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Commissioner Adam Silver spoke at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston on Friday about the NBA, its future, and the role of advanced metrics in it. As part of the discussion, Silver said that Chris Paul brought up to him after the All-Star Game that the contest lacks a certain competitiveness.

Silver said “some change” could be coming. It’s obviously early, but those changes have to be made carefully. They are necessary, to be sure. The game is a joke. It is an abject, disgusting, mega-fail joke. No one tries, no one cares. You don’t want players going 100 percent -- that’s going to risk injury in an exhibition. But some sort of shift in the level of defense and competition is necessary, because right now it’s a complete waste for everyone involved, including those watching. 

But you don’t want to go too far, either. Making a baseball-like change in gifting home-court advantage in the Finals to the winning conference would be a total disaster. The Finals cannot be changed or messed with. The NBA is one of the few sports leagues to ensure that 90 percent of the time, the best team wins the championship. Part of that formula is built on home-court advantage in the Finals. 

A better solution, honestly? Money. You want the players to compete? Get the winning team a significant prize pool. Even with the millionaires involved, that will get their attention. 

We’ll see what the league does, but this is a matter that has to be handled delicately. A good All-Star game is a great outcome for all involved.