WHERE WE ARE AS A WORLD THE SILVER LINING
WHERE WE ARE AS A WORLD
THE SILVER LINING
By Muntradamus
BEAST DOME NATION.
People who do not follow the NBA might not be aware of how much of an impact the NBA has on the world. Adam Silver took over as the NBA commissioner in 2014, since then the world has not been the same.
When Adam Silver took over in 2014 his first bold move to make a name for himself in the headlines happened in his first season. Donald Sterling on April 25th got hit in the face with his recorded messages about African Americans added up with all of his racial antics over the years. Example being a horrible landlord to a lot of properties he owned in lower-class neighborhoods among many other things. April 29th, after Adam Silver did all the due diligence with heavy pressure from the league, gave him the boot. Ya it probably should have come earlier, but at least he made the right move. In came Steve Balmer who paid $2 Billion for Clippers and every NBA team skyrocketed in value. All professional sports teams skyrocketed in value.
Silver parlayed that move early in the following season with promoting Sports Investing to bring it out into the open and make it legal. That was a huge turning point to where we are today in the Sports investing world as more and more states begin to legalize the activity. Expect the movement to grow with a way to generate new revenue for the states with what is going on with 2020.
However from there things got dark for Silver, through a few rules the games started to speed up and gone was halfcourt basketball. Half-court was honestly true team Basketball at its finest, this up and down stuff is fun to watch but it’s not nearly as skilled as it used to be. Back then nobody got open looks, here the systems are so quick it is near impossible not to get open shots. Steph Curry began to revolutionize the game and won MVPs that could have clearly gone to LeBron. All of a sudden little kids are jacking up threes around the world, the game has changed, and the Warriors regime was building by the season. The half-court offense is gone, maybe it is not Silver’s fault, but it happened during his time as commissioner.
The move that makes me feel Adam Silver failed was allowing the Warriors to grab Kevin Durant for the 2016, 2017, & 2018 season. That was an instant cheat code which is forcing the NBA to become too top-heavy with Superstars pairing up, leaving teams with no superstars zero opportunity to compete for a title. Do not forget Donald Sterling the prior commissioner rejected a trade that would have seen a PRIME Chris Paul playing along with a PRIME Kobe Bryant. Imagine how that could have saved Kobe from so many more injuries. The role of the commish is to prevent an unfair league.
Silver Parlayed his bad play once again and did not handle the China situation well at all. For those who do not know, Rockets GM agreed with a stance in Hong Kong that China was not happy about at all. Adam Silver did not get on his hands and knees for forgiveness, even fire the Rockets GM for the move and get rid of him like he got rid of Donald Sterling. Silver wanted to respect Freedom of Speech, when we all know it is 2020 and you cannot voice your opinion if it is not a popular opinion. In return, China cut off the NBA and the NBA lost over $300 Million in revenue per season. Destroying that relationship for his pride and protecting Freedom of Speech will cost the NBA Zillions over the decades. Drop the ego you don’t mistreat a customer of that magnitude. It is rule #1 in the constitution, the customer is always right. Timing of this moment, December 2019 right when Corona was becoming a thing in China.
However where Adam Silver really messed up is in 2020. His reaction to Rudy Gobert getting Coronavirus led to the panic and loss of our entire USA. I remember being at my friend’s house when all of a sudden the Jazz/OKC game became canceled. I know personally I had the chills and felt like this virus was a deadly thing and the world was going to end, felt like Space Jam, the Jordan version. Might as well say goodbye to your loved ones, might as well say you will never see your friends again, or meet another person at a bar.
Schools closed. Jobs were lost. Millions filing for unemployment. The world did not know how to react.
Did the NBA save the day by making our world shutdown? The survival rate of Corona is above 97%, and any death that is possible seemed to have Coronavirus linked to it. Even George Lloyd was tallied up in the Deaths due to Covid-19. The economy shut down completely and put a huge financial strain on millions. These protests show we will be fine and we should be able to fill stadiums again shortly. Maybe it saved millions? Maybe it didn’t? We do not know for sure.
In the midst of America taking the streets, Adam Silver can help save the world and put our world back to peace. The NBA announced it is coming back, and just like that the curfews have been lifted. Will the NBA bring peace back to the world? That is what Adam Silver needs in order to slide under the radar as not responsible for what has happened to our NBA and country.