Adam Silver not a fan of 76ers' strategy, didn't push for changes
NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn't love what Philadelphia is doing.
By
Brad Botkin
•
2 min read
NBA commissioner Adam Silver appeared on FiveThirtyEight's "Hot Takedown" podcast and said that he doesn't love the way Philadelphia 76ers general manager Sam Hinkie has chosen to rebuild his team.
"I don’t want to answer that directly," Silver said when asked if he is OK with what Philadelphia has run the franchise the past three seasons. "There's a marketplace of ideas and approaches that go into managing a franchise. For me, if a franchise is managed within the rules of the league, it's acceptable to me. I don't think I should be browbeating owners and saying this is how I think you should manage your team. And they got unlucky as well -- if Joel Embiid were healthy or on the floor, we may be having a very different discussion.
"On the other hand, because of the strategy they were following, there was an extremely small margin for error," Silver continued. "So it's a combination of their strategy and of bad luck. But bad luck is something that has to be factored in as well. Am I fan of that strategy? Put it this way: No. But does that mean that it’s not acceptable under the league rules? It is, and it's partly why I had proposed to change the odds of the draft lottery."
On the subject of new Sixers chairman Jerry Colangelo, Silver said that owner Josh Harris "decided on his own that he needed to change course." He added that he and Harris had "many conversations along the way about the strategy he was following," but he did not pressure Harris to do something different.
Silver did, however, confirm what CBS Sports' Ken Berger reported: he and Harris discussed a list of names that could help the organization, and he introduced Harris to Colangelo. He also stated that losing "comes at an enormous cost," and teams need to create a winning culture and bring in veterans to be mentors for young players.
For Silver, this is a fine line to walk. He clearly doesn't like that Philadelphia is 1-28, and he's interested in lottery reform to stop tanking. At the same time, he wants to combat the perception that the league intervened and told the Sixers what to do. He is in a tricky spot, but he's handling it pretty well.
It is critical that Silver acknowledged the role luck plays here. Embiid, if healthy, could be a franchise player. Philadelphia would also be in a completely different position if it had managed to land Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns in the draft, but it never wound up getting the No. 1 pick and the Minnesota Timberwolves wound up with both of them. That result does not invalidate the Sixers' process, which is all about trying to land superstar players in the draft. It just means Minnesota is a lot more fun to watch than Philadelphia for now, and Hinkie's entire plan is under all sorts of scrutiny.
