It’s rare that we lay-folk find we have something in common with Kobe Bryant, the NBA’s highest-paid player whose opulent lifestyle involves Parisian getaways with his family and a helicopter shuttling him to Lakers home games.
But Bryant describes himself as a traditionalist, and I think a lot of us can probably relate to that.
The Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets played an exhibition game on Sunday that lasted 44 minutes, or, four fewer minutes than virtually every other game in NBA history.
Weird, right?
Bryant’s reaction probably sums up what most of us felt with Commissioner Adam Silver’s announcement that the Boston-Brooklyn game would serve as a trial balloon as it collects data on what a shorter ballgame would look like.
“I’m old school,” he said, “but at this stage I wouldn’t complain if it was less.”
This is the NBA’s renaissance age. While the game has seen minor changes over the last decade that have deeply impacted game play – notably the elimination of the illegal defense rule – the league has not considered such stark and dramatic changes to the fundamentals of the game since the advent of the shot clock and the 3-point line.
Here’s a chief criticism of shortening games: It basically closes the book on all comparable statistics!
For what seems like forever, we’ve used Michael Jordan as the baseline for phenomenal players. But if MJ played 48 minutes, how could we ever compare, say, Andrew Wiggins in a 44-minute league?
Another complaint: It would impact bench players more than starters!
It’s possible that starters would continue to play upwards of 40 minutes, and the role of bench players would take a hit. The more likely scenario, though, is that starters and reserves minutes would be distributed roughly the same as they are now.
But before we get too bogged down by the mechanics of such a change, which, by the way, the league is by no means on the verge of making, we should pause to consider what the very discussion represents.
NBA teams are playing faster than ever, and the wear and tear of an NBA season is a very real thing. What the league is doing – potentially eliminating the equivalent of seven regular-season games 240 seconds at a time – is looking out for its players’ health.
This is significant and particularly relevant as the NFL continues to kill its players by avoiding the necessary conversations about concussions.
The NBA might never go to a 44-minute game. But the discussion this trial opens up is the key. The league is examining ways to reduce the toll on players’ bodies, to keep them healthier longer, to prevent major injuries. (Note: Players can get hurt in the first game of a season as well as the 82nd, but when bodies are rested and strong they are less susceptible to breaking and tearing.)
A shorter game, according to stars including Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James, as well as Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, sidesteps the issue of protecting players rather than directly addressing it. The season is too long, they said last week, not the games.
Spoelstra would like to see the league reduce the number of games played on back-to-back nights. Teams play upwards of 20 such games, meaning players are traveling immediately after one game, getting into a different city well after midnight, sleeping most of the day, and arriving at one arena as few as 16 hours after leaving another one.
It’s hard to imagine the NBA going to a shorter schedule. That would mean less revenue from television contracts, sponsorships and ticket sales.
A shorter game could be the only compromise that works out. But we should take a second to appreciate this new, progressive NBA. Former commissioner David Stern was a revolutionary in terms of growing the game domestically in the 1980s, and across the world in recent decades.
His successor, Silver, has taken the approach not only that basketball should be the world’s game, sharing it as it is, but has gone one step further. He has tried to broaden its appeal, while considering fundamental changes the way the whole thing is organized.
Since taking over for Stern less than nine months ago, Silver has laid down the law on racism, negotiated a landmark television deal, pushed for sponsor logos on jerseys and discussed implementing a midseason tournament – which would appeal to international fans used to the erratic schedules of soccer clubs.
The NBA is considering a shorter game. It feels wrong. But that doesn’t mean it is.
Contact the writer: boram@ocregister.com
