OT Adam Silver Says It's Up to the Rest of the NBA to Catch Up to the Warriors

https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbss...-rest-of-the-nba-to-catch-up-to-warriors/amp/

Adam Silver has been around the NBA for a long time. In his time as deputy commissioner under David Stern, and now the commissioner of the NBA, he's seen many great players come and go. Super teams have formed, championships have been won and the league has changed its entire identity during Silver's tenure.

Now that he runs the show, his opinion on what the league should do to thrive is incredibly important.

At the moment there is concern that the Warriors are a negative for the NBA. With so many great players on the same team in their prime it feels like Golden State is going to dominate the NBA for the next four to five years. However, Silver doesn't see that as a problem but rather a blessing.

He wants more teams like the Warriors.

"And yes, an incredible free agent was added to that squad," Silver said. "All the focus seems to be on, 'They're too good' as opposed to, 'What is it we should be doing to create more great teams in this league?' That's what my response is.

"My answer is, let's create more great teams, rather than completely focus on one incredible team and whether that's seemingly unfair to the other team. I think it's the nature of competition. Ultimately, it's about raising the bar for all the teams in this league and celebrating excellence."

via Washington Post

This is a mantra that Silver has been sticking with since the Warriors first signed Kevin Durant away from the Thunder. The commissioner believes in celebrating excellence and using Golden State as a way to raise the bar. The Warriors aren't going anywhere and the league will need to improve itself to challenge them.

Of course, that's what Silver wants and usually what the commissioner wants they will get, but there is one group that can stop him: the owners. The commissioner of the NBA works for the owners. If the league's owners don't like what the Warriors are doing then that could change his tune quickly, but for now he's going to continue using the Warriors' dominance as a means for promoting the league.

What's the option? Congressional hearings?

It's never going to be practical to "break a team up" forcibly. Silver is doing what any commissioner would--taking whatever the current league situation is and talking it up positively. And I'm sure he sincerely would love more death star teams. Four juggernauts doing battle I'm sure would create even better ratings. The league nightmare would be such parity that no team ever really separates itself from the pack.

Remove the cap. Easy. Then there will be 5-7 great teams and a bunch of squads that couldn't beat any NCAA squad....

Yeah... Great idea...

Orion Bailey said:

Remove the cap. Easy. Then there will be 5-7 great teams and a bunch of squads that couldn't beat any NCAA squad....

Yeah... Great idea...

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I mean, the first half of the 1980s had no cap and a lot of people, even many "hardcore" fans, think '80s basketball was a golden age.

I think if you uncapped the league, you'd have 5-7 great teams and a bunch of teams who spent a ridiculous amount to try and buy success but failed. Plus there'd be the Kings.

Minstrel said:

I mean, the first half of the 1980s had no cap and a lot of people, even many "hardcore" fans, think '80s basketball was a golden age.

I think if you uncapped the league, you'd have 5-7 great teams and a bunch of teams who spent a ridiculous amount to try and buy success but failed. Plus there'd be the Kings.

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Lakers/Celtics was all that was on TV in those days (NBA on CBS). The 76ers with Dr. J got some air time. There weren't even 5-7 great teams. Not that the rest were horrible or not worthy of having fans.

I'd be OK with no cap. I don't believe these rich $billionaire owners need to be protected from themselves with their choice of toys (e.g. franchises).

So his answer is to build more superteams. He's telling all the all stars to go the same team and create more superteams. Great solution Silver

The Warriors aren't built by spending tons of money on superstars. They're just fortunate to have superstars they developed and who are on ridiculously generous contracts.

Klay Thompson is 2nd on the team at $16.7M, Green makes $15M, Curry makes $12M, and only Iggy makes more than $5.8M among the rest.

It'd be huge for us if CJ, Dame, and Nurk all took contracts that added up to ~$43M. Two of them combined will make a lot more than that. Let alone three of them.

Denny Crane said:

The Warriors aren't built by spending tons of money on superstars. They're just fortunate to have superstars they developed and who are on ridiculously generous contracts.

Klay Thompson is 2nd on the team at $16.7M, Green makes $15M, Curry makes $12M, and only Iggy makes more than $5.8M among the rest.

It'd be huge for us if CJ, Dame, and Nurk all took contracts that added up to ~$43M. Two of them combined will make a lot more than that. Let alone three of them.

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The Warriors have a lot of guys soon to be free agents who will want CJ money....Iggy is a free agent this summer...Curry's deal is coming up and so is Thompsons....time will tell how long they'll stick together as currently constructed but with Durant taking over the offense....Thompson or Iggy could easily bolt.

I can't stand Silver

riverman said:

The Warriors have a lot of guys soon to be free agents who will want CJ money....Iggy is a free agent this summer...Curry's deal is coming up and so is Thompsons....time will tell how long they'll stick together as currently constructed but with Durant taking over the offense....Thompson or Iggy could easily bolt.

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Depends on if the owners are willing to pay big LT bills. Or if the Warriors can develop solid replacements in the meantime.

BlazerDuckSeahawkFan94 said:

I can't stand Silver

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Better than Stern IMO.

dviss1 said:

Better than Stern IMO.

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That's like saying you prefer a hot turd sandwich opposed to a cold turd sandwich.

How do you create more great teams when there aren't enough great players? I suppose you could with great coaching, but there are even fewer great coaches than there are great players. Soooo, that's a very disingenuous comment by the commish.

The best way to increase the number of great players in the league is to raise the minimum age. But that's not gonna happen! So, unless and until a bumper crop of naturally talented HOFers enters the league all within a handful of years of each other, we're going to have one to three superteams due to a lack of player/coaching talent.

blue9 said:

How do you create more great teams when there aren't enough great players? I suppose you could with great coaching, but there are even fewer great coaches than there are great players. Soooo, that's a very disingenuous comment by the commish.

The best way to increase the number of great players in the league is to raise the minimum age. But that's not gonna happen! So, unless and until a bumper crop of naturally talented HOFers enters the league all within a handful of years of each other, we're going to have one to three superteams due to a lack of player/coaching talent.

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It used to be that the team with arguably the best player in the league would win. LeBron didn't win, which means you can put together a team of next tier players who can win it all.

blue9 said:

How do you create more great teams when there aren't enough great players? I suppose you could with great coaching, but there are even fewer great coaches than there are great players. Soooo, that's a very disingenuous comment by the commish.

The best way to increase the number of great players in the league is to raise the minimum age. But that's not gonna happen! So, unless and until a bumper crop of naturally talented HOFers enters the league all within a handful of years of each other, we're going to have one to three superteams due to a lack of player/coaching talent.

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I agree there has never been enough for more than a handful of teams. In the 50' and 60's you just had the Celtics ,who similar to the Yankees in their early heyday, benefited from other teams selling them their best players so they could financially survive.

In the 70's you had no dominant teams. No one repeated. Then in the 80's you had two super teams in the Lakers/Celtics (along with a few teams like Philly and Milwaukee) until the Pistons and then Bulls came along.

I think parity is better than knowing for sure who will when .......like this year.

Bring back the ABA!!!!! Two leagues are better than one!

Pinwheel1 said:

I agree there has never been enough for more than a handful of teams. In the 50' and 60's you just had the Celtics ,who similar to the Yankees in their early heyday, benefited from other teams selling them their best players so they could financially survive.

In the 70's you had no dominant teams. No one repeated. Then in the 80's you had two super teams in the Lakers/Celtics (along with a few teams like Philly and Milwaukee) until the Pistons and then Bulls came along.

I think parity is better than knowing for sure who will when .......like this year.

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An odd pattern of the 70s was that a team, like the Blazers, would win a championship, then have a massively awesome followup season only to fail to win it all.

I think this was true of at least the Blazers, the Warriors, the Celtics, the Sonics, and the Bullets. If my memory serves me.

OK, so I'll look it up.

Blazers won 49 and the championship, followed by 58 wins.
Golden State won with 48 winds, then had a 59 win season.
Boston won 56 and a championship, then 60 the next.
The Bullets won 44 and a championship, then 54 (and at least lost in the finals)
Seattle won 52 and a championship, then 56.

riverman said:

but with Durant taking over the offense....Thompson or Iggy could easily bolt.

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I don't think Thompson is going to bolt.



I do think it's possible he eventually gets dealt, when the team is pushing four super max deals. But that's a couple of years down the line.

Iguodala probably only has a couple of years left in the tank. I think he's going to stay. There was an article recently about Durant being open to taking the 120% exception, instead of a full super max, so that the team can retain Iguodala's (and Livingston's) cap holds and re-sign them with Bird rights.

Chris Craig said:

So his answer is to build more superteams. He's telling all the all stars to go the same team and create more superteams. Great solution Silver

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What is the answer you'd like him to have given? The Warriors haven't broken any rules, there's no practical way to "break them up." The only option is for other teams to, as the kids say, get on their level.

His solution sucks more for the Nets, Kings, Pelicans, Timberwolves, Grizzlies of the league than it does for a team like Portland which already has some solid talent on it. We can't be that far off from being a destination, all we need is one big name to come here and help us have some increased success and the dominos will fall.

So the answer is contraction - get rid of teams and consolidate talent. I mean, that's the only way for the league to catch up per Silver.

BlazerBeav said:

So the answer is contraction - get rid of teams and consolidate talent. I mean, that's the only way for the league to catch up per Silver.

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YES!

10 strong teams and 20 weak teams. More competitive balance and solve the rest days problem, 2 birds one stone. Whenever those 10 teams play one of the 20 it's basically a rest day!

Blazers failed because Walton got hurt

Silver sounds like a dumb person.
He can't admit to his mistakes and take responsibility because people at the top don't do that, i get it.

Personally, i would rather speak honestly than sound like a dump person.

What Silver is saying is basically: "Poor people, stop complaining! start living!".

And you people thought Trump was bad.

Blazers Roy said:

Silver sounds like a dumb person.
He can't admit to his mistakes and take responsibility because people at the top don't do that, i get it.

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How is it his responsibility? The league wanted to smooth the cap rise after getting all the TV money. The players association did not agree - and GSW had the good luck of having a relatively low payroll for their big 3 and having the cap jump so they could sign Durant. The only way this is Silver's fault is if you consider going and getting the massive TV money a mistake. There is not 1 person in the NBA that will support this position.

Adam Silver is full of shit.

Try telling Minnesota, or Toronto, or Sacramento, or Denver, or Portland to go build a superteam. The next time one of those franchises signs a free agent like Durant will be the first.

Fuck Adam Silver (in before @BlazerWookee)

Chris Craig said:

So his answer is to build more superteams. He's telling all the all stars to go the same team and create more superteams. Great solution Silver

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Exactly. He's an idiot.

Not gonna happen.

It was a once in a lifetime confluence of odd events - the best, perfect fitting player becoming a free agent the year that the salary cap jumped one time by 30%.

No team can match them because that's not ever happening again.