Seton O’Connor checks in from the road as he heads to New Orleans for the Super Bowl. And NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joins the show to talk about the changes they are looking to make in the NBA.
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox Sports Radio. It's hour two on this Wednesday.
The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will stop by in about twenty minutes from now. We'll hear from Seaton on the road in North Carolina. Coming up in about five minutes from now. Gangs here, Minister of Humor, Fritzie Dylan in Seaton's chair, Marvin is here, Paulie and yours truly in the back room. Guys, we have a new poll question for hour two. I'll have that for you. Coming up. Two of last year's Premier League title contenders go head to head once again after a draw at the beginning of the season, a must win for Arsenal and Man City. Catch the show down at North London Live Sunday at eleven thirty am Eastern exclusively on Peacock, which is where you can see this show Monday through Friday, all three hours, and you can dial us up as well eight seven to seven three DP. Show operator Tyler's sitting by. Take your phone calls there, say good morning, do all of our radio affiliates around the country.
All right, poll question for hour two is going to be.
All right, Dan, this is a courtesy of Paul Okay, NFL career. You'd rather have twelve seasons, six times Pro bowler, never an All Pro retired by choice, or six seasons, six times All Pro and retire early due to injury sort of the Pro Bowl All Pro debate.
Yeah, we got to fix the Pro Bowl. I mean not the festivities. I can't fix that. That's not fixable, but the designation. We keep saying we have to add a the scarlet letter Pro Bowl ulternate alternate here, Yes to it.
As long as it wasn't a life altering injury. I think I would take that second one. Six times six All pros and unfortunately you had a ballot early because of injury and not because you decided you didn't want to play anymore.
Yes, that's the right answer.
Yeah, pull a lot of people I think will lean towards the longer, very goodish career than the awesome six year career.
Okay, I want to reveal those players.
I don't have any names, actually, oh you don't, but like Patrick Willis is a good example. The linebacker I think he was.
Oh, I thought you were basing this off.
Oh it's not Whose stats would you haunt oh, oh, Okay, it's more of a hypothetical long really good career or unbelievable short career.
Okay, would you rather be Frank Gore or Terrell Davis?
There you go?
How about that classic? How about that?
Would you rather be Curtis Martin or Terrell Davis or Gail says. I'm gonna take Trell Davis and Gail says, Now, Curtis Martin's Hall of Famer. Frank gore'e got fifteen thousand yards, isn't he? I'm guessing he's going to be a Hall of Famer. Been a little too long, I think you think. Wow, buddy, I'm glad he played a little longer for this question. I mean he's a prime example there of what you want with Canada a Canada b Yes, Paul.
Frank is perfect for this. He made five Pro Bowls, never went over thirteen hundred yards in any of those season.
And how many yards did he end up in his career? Fifteen thousand, sixteen thousand on the nose? God, I think that's third all time.
Yeah?
Is that not third all time?
I think it's second all time.
I think sweetness is sixteen seven, twenty six ish and I never everything.
Yeah.
I like how you act like you're like I think Walter Payton had sixteen thousand, twenty seven yard.
There's nothing I don't know.
Yes, yes, Tom Well compiler instead of pro Did Walter Payton have that many yarns?
Dang?
Be easy, he should have had thirty thousand.
He should for that strike here.
Of course he should.
Touchdown in the Super Bowl.
Yes, oh, oh easy easy. Don't get Paul riled up.
You make fun of my family.
Yeah, but not Walter Peyton, yes, Marton.
So Frank Gore is the rafaol Paul Marrow of the NFL without steroids.
Oh, I don't know that.
And viagra checking No, remember he did the commercial.
Yes, if you're gonna accuse me of performance dancing, yeah, sure, it's in the bedroom.
Yes, like if yeah, hey he's on peds he is, Yeah, viagra.
I've never used steroids.
Yeah, I mean.
He knows how to swing up bat Thank you, Todd too easy writes itself. So you got emmittt at what eighteen thousand?
Yeah, Emmitt Smith is the all time rushing leader at eighteen three fifty five. Walter sixteen seven twenty six nailed it. Frank Or at sixteen thousand, Barry Sanders fifteen two fifty ish. The next closest active player Derrick Henry at eleven five.
Okay, yeah, I Barry Sanders would have been the all time record holder if he won two. He just was like, Eh, I don't want to play anymore. Imagine your franchise is so bad that two first Mallon Hall of Famers decided not to continue to play. Calvin Johnson and Barry Sanders. Oh look who's there? Oh look at that face?
Seaton encounter.
Don't get too close with the camera there, Yo, seating on the road. What is the what is the location?
We're in Greensboro, North Carolina. Right now. I'm with my guy Phil Collins. Believe it or not, this.
Year Phil Collins is there.
Yes, in the MAKEO world, Phil Collins is a big deal. I think he's like the largest owner of Maco's here. And then there's the other Phil Collins that would be more familiar with.
No, no, no, no, no no no.
I resisted every urge in my body to make some type of reference. I was like, I can't, but he's he's Luckily, he's a big Alabama guy. So we talked to Alabama Football and Nick saban Nil for a little bit. No reference is to anything Genesis related.
Okay, the highlight so far has been, let's.
See, we had a really good dinner last night at a place called Machete or I'm.
Not really sure which.
Me and the French kid haven't killed each other just yet, but that's could be on the way.
But no, we're doing okay, we're doing okay.
There's been at almost every place that we've stopped so far, at a make a location, somebody there is really into drifting, you know, like cars where they're like sliding around each other. So that's been pretty cool. That's actually there's like a huge I don't know, I mean we're at a garage, so of course people it's positive popular there, but drifting is a big thing.
It's pretty awesome.
And where are we off to today?
After Greensboro, We're going to Charlotte for a quick stop there.
Then we're going to Greenville, South Carolina.
Uh, and then maybe if we have enough time, onto Atlanta.
You're still on target for Friday in New Orleans?
Yeah?
Yeah, yeah, we should make New Orleans on Friday. Yeah, that's the plan.
But then we got to stop in Birmingham, Gulf Court a couple other places.
You're seeing all the make O people, that's it.
Yeah, yeah, they're treating us well. We got coffee and donuts here.
It's pretty sweet, all right, got it made you?
And the French kid does he have his watermelon vape pen with him on it?
He's not. He's not vaping.
No, he isn't.
He hasn't been vaping at all this time. It's been this trip, I could say, for a lot of different eason that.
Has been much different than the previous two. No vaping, no, yeah, it's not his best behavior.
And no no accidents yet.
No, no, the ban is in exactly the same shape as when we left.
Good. Well, good to see you. We'll I'll chat with you tomorrow.
Yeah, all right, see you guys.
That's seat O'Connor on the road courtesy of Mako the great folks. There are new partner on the road to New Orleans in time for the Super Bowl. A couple of phone calls in here. The Saints are still looking for a coach. It looks like that's going to be Kellen Moore. When other names have taken their name out of the hopper. That usually means that they're being told they're not going to be the next head coach. Does Mike McCarthy get in the media for a year. I don't know how he'd be on TV. He doesn't strike me as you know, charismatic. I mean, he's not Rex Ryan, But I don't know. If you get him in a lab and let him, you know, dissect things, and maybe he could be you know, he could have a coming out party.
We were like, man, where's this been? Yes, Paulin, you know what the interesting thing or challenging thing or Mike McCarthy would be. We and other people would want to ask him questions about dealing with everything that is the Cowboys coach. And if you remember when Jason Garrett started doing this, he was hesitant to give you details about Jerry Jones because he wanted another job and you got to keep things in house if you're a possible NFL.
Coach, Well, he would say, oh, you always asked me these questions. I'm like, yes, that's my job, yes, Marvin, But.
Could you imagine Mike McCarthy doing ex's and O's plays and Cowboys fans going where was this when you were the Cowboys head coach.
Yes, DoD can you throw me in the Bothberg Cardinals Titans game just to give it a shot.
And No, I don't think I want him calling a game. I think he would have to be set up in a studio where you're going to him for something really specific. Maybe we could have Mike Gun Maybe I could ask him if he wants to join us towards the draft or by the way, the Senior Bowl. They're doing measurables at the Senior Bowl. It's the Senior Bowl. The combine before the combine? Is it pre combine? All measurements the I'd have taken away the thunder from the combine, Jalen Milrow. Small hands, Marvin, you should have broke that story.
I thought we were over this.
No.
Never are you in a small hands support groups when.
It cuts of coffee in the waiting room?
Just yeah, I need to be around here, Oh for sure.
Oh.
I can't believe one day, at six thirty in the morning, measuring hands turned into this.
I know, I didn't know what was going on when Ray said, oh, we got to measure everybody's hands, and then all of a sudden, the big reveal and seatan goes, I know I have the smallest hands, and when we read the results in it was like the smallest hands Marvin. Oh, greatest day aside from Seaton's son being born and getting married was that day.
Yes, we need a poll question because I'm not sure if that's the right answer. His hands being bigger than mine might be up there.
It's it might be bigger than when he got married. Yes, it might be. It might be second on that list. I've never seen a smile like that. It's like, yes, I don't have the smallest hands. Jason Utah, Hi, Jas, what's on your mind?
I like Roger in Iowa. I'm perfectly healthy and watching on Peacock. Shout out to your streaming partner. I did fall in love with this show home down with nothing better to do, but wanted to give an honest to God compliment. You all are crushing it today. Even when I can't catch the show live, I'll watch on Peacock later and as a newer listener, I love the archives. So thanks for entertaining the nation and with tender love and care. So I'll get fritzy, all right.
That's Jason Utah y. Yes, by the way, people are wondering about my sweatshirt hoodie. This is a gift from Adam Sandler that I got yesterday. So it's a Happy Gilmore sweatshirt, but it's a double X. And Sandman likes to wear things baggy but I don't. But Sandman's weight fluctuates a little bit. I'm being kind here, but yeah, this is I mean, this body, I mean it's meant to be seen with this.
It's just baggy. You're swimming in that thing.
Yeah, it's like putting baggy clothes on Emily Ratakowski or whatever her name is RATATOUI.
That's a good comp you came up with there on the flock.
Thank you to thank you? Uh Ryan in North Carolina? Hi Ryan.
Who wants Dan Patrick to retire in three years?
No lot oh, I was gonna say everybody.
I wanted to just thank you guys for the last two years. You've really helped me through a tough time in my life. This show has been an awesome, healthy distraction for me and I love every minute of it and it's just been great. I wanted to give y'all a recommendation for sushi in New Orleans. My cousin and a guy I grew up with the New Orleans owns and runs a sushi restaurant called Rock and Sake. And if you get me some heads up, I'm sure he would put together an anti mayonnaise pesto sushi roll for you.
Dan.
I'm a fellow mayonnaise hater. He knows that, and so I've been there a bunch of times and he always flips up something without vaoli and no mayonnaise and things like that.
All right, well, I'll have Tyler take your phone number there. Right, Maybe.
I'm taking the Dan nuts out on Sunday. I'm still looking for a restaurant on Sunday. This is the big get together before we start our Super Bowl week, and we're going out early, five o'clock dinner, just letting you know, the cool kids go to the five o'clock Yeah, five o'clock dinner. That's when we start. Yes, Paul, we.
Are trying to find a restaurant. There was a big meeting with the big German and I yesterday about this. It's hard to get a table for twelve. I know we can get six and six, but then who's at the big kids table? Who's at the you know.
I think that we would just draw names out of a hat.
I would say, all right, here's six at this table, here's six at this table.
As long as Fritzie's not at my table, I'm good.
Sounds delicious.
Oh my god, I can't be next to you when you're eating. I can't.
I've been practicing trying to eat with my mouth clothes. It's very difficult. Yes, Marmon, is Dylan with us Sunday Night?
Dylan?
Yeah, okay, what do you mean? Oh? This is the the entire team.
Well b rg's as well.
Oh yeah, I wasn't sure if it was just Danette's. I was going to ask if I made the cut after one week for.
Dinner, how about you stay for appetizers.
Wow, that's perfect. I'm kind of an apps guy anyways. Yeah.
Uh, looks like you don't miss too many of them. I hit them all, you do? Yeah, everybody, everybody who's there in New Orleans working on the show, we're going to go out to dinner together. We just need to find a place that will seat twelve at five o'clock. Five o'clock shouldn't be the hard thing, but to get I don't want a table of twelve, just two tables of six.
Be the early bird special crowd.
Yes, and we're gonna get there when they open. But there's so many restaurants there, it's hard to find a restaurant that's not good in New Orleans. All right, Well, take a break. We'll get some more phone calls coming up, and let's see we'll update the poll results. The Commissioner of the NBA is going to join us and that will take place next.
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He's the commissioner of the NBA for the last eleven years. Adam Silver joining us on the program, High Commissioner, How are you?
I'm good, Dan? I need some more stuff on my desk.
What happened?
It's clean? I like all the stuff you got there, though.
Well, you got some poll with teams. Why don't you just have a little choons keys Garre. You get bobblehead dolls up there?
I've got him. I just I put paper on my desk. We have a different jobs.
What is the coolest thing in your office?
I have one of shacks shoes. It looks like a snow boot and you could use it as a planner.
Well, I have one too, his rebox shoe.
Yeah, it wasn't it was the brand that he created.
Oukay.
I think it was like dunk Man. I think was the brand. Okay, And it's enormous. It looks it doesn't look real.
Well, he only gave me one. I don't know why he only gives out one shoe.
It gave me the other. I only have one. You have the left right.
I think I have the left one, but I.
Got the right. He split the pair between us.
I got Tim duncan shoes from when they won the NBA title against the Knicks, and he said, I'll give you my shoes if you tell me who's the number one sports century athlete. They just win the NBA championship. He comes in, I'm doing Sports Center. He's got his shoes and he writes to DP Tim Duncan and then he said, right, who's number one on the list and I I nobody knew because we had that countdown. I said it's Jordan And he said, all right, here's your shoes. So I got Tim Duncan's shoes after the NBA Finals. Did you get any Jordan stuff when you were with the you know, commissioner Stern?
No, I mean only because it wouldn't have been appropriate. I mean, I guess I was around a lot of Jordan stuff, but I wasn't a collector. I don't think will be appropriate.
Well, when you weren't the commissioner, you could have said, hey, be nice to get a pair of Mike's shoes.
Yeah. I bought a lot of Jordan shoes over the years.
Yeah, well I I talked to who is it? Tim? Who's the Tim the Tim? No? No, Tim? Who was the bulls PR guy Tim? Tim Hallum?
Yeah? Tim.
He would get Jordan's shoes.
After every NBA Finals, every title he Mike would take off the shoes and autograph them and hand them to them after everyone. I don't know if he sold those things, but those things got to be worth because their championship warn NBA shoes by Mike, they got to be worth a whole lot of money.
And I think about the business Mike created as a division of Nike, the Jordan brand. I mean it's you know, it's a multi billion dollar business at this point. I mean, how many think about how many athletes have retained Yeah, a kind of notoriety, you know this many decades post playing career, and it's I mean, he's an amazing guy obviously, and he's still a small owner in the league and Charlotte, but I might, you know, I post his playing career. I mean I knew him a bit over the years, but you know, post playing career, we got to be really close and he was obviously one of my bosses for the first several years I was the commissioner and still amazing person.
Give me the list here, like, what's top on your list here of what needs to be addressed with the NBA.
I think top on my list is the transition we're going through in media now. I mean, we locked in our new media deals for essentially the next decade, staying with Disney, ABC and ESPN, moving to Comcast Universal Peacock in addition to being on NBC and now Amazon. But I think more interesting in a way is not just moving from one partner to another, but the shift in live sports to streaming. And I think where as most fancy it now and maybe even a little bit of a pain that they got to switch off their box or whatever else and then find the app or however they have to do it. From a programming standpoint, it's still they're finding what, in essence looks like the same game. It's just streamed as other than being on broadcaster conventional cable. What's really fascinating to me is all the functionality that sort of Internet TV will allow through streaming, all the personalization, the customization that will come, all the new types of information you can prevent present to fans as they're watching games, you know, all that optionality I think. I mean, you know, when we first met, I was at NBA Entertainment and sort of began my career on the production side, and I think it's at this moment we can redefine how we present the game to fans and also make it a lot more convenient. I mean, in our new deals, every game will be streamed, and we have a very young audience. You know, they're watching more screen time than ever before, but not traditional television. And I think our ability to bring those games directly to them and in ways they want to consume them. I'll add to that as well. I think using social media to engage fans, I mean, not just to interest them. I mean, like example, talked about recently, Victor Wembinyama was in New York on Christmas Day and then was around for two more days because then he played in Brooklyn two days later, and he's a chess player and he went to Washington Square Park. I'm sure you saw that clip. Something like one hundred million people you know a week saw video of him playing chess in Washington Square Park. And our viewership, which is fine, pales though in comparison to the social media following of these players and the league, that number, you know, on a global basis is over two billion. And I think sort of my job is to get more basketball lovers to watch the NBA and watch it longer. And I think there's an opportunity to use social media to create more engagement, and not just to show how multifaceted Wemby is and he loves to play chess, but to teach people about the game, to celebrate the game, to demonstrate why I know you you're a college basketball player, I know you love the game, like why this is such an incredible game, and help people better understand what they're watching, understand the finer points of the game and fair to be critical of it at times too, and you know, should there be less three point shooting, et cetera. I mean that's something we're very focused on. But when I day in and day out, you know, and I have all the very streaming service is and have all different programming available to me, I don't think it's an accident that people are increasingly gravitating towards premium live sports, not just basketball, but obviously football, hockey, baseball, et cetera. WNBA. Now, I think because people crave something that's live, something that's you know, unscripted, something that can be entertaining as well, and I think the basketball in the NBA can be all those things. But we also our job has become that much harder because we're competing against so many different forms of entertainment. It's podcasts and social media and unlimited numbers of channels and programming, and so we have to up our game too to make sure that we're finding ways to engage viewers and again to teach people about the game. And that's been one of my frustrations. I think that I don't blame the broadcasters, and it's hard. You've broadcast a lot of basketball that the game's moving so quickly. You don't have the space that you might have in football or in baseball to be talking more about what's unfolding before you.
But what bothers you more the ratings or the coverage of the ratings.
The ratings are fine. I mean we're we're roughly even with last season for the regular season, which was the highest ratings for a regular season in four years. There is I get it. There was a narrative early in the season we were down a bit. I you know, it's you've been covering the league for a long time. I mean, it seems that there's always a narrative around our sport. You know, too physical, too much isolation, scoring, too low, you know, super teams, player empowerment. I mean I could go on and on. And then the narrative early in the season became the ratings are down because of three point shooting. I think those are two independent issues. The ratings are now about even with last year. And as I said, you know, if you look more broadly at other measures of game, our attendance last season was the highest in the history of the league. I mean, you can't look at social media over too long a spectrum because it didn't exist. But if you but when you add in social media, the game has never been more popular in terms of the engagement. So do I get frustrated about around the narrative around ratings, Yes, especially when because of the decline in traditional television, decline in cable homes, everyone's down a bit, so you know, Plus we entered into our new deals for the next decade, so I feel good about that. But I think those narratives become a reality to the extent, especially even when we're doing well. It's still only a significant a relatively small percentage of the population that's watching live games, so there's a lot of people out there who may not be fans of the NBA and become consumed with that story. And again, NBA seems to take a disproportionate amount of that discussion. I think maybe because we're so relevant from a societal standpoint, Our players have been outspoken, There's been a history of activism certain cases in this league. For whatever those reasons, I think, at the end of the day, my job is to find more people who are inclined to want to watch live sports, to want to watch basketball, and convert them into NBA fans, right, let me want to lose sight of that.
Let me do rapid fire, because there's a few topics here.
The NIL ruling has made college basketball more of an attractive path for athletes in recent years. I don't know if that changes allowing players out of high school that you will revisit that. But what is is the NC DOUBLEA a friend or a foe to the NBA.
NCUBLEA is a great friend. In fact, Charlie Baker, who's the former governor of Massachusetts, I've gotten to know well over the last couple of years, we're talking about more that we can do to get I mean, you remember, in the not so old days, if we touched a amateur, you know, high school player, we could cause them to lose their eligibility. Now, of course, you know, through collectives and NIL they're paid. And what we've been talking the NC DOUBLEA about is we should jointly get more involved in youth basketball, particularly the training of elite players. The vast majority of them we'll never make it to the NBA, but we'll play in college, and so we have a joint interest not in developing elite players and then for the broader base of players. We have a joint interest in for young boys and of course young girls, getting them to be more active. You know, basketball is a great sport to do that, getting them again to love the game. Charlie Baker himself was a college player, so we're working together. I think on the specifically nil and collectives. I think there's work to be done in college basketball because just like in the NBA, where over successive collective bargaining agreements we've helped to level the playing field in terms of competition. We've had six different teams win championships over the last six years. At the end of the day, we're selling competition, and I think college has to work through some issues where now as players in essence through the portal can become essentially free agents every year. You know that there's no really real salary structure, so you have a lot of real, you know, out of whack balance in terms of team's ability to compete. And I think for fans of the college game, and I'm one of them, at the end of the day, you want to see great competition in Division one.
Will you revisit like the G League. You've got players who are just going to the G League. If you allow them to come out of high school to the NBA, they wouldn't be going to the G League, I would imagine, right.
Well, yes, but in fact, you know, back before those court rulings which allowed the collectives in NIL, at the urging of Condallisa Rice who oversaw a commission with the NCAA and President Obama to a certain extent, we were asked to create a professional track because the view was it was unfair to so called force these young men to go to college for a year before they came into the NBA. So we weren't ready to return to eighteen as the mini mage in the NBA. We stayed at nineteen. But through the G League we created something called Team McKnight, where we were paying players several hundred thousand dollars a year in a pro track and then come into the NBA. That seems like a pittance now based on what players are able to earn in Division one through these college programs, And frankly, I think the track through these great college programs is better than what we were offering them in the G League because they have first class training facilities, some of the greatest coaches out there, planes et cetera. That didn't make sense in our economic model and still doesn't for the G League. So I'm perfectly fine with them going to college. And by the way, you know, what you've also seen with nil and collective money is there's a big pool of international players who would have stayed largely in Europe and played but are now coming to play Division one basketball because it's a better economic situation for them and ultimately a bet probably better development too, if their goal is to get into the NBA.
Give me the wildest thing that you guys have considered. I'm sure there's always you know, we're going to try this. You know, the NFL doing the kickoff the way they did. It's pretty crazy that that's what it looks like. Give me a this has been discussed.
I mean one that's only been discussed a little. I wouldn't put it necessarily in the category of being so wild. Is potentially two free throws for a foul and a three point shot. That's I don't necessarily think I would do it in the last two minutes of the game, But I think that's something interesting, something else that I'm a fan of, and I'm probably in a minority as we get more involved in global basketball. The NBA is the only league that plays forty eight minutes, and I would be I am a fan of four ten minute quarters. I'm not sure that many others are. I mean, putting inside what it means for records and things like that, I think that a two hour format for a game is more consistent sort of modern television habits. I don't think people in arenas aren't asking us to shorten the game, but I think as a television program being two hours, that's Olympic basketball as being is two hours, you know, college basketball courses.
But if you like it, I'd say it has kind of a little bit of a push there.
Yeah, but it's such a dramatic change to the game. I mean, I think something like that would have to be talked more about over time.
I mean, incidentally dramatic commissioner.
Yeah, No, I I I'm a fan of what baseball did. I'm a baseball fan, and I think some of those changes have really increased sort of the engagement, the entertainment value of the game, and so I'm paying a lot of attention to that. And in fact, I've used the you know, the pitch clock, the sort of the increasing the size of the base et cetera. In meetings at the NBA to say, you know, if baseball, which is more locked into tradition, and I don't I don't mean that negatively than any other sport. And part of what baseball provides is the tradition, the legacy that if they're able to make those changes, certainly we shouldn't be afraid to look at changes as well. So, you know, I also think though we have made a series of changes over the years, they haven't been as dramatic in many cases. You know, we've we've changed the format in the last two minutes of the games so we wouldn't have as many stoppages. We have a coaches challenge now, you know we did. We had the hack a shack issue. We changed the rule there. I mean, there's there's this. We added the Cup, you know, which we now have. We have a play in tournament. I mean, so we've made significant changes.
I have an idea before I let you go, how about we take away the three point line during the in season tournament.
Interesting, I mean, it's it's like the issue there.
Interesting.
I'm not like I like the three point shot. I mean let me take a step back. I mean, if you think from when you first started covering the NBA to the skill level of big men now, I mean, look at Victor Webben Yama, look at Jannis, you know, look look at Yo Kisch. Look what these guys can do. You know, it was it was like the fact that they are so skillful that they can shoot from these kinds of distances, shoot in the way guards used to be able to, Like, like, is there too much three point shooting in certain situations? Maybe? But I also don't want to overreact to what we're seeing the game, because the game goes through transitions. I think the game is incredible right now. They I think some of the criticism is a bit unfair, and that goes back to my earlier point that I think the league needs to do a better job teaching about the game so that there's real appreciation for what people are seeing out there. And again, like you know, ratings are fine, we have enormous global interest. People like what they're seeing right now on the floor. So I don't necessarily buy into the premise that it would be a better game if you if you eliminated three point shooting.
How about we make the floor like a pinball machine where the three point line lights up, and when it lights up, then you know you're able to take threes like you could. You could really dress up the floor. You guys did a pretty good job at the end season, But why don't we make it pinball like I don't.
Know if you remember, but last year at All Star on All Star Saturday Night, we had literally a lit court. Yeah, And we've played with things like that. I mean, like I have one foot in sort of the traditionalist camp, you know, and I really do care about the game, and I think it's so special that I think when you moved to that place that where it seems to gimmicky, and I don't think, and I think what baseball did? They found right down the middle path where they preserved what's so great about that game, but found some ways to speed it up. I think have been very effective. So we're open here. We talk a lot about potential change of the game. I just add back to some notion of a forty point of a forty minute game. I mean, because this game is so global. One of the things we'd like to see over time is creating a more consistent set of rules globally around the game, like you know again the Olympic basketball. I'm sure you watched you know on NBC and Peacock the US, Serbia, US France. Those people are basketball fans. Some are saying those are two of the best games they ever saw. Concidentally, if you went to a forty minute game with the issues around load management and resting, it would be the equivalent of I don't know the exact math, taking like fifteen games off this season. I like that so and I don't think most fans would be disappointed if it was a two hour presentation instead of a you know, our game is actually about two hours and fifteen.
Well, you're going to find out the reaction the rest of the day as this gets posted that you're considering ten minute quarters.
I gotta go, well, I didn't fully say you asked me for some ideas.
I till that quite at that level.
I'm not saying there's a vote this week, Commissioner. I'm just saying social media will look at this and go, hey, that sounds great. Now we got guys playing more. Maybe the games are more intense and it's forty minute games, and it's great for TV, great for everybody for another day, for another day.
I have to go.
Muriels in Jackson Square in New Orleans. Okay, Murials, I'm not sure. In all due respect to your caller, I would go to I'd go to New Orleans for sushi.
Can I drop your name at Muriels.
I'm not sure it'll be helpful, but absolutely.
Do you have an open tab at that restaurant?
I will if you go?
Okay, awesome. Uh, but I'm not going alone. I'm bringing my my, my whole team here. Yes, as they're going.
With longtime listener.
Day great, great to catch up with you again. Thank you, Commissioner. Ye bye bye, that's Commissioner Adam Silver. Well.
We'll take a break back after this.
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAPP.
I let the interview get away from me with the Commissioner. I let him talk a little too much. It happened, so damn. I just don't I don't like cutting people off. But I'm trying to go to a variety of topics, and it took a while because look, he's coming on he wants to he wants to promote something.
I get it.
It's there's a quid pro quo and I'm going to rough myself up over this interview, but I thought we got something at the very end with imagine if you did ten minute quarters forty minute games, not forty eight, and if you're going to be reducing the amount of games, like you take all those minutes, he said, you know it's like fifteen games. Now you're still going to play all the games. Maybe you'll get players to play maybe a more intense game. And I don't know if there's any downside because if you're going to make it a two hour window that you're going to have a game and you're going to do ten minute quarters so it's forty minutes, you're still getting the number of games eighty two games in there. You know, unless there's commercial inventory that you're going to lose a lot of revenue there. I could see, because that's the European model. It's you know, ten minute quarter, it's forty minutes. I don't know if we would complain. I don't know if we would really notice it. Yes, Marvin, do you think.
The players would object because of maybe points and rebounds, just stats in general.
Well, I don't know if that's attached to incentives, but I don't think there's no stats that we care about. I mean, what stat in the NBA? Do you care about triple doubles? Maybe averaging thirty or I don't know, yeah, Marv.
Yeah, just from a historical perspective, like, oh, you only average twenty six points a game instead of thirty two points a game. Oh well, there was only forty minute you know, games when I was playing, as opposed to four minute.
How many times do we bring up the number of games that were in an NFL season?
You know? O J.
Simpson still this single season rushing leader. He did his in fourteen games, but nobody brings that up. I don't think we care about stats anymore because we've been fooled by stats, certain with baseball. I just don't think it's that important basketball. What stat do you really care about?
I just met for the players when it's a contract negotiating time, or just from a historical perspective.
I don't know, Yeah, I don't. I wouldn't worry about that if I'm the NBA. But you know, if you're going to have stats, do you have incentive causes bonuses in your contract? Then I can understand where that would be an issue. All right, two hours in the books, one more ago, Fritzy Dylan, Marvin Paula, Yours truly,