Commissioner Adam Silver discusses minimum age, resting players in annual NBA Finals press conference

Commissioner Adam Silver held his annual  NBA Finals news conference with the main takeaways being draft tweaks, player minimum age and resting players.

With the NBA Finals tipping off on Thursday June1 NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took to the podium to hold his annual conference. Silver noted approximately one out of every seven people  in the world will have a direct connection to the NBA Finals.

Several issues were on reporters minds as they fired questions at the Commissioner. The accompanying video offers highlights from the press conference, but three key ares stood out in the takeaways.

Lack of competition in 2017 NBA Playoffs:

Given how lackluster the postseason has been it’s not surprising the question arose whether Adam Silver sees the lack of competition as an issue. Silver took the easy way out by suggesting he feels people should be inspired by the excellence. Personally, I don’t agree and neither do most of the people I’ve talked to. Looking back a few seasons when most series in the first round went 7 games it made for a far more exciting post season.

For Silver, he’ll surely be hoping the Finals goes the distance as a sweep by Golden State surely won’t make his television partners very happy.

Unfortunately, the fact remains Cleveland and Golden State not only have the most talent on their teams but they also draw ring chasers. This equates to another problem for the remainder of the Association. For example the Thunder had to trade to improve their team and the Raptors gave up 3 draft picks and a young talent to improve theirs. Conversely, the Cavaliers were able to sign veterans like Andrew Bogut (though he ended up injured) and Deron Williams for virtually nothing. It seems like an unfair advantage on top of everything else and something the Association needs to address.

Adam Silver addresses minimum age:

The Association and the Players Union remain on opposing sides of the fence on this issue. Adam Silver stated the League remains committed to increasing the age from 19 to 20. Meanwhile the Union would prefer to lower it to 18.  Not knowing the Union’s reasoning it seems unusual they remain so committed to this stance.

Notably this year’s draft has 20 one and done (ie they play a single season of College ball) prospects. In contrast, a decade ago there were only two prospects who came out early.

Asked if Silver believes the Gatorade League (the D-League) can offset the age issue. Silver touched on the fact this League will still require the players to be NBA eligible. Though technically 18 year old players could play in this league. Most notably Silver touched on the fact young players injuries are up. This due to the amount of games their bodies are being exposed to earlier when they opt of college sooner.

Must Read: Russell Westbrook – Epic season in review

Lottery reform and age increase:

Another topic of interest was lottery reform. Silver didn’t give much feedback simply stating it remains an issue the Association and Players Union need to address in their negotiations.

Resting Players:

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• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

Rachel Nichols of ESPN addressed the elephant in the room. Given her station is paying big dollars with the new contract. Obviously ESPN’s mandate is to make sure the stars are playing in ESPN televised games (hey they paid big bucks for that contact).

As fans, the issue is buying a ticket to see a certain player only to learn they are resting. For example earlier this season LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love all stayed in Cleveland instead of traveling with the team to Memphis. Given opposing conferences only play each other once in their home arenas this is definitely a fair concern. Personally, I’ve paid big money to take young family members to games. So, I’d be disappointed if 3 stars didn’t bother to show up.

Bottom line this concern is legitimate. Silver did say the emphasis will be on teams resting  players at home games instead of on the road.  This so fans won’t miss out on their single opportunity to witness stars in action.  The other noteworthy takeaway from Silver in this area is the League will be extending the schedule an extra week. This  to allow for more rest time between games and reduce back to back games as well as 3 in 4 nights.

Clearly there remain multiple areas for the Association and the Players Union to iron out in terms of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement and other areas of the game.