Comments on: Tweaking the NBA Rules: Six Ideas to Make The League Even Better

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:50:56 +0000

There is an easy fix to the last minute foul situation in basketball. Change the way the game is played. Take away the 4 quarters and make the game played in two halfs but different than college ball.Half time starts when one team is the first to reach 50 points. The game would end when the first team reaches 100 points. Think about it, the game is 90 to 90 are you going to foul to get the ball back before the clock runs out? Not if the only clock is the 24 second clock. Now a team would be rewarded by playing defense. This style of game would be a great change for the, most of the time, boring game of basketball. Blowout games could be over much sooner allowing the fans of the weaker teams to endure less pain than the 48 minutes of torture.And the best part would be the end of a close game. Imagine no more stupid fouls that make the game stupid long. I for one would like to see how it would work. Could be something to try during the waste of time preseason…..

By: konkise

konkise — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:22:34 +0000

Punk fake shotting fouls should be eliminate!! If the jump shooter has a decent chance to avoid the contact but still jump to the defender in the air to drawer a shooting foul. It is wrong because it is dangerous for both player and it is not good sportmanship. Now days, Nba is granting the offence players to many fouls, the games become somewhat boring and toooooo damn loooong. Most of the time I only watch the last 3 minutes. And that might take half an hour to play out!!! Come on NBA. Let’s make the the game more exciting to watch and safer and more fair for all the players in it!!

By: steve

steve — Wed, 13 May 2009 11:45:33 +0000

Rule change: upon an offensive rebound the shot clock gets reset to 16 seconds. back courts are now 8 seconds in the NBA. eliminate this time from the shot clock when the ball is already next to the basket.

Rule change: Timeout can not be called when a player is trapped or lieing on the court. timeouts should not be used to get out of trouble situations.

Change: Players checking into the game need not lie down under the scorers table. This is silly. An assistant on the team signals over and informs the scoring table that the player is going in and the player sits in a designated seat on the bench until the horn to go in is sounded. 7 feet men should not have to lie on the floor.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 05:05:11 +0000

Gee, #2 is such a good idea, it’s almost like he got it right out of the NBA rulebook and tried to pass it as his own idea. Granted, it applies to off-the-ball fouls in the last 2 minutes to prevent hack-a-shaq, but still… At least credit them for making that rule if you gonna try to pass the 1FT + possession at the end of the game idea as one you came up with.

By: Jon Jon Mackey

Jon Jon Mackey — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:03:15 +0000

I think this article is freaking awesome. These are the kinds of articles I like to read. Anybody can report the news or player updates. This makes you think, and hopefully leads to positive changes.

I think the best idea from this article is about the empty lower level seats. Basically, if your not in your lower level seat by the 2nd quarter, or perhaps by the end of the 1st half, ppl from the upper levels can 1st come 1st serve and grab those seats. This would avoid ppl standing up and walking around blocking ppl’s view as they are still sitting down when the 2nd half begins. Biggest problem is that ppl might be getting a beer or a hot dog, so I dunno.

** Or, there should be a system in place where lower level/season ticket holders can effortlessly submit their tickets they know they cant use at the last minute, or in advance. And those tickets are given to big brother club ppl or something. Nursing homes. Orphans. whatever.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:52:32 +0000

1. Though I feel bad for players taking a charge, a steal takes much more hand-eye coordination and timing.
2. Sounds good. I can’t stand spending 20 minutes to finish the last two minutes.
3. Don’t GMs usually do this anyway? It would be nice to see it for every move, though I could see some medical or family/personal issues being problematic.
4. I like the thinking, but it’s hard to judge a flop.
5. It sucks to see empty seats, but they paid for the tickets so they don’t have to come, but yeah they should.
6. I agree with M that assists should be harder to get. For example, Celtics great Bob Cousy averaged only 7.5 apg for his career, what would he have in today’s game?

Also, I think there should be some way to reemphasize the mid-range jump shot, which seems to be a lost art. Could three-point shots be worth one point instead? I can’t stand seeing players dribble down the court alone, pull up for a three and miss.

By: JP

JP — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:43:45 +0000

1. Reduce the number of fouls for fouling out to 5 (or even 4). I’d like to think this would reduce the amount of hacking every time someone goes up for a shot.
2. Revise the rules regarding charging. Once an offensive player establishes forward momentum, any defensive player stepping in his way should be called for a foul.
3. Make the court bigger. When the court dimensions were originally determined the average player was probably 5-10 and 160. There’s not enough room for the players to operate now.

By: Luke

Luke — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:53:58 +0000

I can’t stand Manu. What makes it worse is that he RARELY gets called for charging calls when all he does is lower his shoulder and drive right through the chest of the defender who has already beaten him to the spot on the floor. I can’t believe the refs can’t recognize when a defender is basically whoopin’ the offensive guy by shutting him down at ever corner, only to be penalized by the likes of a Ginobili who gets every call his way.

By: David

David — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:36:54 +0000

I’ve thought about the end-of-game free throws a lot too. One idea I came up with would be to allow the team that got fouled to choose between free throws and simply re-inbounding the ball. To prevent this from becoming 1800 attempts to steal the inbounds pass, a rule could also be passed letting the inbounding team inbound from their own basket, while disallowing any of the other team’s players to be on that side of the court (maybe only until the ball is inbounded, to allow a press). What’s good about that idea is that it removes the need for the ref to distinguish between intentional and non-intentional fouls – the rule could be applied to any foul in the last two minutes.

To me the problem with making the refs determine intentional fouls. If we make them do that, then “disguising your fouls as real” becomes the new flopping. It basically gives the defense a free pass to play more aggressively than ever because what usually holds them back – not wanting to foul – is actually what they want. So they can hack away whenever it’s justified (“going for a steal”) and either get the steal or the foul – both things they want. This plan forces only slightly above-average defensive pressure, since fouling is still a concern.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:02:31 +0000

Great post. Love the charge and mchale rules.

What I would add:

Dunks are worth 3 points instead of 2. Mainly for these reasons:

1. Encourages transition basketball.

2. Guys will play harder. Vince might actually start doing what he does best. Intensity would rise.

3. Dunks are fun. We all know what the fans want. Let’s reward the teams for giving it to them.

4. This would decrease the odds of the Spurs winning the title in 08.