Philadelphia 76ers

Adam Silver: Owners didn't pressure 76ers to alter rebuilding strategy

Published Dec. 22, 2015 12:23 p.m. ET

foxsports

When the Sixers recently hired Jerry Colangelo to be a respected voice in the front office, many around the league wondered if the move was motivated by a form of divine intervention.

Philadelphia is dreadful again for the third straight year, and the seemingly never-ending rebuild was beginning to be the league's biggest eye-sore.

But in a recent podcast appearance, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that while he had ongoing conversations with Sixers ownership, neither he nor the other owners around the league pressured them into making any sort of change.

Silver has proven to be more open to changes in the league than was his predecessor, and he seems to be forward-thinking in terms of how to make things better.

He may not have pressured the Sixers to make a change, but it seems fairly clear that he may have explained why the current course of action may not have been for the best.

"I can tell you that because he and I had many conversations along the way about the utility of the strategy that he was following," Silver told FiveThirtyEight. "And he came to the conclusion, once this season began and he saw how his team was performing on the floor, that he needed to change his strategy. Other owners were not pressuring him at all."

Added Silver: "I mean, for me, if a franchise is managed within the rules of the league, it's acceptable to me. I don't think I should be browbeating owners and saying, 'This is how I think you should manage your team.'"