Hoops Tonight - How NBA can FIX tanking immediately + rating Adam Silver as commissioner

Happy Friday. It’s mailbag day with big‑picture questions on tanking, Adam Silver, and the state of the league, and a quick reminder to subscribe and drop future mailbag questions in the YouTube comments.

Q: Should play‑in losers get the top four picks to kill tanking? A: I wouldn’t give those teams the picks; I’d flatten the lottery so every non‑playoff team has the same odds after the play‑in, which pushes incentives away from bottoming out and makes play‑in fringe teams far less likely to throw games.

Abolishing the draft sounds clean but would supercharge shoe‑company and agency steering; there’s no perfect fix, and equal odds for all 14 non‑playoff teams is the cleanest deterrent I see.

Q: Why not reward better teams with higher picks? A: I’m for fully flattened odds, and I’ll add this: sustained winning takes multi‑level scouting and development—hitting on stars, finding rotation guys late, mining the G League and overseas—so tanking isn’t the only path to competence.

Q: Four‑team, single‑elimination All‑Star with top vote‑getters vs runner‑ups? A: Short games and multiple teams work; build real friction—stars vs hungry bench, USA vs World, old vs young—and make each mini‑game its own event to keep the juice.

Q: How do you rate Adam Silver, and what would you change as commissioner? A: He’s taken heat, but his job is revenue under owners who won’t shorten the season; within that box, the play‑in and in‑season tournament add needed urgency, though he does need a firmer hand on foul‑baiting and tanking.

If I ran it, I’d cut to 66 games, penalize rest‑tanking hard, and make obvious non‑basketball grifts automatic turnovers to clean up the product fast.

Q: Replace NBA players in the dunk contest with pro dunkers? A: I’m in—either scrap it or showcase four elite pros with top‑tier production, and add a one‑on‑one tournament that can build prestige over time.

Q: What’s up with Denver blowing late leads? A: Given years of elite clutch results, I see this season’s slippage as noise from injuries and sample size, not a new identity.

Q: Is the East as strong as the West? A: I still trust Denver, Minnesota, and OKC over any East team, but the gap in depth has closed since head‑to‑head is basically even this year.

Q: Why say Tatum isn’t on the same title‑tier as Shai? A: Shai hit a higher offensive peak and bigger late‑game shots, while Tatum’s defense was massive but more role‑driven; as a half‑court engine, Shai carried more.

Q: What to make of Cam Thomas getting waived and his league value? A: He’s a high‑usage, one‑track scorer with limited playmaking, so unless he embraces a microwave role with real defense, teams will pass; Milwaukee’s flier is fine, but his future hinges on accepting that lane.

Q: Should J‑Dub shift to a Draymond‑style role on a healthy Thunder? A: Keep him on the ball because they need rim pressure, but tilt his diet toward drives, cuts, catch‑and‑shoots, and creation for others; the hamstring can make hard takes feel risky now, but in the playoffs he should live at the rim.

That’s the mailbag—appreciate you riding with us, have an awesome weekend, and I’ll see you Monday morning for our usual power rankings.