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Adam Silver and owners discuss the wrong reform to playoff structure

By Troy Foster

Feb 14, 2015; New York, NY, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a press conference at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2015; New York, NY, USA; NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks at a press conference at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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Adam Silver and owners discussed a play-in tournament for the 8th seed.

The NBA board of Governors met today. I know you are really lamenting missing it but there were actually some interesting things brought up. Along with the reinforcement that zero changes are going to be made the lottery system imminently, Ian Begley of ESPN also reported this:

From a fan perspective this would be cute. The New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder games this year were great games to watch. The buzzer beater go-ahead 3 pointer from Anthony Davis on their February 6th matchup was one of my favorite shots of the year.

I’m not entirely sure this particular perspective was or was not discussed during those “robust” discussions. My idea of what the discussion looked like can only be shaped by the context that billionaires were discussing the process of something that involves making more money.

This isn’t the first time Adam Silver has brought this up which makes me think that he may be going on a personal crusade for this idea. I imagine he is like that friend that has just started a new habit that he keeps telling people about, and the collective thought of those listening is “here we go again, how long before he drops this.”

The players of course would be opposed to this because it increases the amount of games they play which is already too much and won’t not be reduced any time soon. It also would just increase the chance of injury to players as they undergo more stress from a longer season and elongated period of hyper competitive basketball.

It is hard to tell how this would even the playing field or do anything really for the playoff set-up. What it really means is that Adam Silver and others are willing to make changes to the system, which is flawed. It seems rather universal at this point that conferences shouldn’t really exist. Everyone really wants the best 16 teams to compete.

The only people that would not agree that the best 16 teams should be in the play-offs would be an owner of a team that was in the playoffs yet not one of the best 16 teams. Thus, we have our current conundrum. There is little monetary motivation to restructure the playoffs. The idea doesn’t carry a new added source of revenue so we can expect it to be on the back burner for awhile. I would expect fast food brands on jerseys before we get a play-off structure that values only the best teams.

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