Although the NBA plays host to relatively fast-paced games, the league is looking into how to cycle through its events even faster, according to commissioner Adam Silver.
From the Bay Area News Group’s Anthony Slater:
NBA commissioner Adam Silver made a little news in London on Thursday, telling reporters that the league is looking into ways to speed up the final minutes of NBA games, which are often littered with timeouts and other slow stoppages.
At his pregame presser on Thursday in Oakland, Steve Kerr was asked about the comments. Kerr said he was in favor and even took it another step further.
“Speeding up the game not just the last two, but the entire 48, is a good idea,” Kerr said.
In particular, Kerr thinks limiting replay reviews would help slice away the lag.
“Replay has been overdone,” Kerr said. “I appreciate what the league has done trying to get calls right. But there’s always unintended consequences from replay.”
Replay is one aspect where the NBA can try to cut corners, as Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr noted above. He also went on to, per Slater, suggest the league could limit all timeouts to 20-second respites as opposed to full ones during the final two minutes of games.
Cutting down full timeouts might be a bit aggressive for the league from an advertising standpoint. But there is definitely room to maneuver with instant replays. Stations don’t always cut to commercial breaks while the referees are looking at plays, so these precious seconds and minutes often become dead air time.
Something else to consider might be implementing a more stringent time limit on free throws. Getting the players to set up on the blocks more quickly and monitoring the time limit for the players actually at the line could save a few seconds per trip. Add that up over a course of a game, and you’ve probably shaved a few minutes off the entire contest.
Anyway, look for this to become an hot-button issue over the next offseason or two. The NBA prides itself on being progressive, and whenever Adam Silver identifies something that needs tweaking, the Association typically takes it seriously.
