NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is in agony in an attempt to understand the restart of the season without a road map and without a way to satisfy everyone.
All roads lead to Orlando, but Silver will have a conference call on Thursday with GM, then another Friday with the owners of the NBA, to eventually finalize a format.
Throughout the week, the commissioner looked for ideas from team leaders, players, owners and union officials, so here’s one, Adam:
If you have the courage to bring all 30 teams back to Disney World for a resurgence at the end of July – 14 teams for a handful of insignificant matches of the regular season – it is better that you have already solved the lottery ranking since the end of the season March 11.
There are several permutations between 30 teams and 16 playoff qualifiers. To provide incentives also to the ran, a proposal provides for the return of the top 12 teams to each conference. A play-in tournament between teams nos. 9-12 could decide the eighth suit in a variation. A reported iteration also involves 12 western teams for a play-in, compared to just eight eastern teams, for a total of 20 clubs.
The Knicks will be part of the 24-team festival. They stopped in eighth place at 9-45pm on March 11 after beating the Hawks in Atlanta. They would have been sixth in sixth place in the lottery with a 9% chance of winning everything.
The Knicks seem ambivalent about a reboot. Team president Leon Rose is probably more eager to find out where he will select the draft and whether it is worth trading for LaMelo Ball. If Silver initiates a reboot, sources believe the draft will not be until late September / early October.
Rose, as a beginner leader, may be better off by hiring a couple of other scouts and, above all, by starting a search for coaching. It will include interim coach Mike Miller but could start and end with ex-Knicks assistant Tom Thibodeau. Nothing will happen until the Knicks know their fate.
In addition to the motivation for money, 30 teams make no sense. Why increase the number of people at risk in the Disney bubble? The Magic Kingdom will open on July 11th and don’t you think Mitchell Robinson will want to ride Space Mountain?
It’s not just about players but non-millionaire support staff such as instructors, equipment managers, video coordinators, security and public relations staff.
All this problem for five regular season games that could damage a lottery seed. Miller would likely have played his young players, but the unprecedented act of returning from three months stuck on the couch could result in serious injuries affecting next season.