Adam Silver has some bold ideas about student athletes. (USATSI)
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NBA commissioner Adam Silver, speaking at a business convention Wednesday, said that he's open to the idea of "subsidies" for student basketball athletes in college i order to ease their circumstances and allow for the increase to the NBA's age minimum he's been pushing snice taking office February 1st. From ESPN:
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is so intent on keeping basketball players in college for another year that he said the NBA might consider subsidizing athletes to make them feel better about staying.
Commissioner Adam Silver says the NBA might consider subsidizing NCAA athletes to encourage them to play another year in college.
Raising the age limit for the NBA draft from 19 to 20 years old would require the approval of the National Basketball Players Association as part of the collective bargaining agreement, but Silver said Wednesday at the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center Partner Summit that he was willing to work with the NCAA to give athletes a more fair deal.
"Rather than focusing on a salary and thinking of them as employees, I would go to their basic necessities," Silver said. "I think if [Connecticut Huskies guard] Shabazz Napier is saying he is going hungry, my God, it seems hard to believe, but there should be ample food for the players."
via NBA commissioner Adam Silver says subsidizing NCAA athletes a possibility - ESPN.
Silver also mentioned covering attendance gaps and providing insurance for the athletes which would cover the most widely held fear from those considering returning to school, the risk of injury.
It's a startling move by the commissioner, as the NBA has long held a "hands off" approach with the NCAA and how it conducts business. But attitudes are changing about the equal rights protection of student athletes under the current system, even as the NBA deals with what it perceives to be an influx of players unready for NBA life or games.
Silver's been bringing the hammer about the age limit, constantly pushing for it and making it clear he's serious on the matter. He's going to get this done, come hell or high water, and now he's trying to sweeten the approach to help push it through.
The concept is wrought with complications however, which is why Silver only said the league is "considering" it. What happens then with football players? Would this "guilt" the NFL into providing the same, this time for a much higher number of athletes? What about athletes without a professional league to miss out on?
And would the subsidies really be enough to placate people over the fact that players are missing millions of dollars by not being allowed to go pro?
Either way, it's a startlingly progressie move from a commissioner who is very quickly indicating he intends to conduct league business in his own new way.
HT: HoopsHype
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Doc Rivers is selling something: Blake Griffin second in MVP voting
It’s not going to be unanimous (because it’s never unanimous) but the vast majority of writers’ MVP ballots that come in will have Kevin Durant No. 1 and LeBron James second. Then it gets interesting for who fills out the final three slots on the ballot.
Doc Rivers thinks Blake Griffin should be in between Durant and LeBron.
Nobody pumps up their players publicly like Doc — with the main audience really being that player, especially on Clippers team where he is trying to build their confidence — and he was at it again speaking with Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
“I think second because I’m coaching him,” Rivers said of Griffin. “I think Durant has had the best year. I still think LeBron [James] is still the best player in the NBA but I think Durant has had an MVP year. I don’t know who has had a better year. And I honestly think Blake would be right behind him.”
Doc is selling something, and mostly he’s selling it to Griffin. It’s the same way he said earlier this year DeAndre Jordan should be in the Defensive Player of the Year discussion — no he shouldn’t, but it’s what Jordan needed to hear. Those comments were intended for a one-person audience. Same principle here.
To me Chris Paul is more valuable to the Clippers than Griffin.
I will grant you that the way Griffin stepped up with CP3 out for an extended stretch in the middle of the season may have made Griffin the team’s regular season MVP. Still, it is Paul that makes a bigger difference both ends — the Clippers defense is 4.5 points better per 100 possessions when Paul is on the court, the offense jumps 4.4 per 100. (Griffin spikes the Clippers offense by 5.7 per 100, the defense improves by 1.8.)
I’m not sure how anyone could justify someone at the top of their MVP ballot other than LeBron or Durant. Like I said, where it gets far harder to fill out the ballot is slots 3-4-5 (voters have to pick their top give). Griffin and Paul are in that mix, but not any higher.
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