NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the effort to grow the league "doesn't mean that we are trying to take away fans from the NFL." Silver, in an interview with USATODAY.com, said, "It’s that sports fans ... are fans of multiple sports, especially for those who play basketball, who follow college (basketball) for example, and maybe don’t follow the NBA. I want those fans back. ... It frustrates me when I run into those fans of the game who say, ‘I love Kentucky or I love Syracuse or I love Duke, but I don’t really follow the NBA game or I used to follow the NBA game,’ and I say, ‘Try us out. Whatever you think the game was, whatever turned you off about the game, it’s fantastic right now.’ We’ve got great players, rising stars, mature stars (and) fantastic competition every night." Meanwhile, Silver said of advanced technology in the NBA, "I’ve been a huge advocate of experimenting with new technologies, of looking out to the future, the SportVU cameras located in the rafters. ... It’s the age of big data, and to me, you look at the information and it tells a story and I’m excited about that." He also touched on the league's cultural progression, saying, "It’s an equal opportunity league and judgments should come from what players can do on the floor, not their race, ethnicity, sexuality or anything else. And again, so much credit goes to David Stern for building those values into the league over the last 30 years. And beyond that, I’m just so proud as a representative of this sport" (USATODAY.com, 3/6).
