I like to think of him as the least crappy sports commissioner. Just because the other guys also suck, doesn't mean he is good.
It's nice you think he is great, but he isn't. I've watched the game for 35+ years, and the officiating over the last 3 years is so bad, there was only one other period I remember it being that bad, and it was under Stern during the late 90's and early 2000's. It was so bad, that people actually argued the officiating wasn't fixed in the Lakers/Kings series, and that is was just bad officiating. A lot of people knew that was rigged officiating long before Donaghy blew the whistle, but people were so used to such lousy officiating, they made themselves believe a rigged game was just incompetence.
After that Lakers/kings scandal, Stern tightened the ship and kept it that way until Silver took over. All you have to do is watch James Harden initiate contact and then shoot free throws, and you can see there is a serious problem with how the league is being run.
There are some good things about Silver, like shortening pre-season and getting rid of 4 in 5's, but in terms of how the game is played and officiated, the league is in the worst shape it's been since the dark days under Stern.