Article-Never been a fan of David Stern (not many people in Seattle are) so it really doesn’t take much for me to hate on him given the opportunity. Silver probably could have said “I’m ditching the t-shirt jerseys” and I would have ranked him over Stern. But the changes he’s actually talking about in the article are pretty legit. His first one is shortening the playoffs or having some play-in games instead. I’m totally on board with either because the NBA playoffs are way too long. Making the first few rounds best of 3 or best of 5 will bring some excitement back because only the Conference Title and NBA title series should be 7 games. He likened these changes to the march Madness tournament, also known as the greatest yearly sporting event in America (unless your team is playing in the Super Bowl, you gotta agree. Nothing can match the excitement that the NCAA tourney brings. Not a single thing gets accomplished in America throughout March because everyone is pretending to work while they stream Northern Iowa upset Kansas). The NCAA doesn’t really do that much right, but they nailed it with the March Madness tourney so I have no problem with the NBA trying to copy that format.
The second change he talked about was discussing different formats for the draft, another thing I’m on board with. The lottery is the dumbest way to decide who gets the first pick and everyone knows Stern fixed that shit anyway (1985 and 2012 come to mind. Also Cleveland getting the #1 pick the year after losing LeBron. C’mon son). Just give the worst team the first pick like every other league in America. Not that complicated. Basketball is at a point where tanking for the first pick isn’t as big of deal as it used to be. This years’ best rookie was taken #11 overall (Michael Carter-Williams) and last years was picked at #6 (Damian Lillard), so the there’s enough talent that the worst teams all have a shot at an impact player, not just the first 3 or 4.
Even if none of these changes actually happen, this is good news because it shows the commissioner is at least listening to the fans. David Stern was always adamant that he could tell the fans what they wanted to see because he always knew best (when really he didn’t). His holier-than-thou attitude got old at the end, and his treatment of star players has made the league almost unwatchable. The more Silver tries to undo Stern’s work the better.
PS-Really easy to get caught up watching college basketball highlights on youtube. Don’t start unless you’re ok with wasting 40 minutes of your day.
This is the Life 