Advertisement

Adam Silver admits the 2014 Dunk Contest wasn't all that great

Kelly Dwyer
'OK, you see, the clock starts with 90 seconds, and then ... ' (Getty Images)
‘OK, you see, the clock starts with 90 seconds, and then … ‘ (Getty Images)

NBA commissioner Adam Silver was thrown right into the fire during the 2013-14 season, taking control of the NBA on Feb. 1 2014 after over seven years spent as the league’s deputy commissioner, as David Stern took to retiring from the post after 30 years.

[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

As is always the case midseason, there was little going on in NBA circles outside of anticipation about that year’s All-Star Weekend festivities. Five days after Silver took over, the league announced that John Wall, Paul George and Terrence Ross would represent the Eastern Conference (what?) in the 2014 NBA Dunk Contest, in a showdown against Western Conference flag-bearers Harrison Barnes, Ben McLemore, and Damian Lillard.

The rule changes made some sense when announced on Feb. 7, but the Dunk Contest did not – looking like a glorified lay-up line full of dunks and plenty of confusion. When the music stopped blaring, John Wall was named the winner (we think?), and fans were left with their worst Saturday night television experience since 2Ball replaced the Dunk Contest in 1998 (or that one time Bubba Sparxx was on SNL).

In a recent Bloomberg interview, Silver doesn’t exactly cop to the lead-in question from Ira Boudway, attempting to get Silver to admit that the quickly-lost format was his worst mistake, but Silver at the very least didn’t attempt to shamelessly argue its merits as his predecessor would have:

Boudway: Are there changes in your tenure that you already consider mistakes? Maybe the short-lived format for the dunk contest at the All-Star Game in 2014?

Silver: That’s a great example. There was enormous confusion not just with fans in the arena, but I think the players were a bit confused. One of the things I’ve learned in business is, don’t overly complicate things. And there are no shortcuts for introducing new processes. Often, you should find ways to introduce them outside of the glare of the big lights.

Perhaps the “big lights” got to a few Hall of Famers that night, as they stuck to yelling that familiar “the Slam-Dunk Contest is BACK!”-refrain we’ve been hearing since Kenny Smith went nuts over Desmond Mason in 2001. From Dan Devine’s recap at the (sad, so sad) time:

“John Wall just brought the Slam Dunk Contest back,” said Magic Johnson, delivering the line that apparently must, by law, be spoken on microphone at literally every dunk contest.

“Magic is right,” added Julius “Dr. J” Erving. “The Slam Dunk Contest has returned.”

“I walked over on my way here, and Dominique Wilkins stopped me and said, ‘You know what? John Wall just brought the Dunk Contest back,'” TNT host Ernie Johnson said later.

With all due respect to the legends: We don’t believe you. You need more people.

Elsewhere in the interview, Silver briskly walked alongside NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, nearly as new to the gig as Silver is to his, in expecting that there won’t be an extended lockout in 2017, while hoping to “avoid any work stoppage.”

This sort of hope is forged by early discourse, with the knowledge that the NBPA is certain to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement this December, with the whole of the 2017 summer (or, as it was in 1995 and 2005, a brief part of the summer) to determine just how the league’s revenue is split up, all over again. Silver admits that with Roberts already stating that she believes the league’s age limit should move back to 18-years of age, he doesn’t expect much discussion (much less movement) on the age limit front.

These are the mild talks (the interviewer also proposed fewer timeouts for NBA coaches, because who needs rest for players that run up and down a court for two and a half hours?) before the storm hits. Enjoy them.

And don’t pull up any YouTube clips of the 2014 Dunk Contest. You have better things to do this weekend.

– – – – – – –

Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!