Adam Silver had been David Stern’s right-hand man so long, I initially wondered whether Silver would carve his own path as NBA Commissioner rather than just continuing what Stern set in motion.
Would he be comfortable altering Stern policies? Did he even disagree with Stern’s policies?
It seems Silver has already answered those questions. He’s only been on the job a couple months, but he’s already making his mark.
In a departure from Stern’s top-down authoritative approach, the NBA is now releasing to the public memos sent to referees.
The latest memo, released today, is on verticality:
You can read the full memo, which includes links to videos of plays that should be now called blocking fouls.
The league also released every other memo sent to officials this season. The topics:
- “Perimeter Contact and Contact Embellishment”
- ”Player Pushing Fouls”
- ”Point of Contact”
- ”Offensive Fouls/Illegal Screens”
- ”Delay of Game”
Transparency is usually good, and in this case, it definitely is. Fans who spend money, directly through ticket sales and merchandise and indirectly through advertising, on the NBA deserve to know what’s happening in the league.
Kudos to the Silver regime for going this direction. Referee memos can be a bit trite, but there’s no good reason not to disclose them. Hopefully, this is just a sign of progress toward even more transparency.
