Silver enjoying these little wins
Commissioner Adam Silver was eager to speak on the state of the NBA, considering his In-Season Tournament has become a success and some issues that have plagued the league are dissipating.
Load management is no longer considered a viable option for teams, and president of basketball operations Joe Dumars has implored players to participate when healthy. The league placed restrictions on sitting healthy players, particularly in nationally televised games. Silver has reiterated that information and research has shown load management is not necessarily effective for preventing injury. For example, Kawhi Leonard, who would be on the Mount Rushmore of load management, has played all 24 games for the Clippers this season and has remained healthy. The league has challenged players to play and they have responded favorably.
“You know we’re a transparent league,” Silver said. “Happy to share with the media, with the public, whatever injury data we have. I think really what Joe was saying is that there’s no data that [load management] does work. There’s art and science here. Let’s be careful of what we are talking about, as well. I think what Joe is saying is that we have no data that it prevents any injuries. I don’t think there’s any question that a player that is playing three games out of four nights, for example, when a player is tired, that it impacts performance.
“So just to be clear, I think the data Joe is referring to is we have this sort of mixed science and medical data. The ultimate question behind load management isn’t so much that there isn’t a fall-off from performance when you are tired and fatigued. The question is: Does that lead to more injuries?”
There are arguments that more games increases the injury risk. But the league felt players were milking injuries to preserve their bodies for the playoffs. A few years ago, Kyrie Irving intimated the regular season doesn’t matter. That served as an alarm to the league that wants to sell everyday games to its media partners.
“Especially the way load management is now used, it’s not even so much of a specific focus that this player is tired and may be more likely to be injured in the moment,” Silver said. “It was used in a way programmatically where on Nov. 5 teams are circling games on Dec. 12 and saying, based on our program, the player should not be participating in that game. I think what Joe was saying, and I think it’s our belief, that we have no solid data that that is effective.”
Meanwhile, fans who despise the colored courts used for the In-Season Tournament better cover their eyes, because they are here to stay. The texture of those courts were a problem early but teams such as Indiana had courts resurfaced.
“I’m a big advocate of the colorful courts,” Silver said. “Obviously, we want to make sure the players have confidence in them and the type of paint used isn’t more slippery. I think we dealt with those issues, incidentally, but want to make sure they are not a distraction. I think in the process we went through the first time, they are a bit cookie-cutter.
“I love the court we are using [in Las Vegas] for the semifinals and final game, but I think there could be some more creativity and set some parameters for the teams.”
Eliminating or deemphasizing point differential may not be such a certainty for next season. The NBA is pondering whether players will get used to situations in which running up the score is necessary for In-Season Tournament games. Several players were unhappy with the point-differential system, including Celtics stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“I’m not ready necessarily to move away from it, but if ultimately there’s going to be a sense, particularly from our American fans, that somehow it is an indication of poor sportsmanship, that’s not a good idea for us to be doing it,” Silver said. “Maybe there’s some ways to tweak that where it only matters up to a certain point in terms of point differential.”
Another issue was schedules for teams that did not qualify for the knockout round. After the NBA released quarterfinal pairings after pool play concluded Nov. 28, the league released two-game schedules for the next week for the 22 nonqualifiers. Meanwhile, the Celtics, who lost Dec. 4, were handed a Dec. 8 home game against the Knicks, who had lost their quarterfinal to the Bucks. The Knicks will play the Celtics five times this season, three in Boston.
“This doesn’t get as much attention, but it’s something my teams are very focused on,” Silver said of the schedule. “That for the teams that did not advance to the knockout stage, then have to essentially schedule games at the last minute. I want to make sure we are being fair to them, their season-ticket holders. In some cases, the ability to sell tickets on short turnaround. So we are looking at that data to see how much it affected their gate attendance. Those are a few of the issues.
“I’ve gotten some comments from our teams all along the way. I think what we have said all along is let’s get through today, everybody take a little bit of a breather and then come back and then get comments from everyone. It’s the Players Association, it’s teams, media. My sense is there’s no question there will be some changes for next year.”