During the All-Star break last month in Indianapolis, NBA commissioner Adam Silver shared some comments that made it seem like there would be less fouls called in the NBA going forward. No one knew how noticeable these potential changes would be, or if there would be any changes. It has been about a month since then, and players and coaches from around the league have noticed some differences. One of those coaches is Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan.
Billy Donovan is just one example of someone from the league that has taken notice, but it has been clear to a lot of people. Here are the original comments that Adam Silver made.
“I actually am pleased with the state of the game,” Silver said, according to an article from the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Having said that, I know there are some coaches who feel that we’ve hampered in some ways defensive players’ ability to play defense, at least the way it used to be played in this league. In part, that’s been very intentional. There was a period of time in this league when people thought the game had become too physical and we’d taken away some of the aesthetic beauty from the game. I was one of those people that felt that way in the ’90s. Whether or not there needs to be any adjustments now is something we listen to our coaches, we listen to our players, and the competition committee will continue to consider.”
Billy Donovan has noticed the changes
Donovan and the Bulls have noticed that there have not been as many foul calls, and they are having more trouble getting to the line now. The main issue with this for Chicago, and likely a lot of teams, is that change was abrupt, and now, everything is different than what they are used to.
“It’s pretty clear league wide the numbers of fouls called prior to the All Star break, there are fewer now,” Donovan said, according to an article from NBA.com. “Teams are not getting to the free throw line like we normally would have. What happens when you have a situation where you go through part of the year and you are used to certain fouls being called and they are not being called, it can get frustrating. There were probably some missed calls when DeMar went to the basket a couple times. I think Vooch (Nikola Vučević poked in the eye on the jump ball to start the game) got hit, too. That being said, they probably felt the same way on some of their drives.”
This is a big change compared to how things were, and this is clearly something that Donovan and the Bulls will have to get used to.
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