Adam Silver Talks NBA Refs, Chris Bosh and 2017 All-Star Game in B/R Exclusive

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has heard the grumbling about officiating and the lack of satisfaction in the league's Last Two Minute reports, but he believes his nascent transparency push is working in its current iteration. 

"The ultimate issue is the integrity of the league," Silver said Sunday in an interview with SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio's NBA Sunday Tip. "For fans and for teams, to the extent that the referees get something wrong or, for that matter, get it right, they want to understand why. There's usually a team on both sides of those calls. Part of it is the acknowledgement when a call is wrong, the explanation of why the call was wrong."

In their second season, Last Two Minute reports offer insight into every referee decision in games where the margin is five points or less (including overtimes) at the two-minute mark. 

Opinion on the reports has differed in some circles. Some have applauded Silver for his ongoing push for transparency. The commissioner told B/R Radio these reports are merely an extension of a practice that used to go on behind the scenes; it's now just available for all teams (and the public). 

"All we're really doing now is making formal and public a process that's always existed," Silver said. "It was just anecdotal and informal, which made me very uncomfortable."

One of the major issues with the Last Two Minute reports is how there's no public equivalent for each game's other 46 minutes. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James were both critical of the practice in April, saying the league should offer full-game reports. 

"Those last two-minute (reports), to me, are pointless," Wade said, per Michael Wallace of ESPN.com. "It does nothing for us or for any other team. Go through the whole game and break it down, and I think it will help the refs and the league continue to grow. But those last two minutes; that's not a good thing."

In theory, Silver agrees with the objection. In practice, he says it would be "impossible" for the league to handle that much of an undertaking. 

"We may get there one day. That's more a function of resources," he said. "We essentially just started this—we're only in our second season. It's largely a resource issue from a league office standpoint being able to turn these reports around for the next day."

Silver made a point to comment on the uneasiness from the officials' side of things. He acknowledged that too often the public zeroes in on the one or two calls referees got wrong over the dozens they got right. Silver said perhaps the NBA could do a better job of highlighting those correct calls. But he made clear that the NBA's process for vetting officials during the regular season—including a scoring process that determines postseason assignments—is detailed.

"From a players' standpoint, they want to know: Is there accountability? Of course, the officials are rated. It's no different than players at the end of the day," he said. "A player is analyzed in every possible way. There is analytics for virtually everything these days—way beyond your traditional box scores. And it's the same for the officials."

The commissioner also discussed two non-officiating topics dominating NBA discourse: the status of Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh and the anti-LGBT law that is threatening the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte. On Bosh, Silver said communication has been open between Bosh, the Heat and the NBA. There is no dispute on how it's being handled, though he noted they have been "monitoring it very closely."

"It seems like the science is clear here," Silver said. "This is primarily a relationship matter between the Miami Heat and [Bosh]. [Bosh] is a fantastic guy and a wonderful player—obviously I feel for him that he's out right now."

Silver took a diplomatic approach on the All-Star Game, indicating he's exercising patience in hopes North Carolina lawmakers can change the discriminatory law. 

"We have plenty of time before next year's All-Star Game for [North Carolina] to work through these issues," he said. "My sense is there is a lot of committed people behind the scenes working toward a resolution."

In March, North Carolina passed a law that overrode a Charlotte decision to allow transgender individuals to use the restroom of the gender they identify as. The new law also affects many members of the LGBT community, who allege it allows for discrimination. Silver previously threatened to move the game if the law stayed in place.

While he said Sunday it was "too soon" to move the game, he acknowledged his job is to consider contingency plans in the worst-case scenario.  

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