Adam Silver's tenure thus far

Its been a little over 4 years since Adam Silver has taken over for David Stern as the commissioner of the NBA. Out of curiosity what are everyone's thoughts on how he has done thus far. How they feel compared to when David Stern was the commissioner.

Some of the changes/accomplishments since Silver took over of note:

• Banned and removed an owner of a NBA Team (Sterling) for conduct detrimental to the league's image, standards, branding etc. forcing the sale of the franchise.
• Moved NBA All-Star game away from Charlotte in 2017 due to the state's law that discriminated people of the LGBT community
• Started to release publicly last 2 minutes report of calls in close games. The parameters of the report was changed I believe last season to make it only games that were 6 points and under (i think) instead of 10 points and under.
• Changed format of all-star game from the traditional Conferences to having Team Captains and selecting players
• All-star game starters are no longer selected solely on fan vote but a combination of fan vote, media votes and player votes.
• Implemented this past season a point system for officials in the playoffs so only officials with the highest scores move on to the later stages of the playoffs and then the finals.
• Created the NBA Awards program to had out the league's season awards much like a standard awards ceremony (like the Oscars/ESPYs etc)
• Set the start date to the NBA season two weeks earlier in October to limit the number of back to backs and 4 games in 5 nights teams had to play.
• Changed a few of the in game rules, such as the replay review parameters, continuation rules, the "james harden" rule for jump shooters.
• NBA played regular season games in Mexico.
• Nike being new manufacturer of on court apparel made new jerseys and eliminated traditional Home/Away colors
• Sponsorship ads on jerseys

Edits to the list:

• The change to lottery ball odds that starts next year -- beginning of tanking reform
• Two-way player contracts ... gives teams new ways to pay/develop players
• Massive reform to Restricted Free Agency that basketballholic predicted to punish teams for their dirty dealings that didn't allow DMo to Get Paid and Yule C to happen

(these are the ones off the top of my head please feel feel to add more if I missed any)

Personally speaking I think Silver has done worse than Stern. Removing Sterling and moving the ASG game due to North Carolina's law I think were slam dunks in Silver's favor. Everything else though I feel he has done has eroded fan confidence in the game. The Awards show is beyond stupid, the ref point system was not transparent at all and we had what people considered universally as horrible refs (Foster, Brothers etc) reffing the conference finals and NBA Finals game.

One thing that bothers me about Silver is that he has allowed (at least IMO) outside corporations have too much influence on the league such as the jersey ads and then Nike switching up the types of jerseys teams wear. The awards show is another opportunity for the league to make money. The earlier rounds of the playoffs were stretched out to maximize TV ratings while the later rounds were much more impacted (conference finals having games every other day) when they probably should have been stretched out a bit longer. Stern was all about the money but he seemed to do his best to keep the "integrity" of the game somewhat intact.

I like that Silver is trying to do new things but I think some of the things are a bit too drastic and may fall into the "if its not broke why fix it" category. The L2M report is not bad, but it doesn't really do anything. What consequences are there for refs who may have gotten a call wrong? Can a team go back and protest and replay a game? Nope its just an admission but we cant really do anything. Add in Van Gundy's revelation that the league actually tracks the entire game's calls and has a report but just releases the last two. If there is nothing to be done then the league should release the entire game. (Though I feel that if they did fans would analyze each report and be able to back up ref preferences, biases etc from all the data which probably becomes problematic)

The officiating hasn't gotten any more transparent despite the promise made by the Silver administration, if anything player and ref relations are at an all time worst. Many fans and media alike probably felt we've seen the worst ref "influence" since the 2002 WCF this past playoffs in the WCF. Much was talked about the ref point system but I didn't see anything about how the refs were scored, what individual ref scores were and how these refs were advancing.


Overall I think the league has gotten a bit worse with all these changes under Silver. I wish things were kept the way they were in regards to the L2M report (if nothing becomes of it then it becomes more of a salt in wounds seeing the admission of incorrect calls), all star game voting and team selection, awards and the jerseys kept as a home/away/alternate instead of all the different variations. I do like starting the season earlier to give players more rest during the season though.

It will be interesting to see how things proceed especially with the debate of the "1 and done" rule coming up and the on going rule review and changes.

What are your thoughts?

 

You're right will add that in forgot all about the new lottery odds. I like the two way contracts actually I think it gives teams additional flexibility with rosters while potentially give a shot to a player that may not have gotten one other wise.

I am still mixed on the lotto reform, time will tell on how effective the new changes may be in deterring blatant tanking for teams.

 

I didnt want to includes those since the CBA is a both on his end and the players association agreeing on these changes and not necessarily just something his administration implemented.