Adam Silver’s message to Pistons fans: hold off on summer plans

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently held his ‘State of the NBA’ press conference at the NBA finals and there was a lot of information that involves the Detroit Pistons, as well as its fans.

It is normal for the commissioner to hold a press conference at the NBA finals. However, the circumstances of this press briefing were anything but normal.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver stood at a podium in ‘The Bubble’ at Disney World before a handful of masked reporters who had been in there as well. There were also a number of reporters remotely taking part on Zoom from around the country.

Having successfully navigated completing the 2019-20 season in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, it was time to look at issues involving the future.

The decisions that get made will greatly affect how the Detroit Pistons organization approaches the off-season, as well as its fans.

Among the main points of interest Silver went over:

• As of now, Silver envisions the season starting no earlier than Christmas Day but more likely January. He also wants a full 82-game schedule with normal rounds of playoffs. Considering that a regular season lasts eight months, that could mean it might not end until August.
• Silver believes three weeks will be budgeted for training camp. That would mean the next time the Pistons get together might not be until December.
• The NBA Draft is still scheduled for November 18 ‘With an asterisk” warned Silver. The Pistons currently have the No. 7 overall pick.
• Detroit is expected to be active in free agency as well as the trade market. When those periods will exactly occur is still up in the air.
• Silver emphasized that a lot will need to be negotiated with the Players Union as the collective bargaining agreement is not set up to handle the current situation. If they went strictly by the CBA, Silver said,  the cap decrease would be so drastic that one-third of all players would become free agents – with no teams having any cap room to sign them. ‘Havoc’ is how he put it.
• Silver does want fans to attend games but do not expect Little Caesars Arena to be packed with 19,000 fans to start with. He talked about a limited number of fans being allowed, somewhat like some football games are doing, to allow room for social distancing. Of course, any plan for fans to attend games in Detroit would need the approval of city and state agencies.

You know Detroit president Ed Stefanski and new general manager Troy Weaver are anxious to swing deals and sign players to improve the club, but everything will be in a holding pattern until next year’s salary cap and free agency period is set.

Right now, a lot is up in the air, waiting to be negotiated between the owners and the union. What we we do know is that watching the Pistons might become a summer pastime next year.

To see the press conference in its entirety, you can go here.