There’s no single blueprint to creating a song; each composer has his own approach. From finding a new way to adapt a classic to working within time constraints, there are many things at play when it comes to writing music. A trio of Duke alumni knows these rigors all too well. In a given week, Michael Ching ’80 and George Lam Ph.D. ’11 may be working out the kinks of a new opera, while Bill Cunliffe ’78 is writing the latest song for his big band.

In the fall of 2012, Adam Silver ’84 was tapped to succeed long-time NBA commissioner David Stern. For nearly eight years, Silver had been the league’s second-in-command as deputy commissioner and chief operating officer, involved in everything from collective bargaining and television agreements to the development of both the NBA’s Development League (the association’s minor league branch) and the WNBA women’s league.

Box scores in the National Basketball Association look far different than they did thirty years ago—or even ten, for that matter. these days, they’re canvassed in acronyms such as PER (Player efficiency rating) and 3PAr (3-Point Attempt Rate), which look more like robot names than a way to measure a basketball game.