Commissioner Adam Silver met with the media yesterday in Las Vegas after a Board of Governors meeting. He touched on several topics, including a potential mid-season tournament, an awards show, the Clippers ownership situation and more.
By way of Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports, Silver is open to many suggestions in an effort to improve the overall NBA product:
Silver said the NBA is considering a mid-season tournament, possibly in Las Vegas.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 16, 2014
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Silver is considering adding an NBA Awards show in Las Vegas.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 16, 2014
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The mid-season tournament is especially interesting. It’s an idea that’s been floated around before, most notably by Grantland’s Bill Simmons in 2011. His version goes like this:
Start the season two weeks later (mid-November), chop the regular season to 70 games and create the midseason tournament (starting three days after the Super Bowl) AND the Entertaining As Hell Tournament, then move everything back so the playoffs go from late April through May and June (with the finals ending in the June 23-24 range), then the NBA draft gets moves to the Wednesday before July 4th weekend … and then, the free-agency process gets shifted back to July 15 (instead of July 1). So you’d use those first five regular-season weeks to set up a series of beats: Christmas Day, the midseason tournament (with the finals played one day before the All-Star Game, on All-Star Saturday), the trade deadline (late February), the 8-Seed Tournament (mid-April), the playoffs (start late-April), the Finals, the draft, free agency. Boom, now I’m engaged the whole time.
The idea, of course, is not without its downsides. Chief among them would be whether the tournament would have any meaning, like a battle among the top teams at mid-season to guarantee a potential playoff berth, or a top-four seeding. Without such incentives, the tournament would become a variation of the All-Star game, and it’s hard to see teams fielding their best players considering the injury risk.
The awards show seems like a more realistic idea with less challenges. The NBA, aside from having so much athletic talent, is a league full of intriguing personalities. A show like this, if done in the same vein as the ESPYs, would help showcase the league to the casual fan and fanatic alike.
Silver also addressed the ownership situation with the Los Angeles Clippers, which is still in flux. The below tweet from Yahoo’s Spears has since been deleted, so the accuracy of his claim should be in question:
Silver: Is uncertain that Clippers ownership will be transferred before next season due to Donald Sterling's law suit.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) July 16, 2014
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While the Clippers wait for a resolution, according to their coach and team president Doc Rivers, the uncertainty at the top really hampered the team’s ability to recruit free agents the past few weeks.
And lastly, Silver addressed LeBron’s decision to return to Cleveland. He was a huge fan and admitted to getting sentimental. Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN relays the Commssioner’s thoughts on James’ second decision to return home:
“I’ve gotten to know LeBron pretty well over the years,” Silver said. “From that standpoint, I really am more like a fan. This seemed to be a great moment for the league. And again, I understand it’s Miami’s loss, but that’s always going to be an issue when you have such a transcendent player like LeBron.”
What do you think?
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