Weidner's Words: The role of the commissioner

The Chicago Bulls had lost six of their last seven games and were coming off a blowout loss to Boston when the NBA issued its warning on March 6.The Bulls, a team currently sitting at 23–43 and vying for the best possible draft position, needed to stop resting healthy players. Resting healthy players has been a hot-button issue for the last few seasons and is one of the main things that NBA commissioner Adam Silver has tried to tackle since taking over for David Stern in 2014. Critics claim that it reduces competitiveness. Fans who pay to see these games may be seeing a worse on-court product or missing out on seeing talented players if they rest.

I see the merit in this argument when a top team like the Warriors rests its stars. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andre Iguodala all sat during a nationally televised game against the Spurs in 2017.This was a game that millions of fans across the country were tuning in to watch, and these were two of the best teams in the league facing off for playoff positioning. The on-court product was clearly much worse, or at least less entertaining without these players.

However, the argument seems weak when it is applied to this year’s Bulls team, particularly when you see that the players being rested are Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday. No disrespect to those guys, but they aren’t exactly All-Stars that fans are dying to see play. Also, it makes sense for the long-term interests of the Bulls to play their younger players. They are a rebuilding team and need to develop young talent into solid starters and rotational pieces for the future, so that means they have to give playing time to those players.

In this case, Adam Silver is overreaching. In fact, you can argue that the product put on the floor is better when the younger players are played. Many fans, including me, would rather see the prospects on a developing team than see a team stuck in the purgatory that is neither elite nor mediocre.

It is another example of the ongoing question as to what a commissioner's true role is. Silver has been loose with fines throughout his time as commissioner. Marcus Smart was recently fined $15,000 by the NBA simply for light criticism of the officials, when he noted that James Harden gets a lot of foul calls. Draymond Green was also fined $25,000 this season after suggesting the league get "a whole new crop" of referees.

These fines send the message that the business of the NBA is more important than the sport of basketball. While money does drive the entire league, players and coaches are the reason that the league and the sport exists, and their input should count. The NBA has to toe the line between being about sports and being about profit, and the commissioner should think about that balance.