Finally: Adam Silver Claims The NBA Was 'Too Physical' In The Late 90s, But Realized The League Needed Some Of That Back
This might be the most correct Adam Silver has ever been. If you really listen to what he's saying in terms of fans hate the games being in the 80s and mostly the fact that non-skilled players were just beating the shit out of dudes. Sure it makes sense. Hell, if you remember basketball in the late 90s there were plenty of problems. That's great and all.
Until you realize where we are today. Every hard foul is reviewed and potentially (likely) a flagrant foul. Guys are bailed out too often. Guys are hunting fouls too often - looking at you James Harden. There has to be a happy medium here. No more bail out fouls, but if it's a foul call it. Seems that simple.
Hand checks? Great, yeah, get rid of them. But if a guy gets fouled hard and fall to the floor can we stop bitching and moaning for a flagrant foul. If it's flagrant you can tell without a review that just wastes time. Any halfway decent ref can see if a dude gets a two hand shove or hit in the face. Sure, casual fans like scoring, but it's not basketball. You have to be able to defend without some sort of penalty.
I actually wish we got KG's unfiltered thoughts on it. You can see him agreeing somewhat with Silver. But the late 90s is KG's era. That's what he came up on. That's what he played in. I'd love to know what he truly, truly thinks of both eras. I'm not sure the exact noises KG is making here, but I needed him to either defend the 90s, go at the 90s or call guys out who Silver is talking about.
Now stop rewarding flops, people hunting fouls, all that stuff. Then we're finally in the right place on how this game should be.