Adam Silver on playoff format: 'It's an area where we need to make a change'
Just after the one-year anniversary of assuming the NBA Commissioner title, Adam Silver joined the Golden State Warriors' television broadcast during Wednesday's game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Among the topics broached, Silver discussed the difficulties of dealing with the Donald Sterling scandal, the tough decision he had to make in choosing between DeMarcus Cousins and Damian Lillard as Kobe Bryant's Western Conference All-Star replacement, and potential European expansion (which Silver said isn't currently in the cards, but is a possibility in the long-term future).
The most interesting comments from the Commissioner, however, came in response to a fan's Facebook question about scrapping the current playoff format and instead having the 16 best teams qualify, regardless of conference.
"Ultimately we want to see your best teams in the playoffs, and there is an unbalance and a certain unfairness," Silver said.
He then mentioned a proposal from one of the Warriors' broadcasters that would see the six division winners and the next 10 best teams qualify for the postseason. "I think that’s the kind of proposal we need to look at. There are travel issues of course, but in this day in age every team has their own plane, travels charter. I don’t think the discussion should end there," Silver said.
"And as I’ve said, my first year I was studying a lot of these issues. And year two is time to take action," he added. "It's something I'm going to look at closely with the competition committee. A lot of owners have strong feelings on it. I do think it's an area where we need to make a change."
Watch the full interview below:
- With h/t to Pro Basketball Talk