Adam Silver Addresses Players Resting, Charlotte All-Star Game And More NBA News
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that rest days are the biggest issue facing the league.
Among takeaways from Silver’s address, he said owners want teams to stop resting multiple players in nationally televised games. They also want players to rest more during home games than on the road. The schedule could also be revised to help players get more organic rest.
“It’s a complex issue,” Silver said after the NBA’s Board of Governors meetings convened in Manhattan, according to ESPN.com. “It doesn’t mean we will resolve it… we can’t take the game for granted and that the game is bigger than any team or any one person in the room and that we should never take our fans for granted. We have to work through it.”
Adam Silver added that the association would spend a lot more time on the players’ rest issue. He said that he and the owners talked about an obligation to the game and the appropriate behavior for rest.
Overall, the consensus was that players should be rested at home and it should not be multiple players or marquee games, per Silver. The NBA Commissioner also said that player was a complex issue, which the Board of Governors would continue to deliberate when the competition committee meets in the future.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discusses the subject of players resting at the #NBA Board of Governors News Conference – LIVE Now on NBA TV! pic.twitter.com/Q1Sq9h26nk
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 7, 2017
Previously, Silver sent out a memo to team owners about resting star players in the prime-time games. It suggested teams find a balance between keeping players healthy and keeping the business running smoothly.
Otherwise, Adam Silver said that there was no consideration for reducing the 82-game regular season. Silver does understand that some contenders rest star players for preservation in the playoffs, while other teams hold out players as a way to move up the NBA Draft lottery. Silver said that rebuilding teams resting players was also an issue, but not a new issue. He said that the board needs to revisit conditional lottery picks in a holistic way.
Commissioner Adam Silver discusses issue of resting players, Charlotte for All-Star Game and more
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— NBA.com (@NBAcom) April 7, 2017
As for next season, Silver said that the team would add another week to the schedule. This should reduce the times a team plays four games in five nights. It should also reduce back-to-back slates of games for NBA teams. Silver understands rest is needed to prevent injuries, but he said the science is much less clear than he expected.
The NBA Commissioner said that rest is not down to a clear science about how much rest can directly decrease the likelihood of an injury. Thus, they could not insert a rule on resting players.
Overall, Adam Silver said he wants the NBA to do a better job at specifying why a player sits out. This will help the league get better data.
Silver said that he has respect for the coaches and GMs trying to win NBA titles, but he said players’ rest needs to become an organizational decision. He said there needs to be a fair balance between competitive issues and very real business issues.
Teams like the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, and San Antonio Spurs are just some of the squads that have made NBA news for resting their star players.
Charlotte All-Star Game
The NBA All-Star Game could be headed to Charlotte in 2019, according to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
Silver said that Charlotte would be eligible to host the 2019 All-Star game after a compromise deal to replace a North Carolina law that limited anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people.
The NBA Commissioner said it is not a done deal yet. He said the change in the law does not change the fundamental issues at hand. However, the NBA is considering all points of view. Thus, they determined that Charlotte is eligible to host All-Star weekend. It was not an easy decision, according to Silver.
Now, the league will develop an anti-discrimination policy for participating hotels and businesses. If those assurances are met, then Charlotte could get the All-Star game in a month or so.
Silver was proud of his league’s stance against the bill. He is also proud that the game is going back to Charlotte.
“It’s incremental change. We were part of the movement, pushing for that change,” Adam Silver said via ESPN. “It’s not everything we could have hoped for, but we’re prepared to go back.”
The NBA All-Star game was supposed to go to Charlotte this year, but the game was relocated due to the “bathroom bill.” The yanked event would have generated about $100 million in economic impact, per the ESPN report.
Expect Adam Silver to say more about NBA news as players’ rest continues, and we approach the 2019 All-Star game.
[Featured Image by Max Becherer/AP Images]
