NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Thursday said that the league and the NBPA will "take the next year to study the possibility of changing the eligibility rules" for the NBA Draft, according to Greg Logan of NEWSDAY. Silver at his annual news conference ahead of the NBA Finals "cited concern about curtailing the burgeoning number of one-and-done players leaving college to enter the NBA Draft." During the latest CBA negotiations, the NBA "asked to raise the minimum age for eligibility from 19 to 20 while the union sought to lower the age to 18." Both sides "agreed to table that discussion in order to finalize a new CBA." Silver: "We all agreed that we need to make a change. This year, the projection is that we’re going to have 20 one-and-done players coming and actually being drafted. When we first changed the minimum age from 18 to 19, the following year in 2006, we had two one-and-done players. So my sense is that it’s not working for anyone" (NEWSDAY, 6/2). The AP's Tim Reynolds noted one of the advantages that could come from raising the age minimum to 20 would be that players "may be more ready for the pro game." Silver said he has talked to many veteran players who have a sense that the 19 year olds "are not coming in game-ready" (AP, 6/1).
18 AND LIFE: Silver said the NBA is going to "spend more time" looking at using the D-League as a potential talent pipeline for high school players who would rather go there than declare for college or enter the Draft. Silver noted the league in its last round of collective bargaining "added two-way contracts," so now in essence there will be "60 new NBA positions" in the D-League. Silver: "These two slots per team in which you won't be an NBA player, but you'll be at some elevated role beyond what traditionally the D-League was and which you'll be able to make more money as well and then be brought up to your team" (THE DAILY). ESPN’s Rachel Nichols suggested the NBA "open the D-League to anyone at 18, and you can go up and down and sort of have that D-League contract between 18 and 20." Nichols: "Then when you hit 20, that's when you can get the more mature contract.” She added, “I would suggest creating more of a development league system where these guys can actually learn the fundamentals of basketball. They can spend two years being coached well. If you want a job in basketball at 18 instead of going to college, get a job in basketball. ... You do that from 18 to 20 and that will make the NBA product better as well” (“The Jump,” ESPN2, 6/1).
REST & RELAXATION: Silver said that the player rest issue that plagued the '16-17 campaign has been "recognized by the league's owners as 'inevitable,' but he is still seeking alternative solutions to the problem." ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin notes Silver "rejected the idea of expanding the regular-season schedule beyond the additional week that has been planned" for the '17-18 season. But he said that the league could "reduce the amount of back-to-back games teams play by working with the host venues." Silver: "(We are) requiring our arenas to free up more dates. We're competing against everything else that happens in these buildings. ... But if we can ask them to hold yet additional nights, that also enables us to create more space between the games." Silver also "silenced calls to reduce the number of games teams play from the traditional 82." Silver: "It's not 82 games, it's not the length of the season, it's the time between the games and that there's a direct correlation between fatigue and injury on the part of the players" (ESPN.com, 6/2).
STEP IN RIGHT DIRECTION: Silver said that the North Carolina legislature made enough "sufficient changes to House Bill 2" for the league to "return the All-Star Game to Charlotte" in '19. Silver: "The law was changed. ... The answer is yes, I felt that they made incremental progress." But in DC, Tim Bontemps notes because the law "still bans local municipalities from enacting their own non-discrimination ordinances" before '20, it has been "labeled as repeal in name only by advocacy groups." Silver "pushed back on that Thursday, saying that some progress is better than none." Silver: "Trying to measure precisely whether it was enough progress, we ultimately felt it was" (WASHINGTON POST, 6/2).
MORE DIVERSITY: REUTERS' Rory Carroll notes Silver is "frustrated by a lack of Chinese players in an otherwise highly international league and is committed to ensuring the basketball-loving Asian nation has greater representation" in the U.S. Silver said that he was "consulting with" Basketball HOFer Yao Ming, "now the head of the Chinese Basketball Association." Yao recently said that he was "committed to seeing China excel at the Olympics, World Cup of Basketball and the NBA" (REUTERS, 6/2).
