NBA's Silver Seems Opposed To Broadcasting All-Star Teams Draft

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver appears opposed to the idea of broadcasting the NBA All-Star Game team selection. Silver said having captains pick the teams is a “big step” towards improving the game itself and admitted having a public draft “would be more fun.” But he added, “I recognize picking a team to perform in the here and now is a little different than drafting.”

Silver said, “There was a sense from the players that it put them in an impossible situation where they’re picking one player over another, in part not because that player is better than another player but maybe because they have a personal relationship with the player or they think that player will be a better complement to the players.” He said if they “did it as just a pure draft, guys would say, ‘I can’t believe such and such was selected before that player’” (NBA TV, 1/11).

The panelists on ESPN’s “The Jump” discussed the topic today, and Paul Pierce said, “Televise it, Adam. Give the people what they want” (“The Jump,” ESPN, 1/11).