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Adam Silver Making The NBA Draft A Two Day Event Is Pretty Clearly One Of The Worst Decisions Of All Time

Sarah Stier. Getty Images.

As I've continued to morph into officially being an "old", there are certain things that have started to translate into my everyday life. That could be weirdly now finding house chores therapeutic and actually enjoying doing them, cooking, no longer really having FOMO, randomly watching the news (????) when it comes on the TV and not changing the channel, caring about the weather, not giving a shit about clothes or style and focusing more on comfort, the list goes on and on.

One thing that's also happened is my desire to yell at clouds about something. 

Giphy Images.
Giphy Images.

I'm not sure how or when this happened, but now all of a sudden I find myself in this position when it comes to certain things. I've just figured it's part of the process of becoming an "old". Things that annoy you now would never come close to annoying you in your younger years, and that it's all just part of the gig.

I bring this up of course on the heels of last night's NBA Draft. During the year back in January when we first learned that Adam Silver was trying to do his best to turn the NBA Draft into the NFL Draft by making it a two day event

I think we all pretty much had the same reaction. This was a terrible, terrible idea. I believe I called it beyond stupid on the blog.

Well, now that we're here I can confirm, this is such a disaster of an idea for the NBA and the NBA Draft. Just accept the fact that you are not going to be the NFL. Ever. Listen I get it, money talks. Sponsorships and advertising dollars, all that stuff plays a role here, but as a consumer, I can also say I don't give a fuck about any of that stuff. 

I also acknowledge that not everyone is like me, someone who not only loves the Draft but loves watching all 60 picks (or 58 this year due to pick forfeits). I'm a basketball sicko as someone who watches every dribble from Summer League to the NBA Finals, I'm watching no matter what. I understand that I am not the person Adam Silver is marketing to or trying to get interested in his product. But having said all that, this is still such a terrible idea.

The NBA Draft isn't like the NFL Draft where there are a billion rounds and you need to split it up. Two rounds really isn't that bad, and if you're concerned about how long it takes, just trim the 2nd round pick clock in half or something. But breaking up the days and then restarting things at 4pm on a Thursday afternoon? Talk about removing ALL the juice from this event. It remains so baffling that when Adam Silver and the league office first talked about this idea, they all came to the conclusion that this was the way to go. We know Adam Silver is all for trying new shit, but killing the Draft seems to be a bit of a strange decision. OK cool, you made some advertising revenue! Congratulations! There are also only going to be like 15 people who watch Day 2 of your Draft, so good job!

Considering most of the good teams in the NBA don't operate until the end of the first round in addition to what all the new second apron CBA rules mean for team building moving forward, the second round is where a lot of the action could end up taking place. You know what makes sense to my idiot brain? Riding the momentum of the first round right into the potential chaos of the second. We've all been locked in for the last few hours, what's a few more? Now all the buzz is gone, most people will forget about the scenarios of all the teams heading into today's 2nd round, and all for what? Money? Gross.

Now look, maybe I'm alone here. Maybe this is just me being an "old" and this actually isn't as bad as my brain thinks, but I don't think so. If you're someone who enjoys the NBA Draft and everything that comes with it, I can't see how your takeaway of this split-up day idea is a good one. Again, the NBA is not the NFL. It will never be the NFL. And you know what? That's OK! 

My fear is that now that it's happened, we're never going back. The toothpaste is out of the tube and I'm not sure what has to happen for Adam Silver to realize he made a terrible mistake and just go back to how it's always been. 

OK, rant over. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.