Though the notion of "tanking" has become a fixture of the NBA lexicon, league commissioner Adam Silver believes the conventional narrative is misguided.
"I absolutely don't think any team is trying to lose," he told ESPN's Andy Katz in a recent Outside the Lines interview (via ESPN.com).
Skeptics may discount the assessment as spin, but Silver isn't blind to case studies such as the now notoriously bad Philadelphia 76ers. From his perspective, criticisms of front-office strategies are often overly simplistic.
"No player is going out there to lose," Silver added. "In terms of management, I think there's an absolute legitimate rebuilding process that goes on. It's so hard to win in this league, and it's so complex.
"I think what's happened in the case of Philadelphia—their strategy has been reduced into a tweet. This notion 'be bad to be good.' ... When it gets reduced into a headline, I understand the reaction."
One suspects that Silver also understands the frustrations of fans whose teams remain indefinitely noncompetitive. Patience may be a virtue in the business, but it ca ...
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Article written by Stephen Babb
Adam Silver Rejects Idea That NBA Players Lose on Purpose
December 20th, 2014 by Stephen Babb Leave a reply »
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