NBA roundup: Silver foresees expanded reviews

Commissioner Adam Silver said the NBA will “inevitably” give referees additional options for reviewing replays.

“So far, in terms of all of our triggers, we’ve tried to maintain a line of what is clearly objectively ascertainable,” Silver told a group of Associated Press Sports Editors on Thursday. “You know, foot on the line or not, buzzer or not. My sense is where we’ll end up is giving the referees more discretion over what they can look at once we go to replay.”

Silver’s comments came just hours before Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague appeared to step out of bounds before making a 3-pointer against the Indiana Pacers. The basket counted. While officials could review whether he was behind the arc or not, they could not review whether or not he stepped out of bounds.

Silver said it is confusing for viewers to see something obvious on a television replay, but officials are handcuffed due to replay rules limits. The NBA’s competition committee is meeting in July to determine recommendations, which have to be approved by owners.

—The Golden State Warriors plan to seek input from fans about possibly changing their name after announcing this week they bought 12 acres of land in the Mission Bay district of San Francisco in hopes of building a new arena.

The team currently plays at Oracle Arena in Oakland. The Warriors plan to move into a new arena before the 2018-19 season.

The franchise will remain the Warriors, but is considering changing Golden State to San Francisco. The team has been the Warriors since its founding in Philadelphia in 1946. It was known as the San Francisco Warriors from 1962 to 1971 after moving to the city and Golden State Warriors after relocating to Oakland.

—Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki and Indiana Pacers coach Frank Vogel were named the winners of the Magic Johnson and Rudy Tomjanovich awards, respectively, on Friday.

The awards, recognize excellence on the court and cooperation with media and fans, are voted on by the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Also, the Golden State Warriors’ public relations staff became the second two-time winner of the Brian McIntyre Award for exemplifying “the standards of professionalism and excellence worthy of acclaim,” according to the award’s criteria.

—The Miami Heat were only partially satisfied with a $20,000 fine levied against Charlotte Bobcats forward Josh McDaniels for a hard foul on LeBron James in Wednesday night’s game.

And James said it won’t change the way he plays when their first-round NBA playoff series continues Saturday night, but he and the Heat are increasingly frustrated by how aggressively opponents are permitted to play him.

McRoberts was issued a common foul before the NBA upgraded the penalty a day later to a flagrant-2 and levied the fine. Had a flagrant-2 been called during the game, he would have been ejected.

“We’ve had dialogue with the league,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They made their decision. At least half of it we agree upon, that it should have been a flagrant and it should have been reviewed during the course of the game.”