There’s a lot you can say about Adam Silver, the NBA’s intrepid commissioner, who has time and again proven himself a progressive, agile, innovative thinker when it comes to the future of basketball in the Information Age, player agency, and how to best leverage celebrity status in a league that thrives off transcendent personalities.
Silver has never been afraid of change. He recognized early on that the league needs to adapt to the evolving media landscape and the breakneck globalization of the world’s fastest-growing sport. And as far as the on-court product is concerned, he’s also remained open to new ideas for how to improve the fan experience by implementing rule changes designed with the viewer in mind.
We could see even bigger changes to come in the future. Silver has long been a proponent of both a shorter season and an improved All-Star Game experience, and it appears that those two notions might intersect with his latest idea about adding some sort of midseason tournament to the schedule.
Via Tim Bontemps of ESPN:
“That’s why I’m particularly interested in looking at different kinds of formats — at midseason tournaments, for example, play-in tournaments — because even accepting that players have so many miles on their bodies, there may be better ways to present it. Assuming guys are going to play 82 games, maybe there should be a certain number of games in the regular season and then there should be two tournaments throughout the season.”
It’s an idea very much in its infancy, but it isn’t the first time Silver has thrown it out there. Silver has also previously discussed the concept of a play-in tournament at the end of the regular season for bubble teams, much in the vein of the NCAA.
Like any major change, it’s something that would have to make it through the collective bargaining rounds, and its implications on the league would be massive. But Silver has never been content with the status quo, so you can expect to see this topic explored in much greater detail in the near future.
(ESPN)
