Chicago played host to the league’s annual meeting of head coaches, and during these events, one of the most pressing items tackled are the rules.
Every bench tactician would want to bend the rulebook as much as he can without breaking it, and for years, the “hack-a-shaq” strategy has been on the back burner of the league office, until now, wherein it’ll have a form of restriction to it when the season commences.
NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner describes this new rule:
To discourage intentional fouling of players who struggle at the free throw line — primarily big men Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan and Andre Drummond, among current targets — the NBA will extend its protocols from the last two minutes of the fourth quarter to all four quarters. Now teams on the receiving end of those fouls “away from the ball” will be awarded one free throw and possession of the ball.
Though the technicality of that issue has been laid to rest, the league office hopes that the debate on it will soon follow.
Aschburner also reported on the coaches’ meeting, and another topic of discussion was centered on what rule could be changed or tweaked for an overall improved experience for everyone.
For Charlotte‘s Steve Clifford, the ability in the final two minutes of a game to advance the ball without requiring a timeout to be called could speed up the action. That has been used on a trial basis in the D League and in Summer League, and several coaches felt it worked well.
Philadelphia‘s Brett Brown and Minnesota‘s Tom Thibodeau like the FIBA rule on offensive rebounds, with the shot clock resetting only to 14 seconds rather than a full 24. Not coincidentally, Brown coached internationally for years and Thibodeau just got back from Rio as a member of Mike Krzyzewski‘s staff.
A lot of other suggestions came up that night, and to learn more on those, have a read of Steve Aschburner’s article on NBA.com.
Follow Us
Subscribe