Imagine the NBA before Adam Silver took over—more hand-checking, a slower pace, barely any stretch fives, and the three-point line? Just a side note. Under Silver, the league got sleeker—load management rules, AI-driven health tracking, and constant tweaks reshaped the game. Now, picture a different kind of commissioner: Matt Barnes. A 14-season grinder with a ring, almost 1,000 games under his belt, and zero fear of saying what players won’t. He’s all grit, edge, and raw authenticity. So what would the NBA look like if he called the shots? Let’s hear from the man himself.

But first, let’s talk about what makes Adam Silver’s run as commissioner stand out. He’s in Year 12 now, and get this—nine different teams have won a title on his watch. That kind of parity? Totally unheard of. This year alone, we’re about to crown the seventh different champ in seven seasons, something the NBA’s never seen before. Under David Stern, it was mostly dynasties; under Silver, it’s anyone’s game—and that shift has completely changed the league’s DNA.

While chatting on The Rich Eisen Show, Matt Barnes was asked why so many different teams have won titles during Silver’s time—nine franchises in 12 years, with the Warriors snagging the rest. Barnes pointed out that Silver made waves right away, saying, “Adam’s first year was my year with the Clippers when he banned Donald Sterling… that was kind of his first executive action so he came in the hot seat hot.” He added that Silver’s done a solid job overall, though, like anything, “there’s things that can be improved.”

If Matt Barnes ever got to play commissioner, he wouldn’t start with the glitz or gimmicks. He’d bring back grit. Defense. “I would say bringing back defense,” he said flatly, “I mean it’s crazy because it’s something that’s taught—like defense isn’t even a necessity again in the AAU and ranks.” That’s the part that bugs him. He grew up watching elbows fly in the paint and guys earn their points. And while he admits the playoffs still show glimpses of that—“you could play a little bit more physical”—he wishes that same edge lived in the regular season, too. “There needs to be some kind of balance of, you know, bringing the game back to the defensive side and allowing people to really play defense. I think that would probably be the one change that I would make. I would make Playoff basketball more regular season basketball.”

But it’s not just about defense for Barnes. It’s also the changing soul of the offense that worries him. “What about moving the three-point line back?” Host Eisen mused. That wasn’t random. It was frustration wrapped in a question. “Everybody’s hoisting from three now,” Eisen continued, with a tone that was more concern than complaint.

“It’s nasty,” Barnes added. “Six consecutive, seven consecutive threes shot and all missed…which is a little bit backwards, but,” He’s not knocking Steph or Klay, he makes that clear. “We credit Steph for so much of the evolution of this game, but I also think people that have kind of adopted his style… don’t shoot like them.” And that’s the problem—imitation without execution.

Barnes misses the feel of basketball, the IQ, the rhythm. The kind you can’t chart with analytics alone. “They say only a three or a layup and no mid-range,” he said, shaking his head at the data-driven gospel. “I just think we’ve got away from the eye test… and just the IQ of basketball.” That’s the through line in everything he said—he doesn’t want to rewind the game to the ’80s, but he does want it grounded again. Smart, tough, and intuitive. Not just math.

Lack of defense under Adam Silver’s NBA

Back in the day, if an NBA team didn’t crack 100 points, nobody blinked—it was just another night of basketball. But now, in 2025? Scoring under 100 feels like something went seriously wrong. We’re living in the middle of an all-out offensive explosion. Just this season alone, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dropped 49, Giannis had 40, and Jokic casually put up 30.

Of course, this didn’t happen overnight. The NBA’s been tweaking the rules for decades. In 2004, the league banned hand-checking. Defenders could no longer use their hands to control ball-handlers, and suddenly, offensive players had all the freedom in the world. That change? It flipped the whole game.

Adam Silver knows it’s a problem. Talking to Kevin Garnett, he admitted, “There was a point, I believe, in the late 90s, when the game became too physical… maybe it weighted too heavily on physicality.” He pointed to Steph Curry as an example of why things had to shift: “A smaller player like Steph Curry… if guys can just bang him and knock him to the ground… I don’t think that would be a better brand of basketball.” But now, even Silver admits the pendulum may have swung too far. “We’ve tried to bring back the physicality,” he said, referencing rule tweaks made this season. “Players were gaming the system… they became defensive fouls… We’ve made it clear… they won’t be fouls.”

Still, the league is feeling the pressure. Just a few years ago, the league’s best defense gave up under 100 points per 100 possessions. Now? The Minnesota Timberwolves led the NBA in 2023–24 with a 109.0 defensive rating—and that was the best. Steve Kerr put it even more plainly: “I think maybe there’s been an overcorrection to what was happening 20 years ago.” He remembers those gritty, grind-it-out Finals in the early 2000s—“ugly,” as he called them.

But today’s rules have gone so far the other way that defenders can barely breathe on a scorer. In 2016, the San Antonio Spurs had a league-best defensive rating of 98.2. “It’s become much more difficult to play defense in the NBA now,” Kerr said. The result? More scoring, more whistles, more stoppages… and a growing debate over whether defense is being left behind for good.