Adam Silver wants to reduce tough schedule stretches
NEW YORK – NBA Commissioner's Adam Silver again demonstrated his willingness to hear concerns and then act.
The NBA will reduce back-to-back games and four games in five days in the 2015-16 season with the goal of reducing those situations even more in future seasons, Silver said Saturday.
"We hear everyone loud and clearly – certainly our players and our teams – that there's nothing more important than the health and welfare of our players," Silver said before All-Star Saturday night at Barclays Center. "And ultimately we want to see players getting appropriate rest and playing at the highest level. That's something we're very focused on."
The league will have to work with teams and their arenas and TV partners to find the right balance.
"We've talked to our partners at Turner and Disney about maybe opening up a little bit more flexibility on Thursday nights and Sunday. That will help with the scheduling," Silver said. "We've also talked to our teams and their arenas about creating more windows, more opportunities to schedule games. I think that it's a give-and-take in terms of the other events in the building."
Preserving player health through better scheduling was just one item on Silver's agenda as he digs into his second year as commissioner.
Silver also wants to:
- Take another look at draft lottery reform.
"We do need to make some changes in the Draft Lottery, which I believe is largely a perception issue," he said. "We want to ensure that our fans know that our teams do not have an incentive to lose games. … The system isn't as broken as some may suggest, but it's going to require a tweak."
- Explore changes to the playoff format.
"If there was a simple solution we would have made it long ago," he said. "I understand the notion that we should have the absolute 16 best teams competing in the playoffs seemingly regardless of conferences and divisions. I am a believer, though, in the conference and the division system. … Although I think there may be some tweaks."
- Focus on youth and young adult basketball
"We want to dramatically expand our Junior NBA program (and) … we'll be focusing on young adults with a national three‑on‑three tournament," Silver said.