NBA commissioner Adam Silver held his annual press conference at NBA All-Star Weekend on Saturday, and he was asked – with all of the ‘respect for the game' rules put in place for the players – how does he make sure that players feel heard and respected – especially with many NBA players feeling that they can't speak to referees without fear of receiving a technical foul.
Silver then spoke on the relationship between NBA players and officials, per ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel:
“Adam Silver claims the league is going to work more with officials and players on better communication. ‘This is a real area of focus for us that we are going to be working on… There just has to be a two-way sense of respect.'”
NBA officiating is a frequent topic among fans, and many have complained this season about questionable calls and quick technical fouls/ejections when players complain. While it's not clear what Silver means when he says that the league will be working on communication between the two entities, it's something that will be welcome.
Silver also addressed other topics such as the 65-game minimum for players to be eligible for postseason awards such as MVP.
“My answer is I'm not sure,” Silver said in response to separating the potential value of contracts from awards. “A lot of thought went into the 65-game demarcation. Not only was it collectively bargained with the players, but we spent extensive time leading up to collective bargaining talking to all the various constituencies in the league, most importantly the coaches and general managers, and individual players directly. The notion was that we needed to further incentivize players, particularly star players, to play more games.”
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