Michael Jordan was responsible for entertaining NBA fans during a big part of the NBA hiatus and now it was revealed he had a big say in the decision of having normal playoff format when the league resumes action at the end of July.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver reveals MJ’s opinion led to the league to not make big changes in the playoffs, instead opting to continue using the same format we’ve always seen. During a special appearance on “Inside the NBA,” Silver described how Michael Jordan helped the league to make a final decision of keeping the same format and not using the ones we see in international tournaments.
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“This was a point made by Michael Jordan whose team the Charlotte Hornets are not one of the 22 teams, Silver began. But clearly he’s the most respected voice in the room when it comes to basketball.”
“He felt that it was very important that after we establish the 16 teams, we’d not be gimmicky. Because there were a lot of proposals on the table to do unique tournaments and pool play like you see in international competition. And we took those proposals very seriously,” Silver said.
He agreed with MJ that this wasn’t the time to do any experiment since people need some normality in their lives, even in the way they get entertained.
“But I think ultimately, and I agree with Michael, that there’s so much chaos in the world right now, and even before the racial unrest we’re experiencing now, that let’s close to normal as we can and as close to normal as we can is top 8 in the West and top 8 in the East playing four rounds of seven games. So that’s what we intend to do and our goal is to crown a champion.”
The league is set to restart on July 31 and will last until October. 22 teams will play 8 regular game seasons before entering the playoffs and compete for the Larry O’Brien trophy. Those 8 games will be finals for some teams, so if you want some entertaining amid the coronavirus crisis, the NBA is here to provide.
