NBAE President Adam Silver To Become NBA Deputy Commissioner
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Silver (r) To Serve As
Stern’s New Right-Hand Man
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The NBA announced yesterday an organizational restructuring, under which NBAE
President Adam Silver will become Deputy Commissioner & COO, replacing Russ Granik,
who will step down at the conclusion of the postseason. Silver’s promotion was
unanimously approved by the NBA BOG. Silver said, “My background has primarily
been on the business side and will remain there. There’s a lot going on in the
TV, digital and consumer products side, particularly overseas, and that will be
my focus, because that’s our frontier.” NBA Commissioner David Stern also announced
the BOG unanimously approved the creation of two additional offices of the NBA.
Exec VP/Legal & Business Affairs Joel Litvin was named President of League & Basketball
Operations, reporting to Stern, and Exec VP/Global Media Properties & Marketing
Partnerships Heidi Ueberroth was named President of Global Marketing Partnerships
& Int’l Business Operations, reporting to Silver. Stern: “Today’s appointments
also demonstrate the extraordinarily deep bench that exists at the league office”
(THE DAILY). In N.Y., Ian Begley reports Silver will “serve as the league’s
voice during collective bargaining.” Silver “is now next in line for the commissioner’s
job once Stern decides to step down” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/20).
PLAYOFFS: Granik said the competition committee in June will discuss the
way teams are seeded in the postseason (THE DAILY). Mavericks Owner Mark
Cuban appeared on ESPN’s “PTI” yesterday, where he said of the current playoff
system, under which the Mavericks are seeded fourth despite having the second-best
record in the Western Conference, “I asked the question, ‘Why isn’t it just based
off record?’ ... No one has a good answer, so hopefully it’s going to change.”
Cuban, on the Clippers possibly losing games late in the season on purpose in
order to face the third-seeded Nuggets –- against whom they would have home-court
advantage — in the first round rather than the fourth-seeded Mavericks: “It’s
not so much just about playing the Nuggets as opposed to the Mavericks. It’s about
homecourt and the money. (Clippers Owner) Donald Sterling is getting paid for
losing a game, and that’s not the way it should be” (ESPN, 4/19).
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NBA Competition Committee
To Discuss Tights Issue In June
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D-LEAGUE: Also beginning next year, NBA franchises will be able to own
teams in the NBA Developmental League for the first time. Stern said that could
increase the number of D-League teams beyond the 13 expected for next season (THE
DAILY). Following the press conference, Stern said, “I think we’re going to
see a lot of teams go down this road. ... This is a long-term thought that’s beginning
to make more sense to our teams.” The Lakers are expected to become the first
NBA team to own a D-League affiliate, beginning next season. ESPN.com’s Chris
Sheridan reported an NBA team owning a D-League team “will still be bound by the
same rules” as other teams when assigning players to their D-League team, meaning
that it could still assign only two players at one time. Litvin: “The other players
on their D-League roster will be free agents available to every team in the league”
(ESPN.com, 4/20).
OTHER BUSINESS: Among the business issues discussed at this week’s BOG
meeting, Stern said, were updates on new arenas, or lack thereof, in the league’s
oldest venues: Portland, Seattle, New Orleans and Sacramento. Of those, Stern
said the Maloof brothers “promised to get back to the board quickly” regarding
a new building for the Kings. Granik said that the competition committee will
address the issue of players wearing tights during games (THE DAILY).
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