ensure Game 7 played on your home court in case a series goes the maximum number of games. But the lone Game 7 in these playoffs was won by the visiting team, when Utah beat Houston. In fact, visitors have won four of the last nine road games, an almost even-money shot that flies in the face of the 80% advantage the home team traditionally enjoyed.

Teams feel confident that they can cruise through the regular season, then win wherever they have to in the playoffs. Last season Detroit started 47-9, didn’t lose its 10th game until March, and finished 64-18. But the Pistons sputtered in the playoffs and lost to Miami. This year the Pistons won only 53 games but have yet to lose a playoff game. It’s all about May and June.

Are they wrong to think that way? I’m sure the fans would forget a lackluster regular season if it ended with a championship parade. Robert Horry has a better reputation than Nowitzki, even though Horry has scored only half as many points in his career.

In baseball, Alex Rodriguez could rewrite the record books before he’s done, but even with no ties to BALCO, his accomplishments would be considered tainted if he never delivered in October.

Players get paid based on the regular season. But we remember them based on the postseason.

It’s really the fault of the owners, stretching out seasons to pursue the box office and television revenue. We don’t need 162 baseball games or 82 basketball games.

Even the NFL, with its every-week-matters 16-game schedule, has seen its regular season diminished. Two years ago, the wild-card Pittsburgh Steelers marched to the Super Bowl by winning three road games in the playoffs. This last season, the Indianapolis Colts finished last in the league in run defense, then held opponents to 83 rushing yards a game in the playoffs.

And please don’t tell me every Saturday is like a playoff game in college football. If that were the case, a team couldn’t win every game and not even get a shot at a championship. Since 1965, 23 teams have gone undefeated and unrewarded, most recently Boise State.

Speaking of college, the Florida basketball team lost three of its last five regular-season games, then became unbeatable during the NCAA tournament.

Fans are asked to pay more money than ever to watch increasingly lackluster efforts during the regular season. Why shouldn’t the fans stay at home until the players are interested themselves?

Call it the Clemens Clause.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/Adande.