Written by Dan Devine at YahooSports.com
During the 2015 playoffs, we saw an uptick in coaches ordering the intentional away-from-the-ball fouling of bricklaying free-throw shooters, like the Los Angeles Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan and the Houston Rockets’ Dwight Howard, to short-circuit their teams’ potent offenses. That sparked much discussion about whether the grind-the-game-to-a-halt eyesore of a practice should be eliminated from NBA basketball.
Commissioner Adam Silver remained neutral on the matter, saying he was of two minds about whether to prioritize the legitimate tactical benefit of allowing coaches to exploit poor foul shooters’ weaknesses, just as they do with deficient defenders or bumbling ball-handlers, over the fan experience of watching contests get submarined by hack after hack. Ten months later, with the practice spreading beyond just two or three targets and being taken to absurd extents, the commissioner now appears to be off the fence, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY Sports:
After months of media debate, putrid foul shooting, lengthy games and fan discontent, Silver told USA TODAY Sports in an NBA A to Z podcast that, “I’m increasingly of the view that we will be looking to make some sort of change in that rule this summer.” […]
“Even for those who had not wanted to make the change, we’re being forced to that position just based on these sophisticated coaches understandably using every tactic available to them,” Silver said. “It’s just not the way we want to see the game played.”
As my colleague Eric Freeman has noted, it’s kind of funny to talk about sophistication when one of the more recent innovations in Hack-a-Whoever is literally players jumping on guys’ backs:
Not exactly “state-of-the-art technology.” Still, the point stands.
Yes, the practice has been around for ages, dating back to the days when opponents realized they’d be better served gambling that Wilt Chamberlain couldn’t make two free throws than dealing with the certainty of Wilt dunking on them. As our Kelly Dwyer noted last year, then-Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson sending Bubba Wells out to foul Dennis Rodman in hopes of slowing down the Chicago Bulls in 1997.
To continue reading this article, click now.
