This week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver frequently reached for the Advil on that night-stand. The reason? Many.

Most think it’s because of the Donald Sterling action currently taking place. Sterling has yet again announced to the world he will fight the league tooth and nail instead of relinquishing the team gracefully.

Major headache, no doubt about it.

However Silver, being the smartest man in the room, knows this headache extends far beyond Sterling. You never have to do a double-take when looking at the participants in the NBA Finals each season. This is where the NBA’s major problem lays.

The National Football League has indisputably become the world strongest sports empire and machine. How did they do it?

Well, put very simply, they kept the consumer craving more and embraced parity. Before every NFL season starts, every fan of every team can think their team has a legitimate shot at having a great season.

This is thanks to a hard salary cap and revenue sharing. A hard salary cap set in 1993, and a revenue sharing plan thanks to the likes of Pete Rozelle and Wellington Mara.

It’s a simple concept that brings with it outstanding results. To have a league offer much more opportunity to many more teams each season, increases interest and overall growth.

How does one measure parity though? It is very difficult to measure (as there are many formulas out there), but being a sports fan you must use your brain for a moment. As you enter an NBA season, how many teams have a legitimate shot at winning the NBA title? I would contest that two or maybe three teams tops. This is where the NFL, NHL and MLB crush the competition.

The NHL Playoffs are truly a crap-shoot as any team with a hot goalie can win the cup. The NFL, while still a crap-shoot, has a little bit more emphasis on the star quarterback. Baseball, which has no salary cap at all, has also seen its fair share of parity (no back to back champions since the 2000 Yankees), according to SportsIllustrated.com.

The 2014 NBA Finals features the Miami Heat (fourth straight time in Finals) and the San Antonio Spurs (second straight time, and sixth time over 16 years), according to NBA.com. Not sure about you, but I’m getting sick and tired of seeing the same names in the biggest basketball games every year.

The NBA operates with a salary cap. The problem is though it’s a “soft” cap and allows too much flexibility. This is a “star driven league” where only the best of the best dominate. Once LeBron James teamed up with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, the gauntlet was laid down.

We all knew what was going to happen, and it happened. They are dominating year after year and rewarding some of the worst fans in our country (fair-weathered Miami fans), with much undeserved success.

Silver needs to implement a “hard” salary cap and come up with clever ways of preventing the best teaming up to dominate the rest of the league.

Yes it is true. During the 1980’s, the Lakers and the Celtics dominated the sport and Magic and Bird revived the NBA from a deep depression. It was a clever marketing scheme that worked and saved the sport. But it is now 2014 and the other leagues are passing them by fast in popularity.

What makes this situation even more apparent in 2014 is that not only are the same two teams left standing again, but the entire playoffs (aside from a few first round surprises) have been plain and very dull. Blowouts left and right and non-competitive basketball has bored most of this country.

Encouraged plan:

1. Although completely unrealistic (due to owners losing money), trimming the regular season down to 54 games instead of 82 would do wonders for the sport. Nobody cares about the regular season and forcing the consumer to want more basketball would increase popularity.

2. Trim playoff teams to 12 and award BYEs to the most deserving teams (cutting first-round match-ups to best of three). Again, unrealistic because of the loss of money, but having 16 of 30 teams make the playoffs each season is too many. Many teams do not deserve playoff spots when this many is involved. And because of this, many first round match-ups become formalities.

3. Insert a “hard” salary cap into the game. If a team could not go over a certain salary number, then it would make the possibility of superstars teaming up with each other a very difficult one. To see one superstar per team instead of two superstars for half the teams would increase regional flavor.

4. Come down hard on tampering. These new-aged guys all get along with each other and are quite-frankly, buddies. Because of this, they all talk to each other during times when they not supposed to, and old-school, smash-mouth rivalries fly out of the window. Rule with an iron fist and bring competitive balance to the league.

So Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA heads: please do something for all of the fans of this proud league. I want an NBA where fans of Phoenix, Cleveland and Utah can have hope. I want that league where the last place team from the year before actually has a chance to compete the next season.

The Spurs and the Heat have won five of the last nine championships. The Lakers and the Celtics have won an incredible 33 of the league's 65 total championships (over 50%).

There is nothing worse than being a fan of a team that has been sitting in the basement for five plus years, and knowing that only getting lucky in the lottery at the right time can bring them back to relevancy.

There is no middle-ground. You either cheer on a stacked team, or you’re waiting for luck to strike. It’s a sad state of affairs.