Tag: Rule Changes

NBA Considers Three Rule Changes for 2018-19, and It’s All About the Offense, Baby

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Bleacher Report – The NBA is reportedly exploring potential rule changes involving the shot clock and foul calls that would trigger a replay review.

Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA competition committee is recommending resetting the shot clock to 14 seconds after offensive rebounds and expanding the definition of what constitutes a “hostile act” for the purpose of replay review. 

Wojnarowski added the NBA board of governors is likely to pass the rule changes at their meetings on Sept. 20-21 before going to the teams for approval. The measures will need two-thirds of the owners to approve in order to pass. 

Unlike the NFL, which has faced a lot of backlash for many of the rule changes they’ve implemented lately, what the NBA is trying to do here makes a lot of sense.

It’s pretty clear that the changes are being proposed in an effort to increase pace of play and promote more scoring chances for both teams on the floor each night.

First and foremost, decreasing the shot clock from 24 to 14 seconds after an offensive rebound should actually increase the amount of total shot attempts per game. Some may think that less time on the clock means less opportunity to take a shot, but in reality it’ll force teams to hoist it up more quickly, ultimately causing for more changes in possession and more opportunity for both sides to score the ball.

It’ll also force some of the old-school teams (i.e. San Antonio, Memphis) to get away from the traditional half-court style of play that seems to be becoming more and more extinct with each passing year. The NBA has been embracing the run-and-gun, fast-paced style of play for quite some time now, and teams that don’t start getting with the program are soon going to be left in the dust. Teams now need players at pretty much every position who can get out and run in transition (a la Golden State, Philadelphia, New Orleans, the Lakers), and who also display the ability to quickly adapt to abrupt changes in play. This rule change would only enhance the advantage those teams currently have.

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The rule is already in place in both the G League and the WNBA, and the NBA did actually experiment with the rule already in this year’s Summer League. Apparently the league was pleased with the results.

The expansion of what constitutes a clear-path foul will also only further aid transitional offense. No longer will the defender need to be between the offensive player and the basket to be in violation, as now the rule will penalize defenses from stopping the fast-break altogether. Per Wojnarowski:

Under the changes to the clear-path rule, a clear path to the basket would be in play in these three instances:

• “A personal foul is committed on any offensive player during his team’s transition scoring opportunity.”

• “When the foul occurs, the ball is ahead of the tip of the circle in the backcourt, no defensive player is ahead of the offensive player with the scoring opportunity and that offensive player is in control of the ball or a pass to him has been released.”

• “The defensive foul deprives the offensive team of a transition scoring opportunity.”

Finally, the league also wants to expand what constitutes a “hostile act” to now explicitly include interactions with referees and fans, instead of only concerning the players on the court. (I guess, even after all these years, the “Malice at the Palace” still weighs heavy on the mind of some NBA execs.)

My reaction to the news basically amounts to this:

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Do I think it’s going to significantly increase the score of each game? I mean, I guess we might actually see the average total score in a typical game go up a few notches. But does it really matter? Teams are already putting up ungodly offensive numbers every night, and I don’t think the Steph Currys or James Hardens of the world need more opportunity for extra buckets.

But if the goal is to promote pace of play and a more exciting product that keeps fans on the edge of their seats all game rather than being bogged down by sometimes painfully dull half-court, turtle-paced offenses then I guess that’s fine. (This ain’t Saturday morning pickup ball at the Y, people.)

We’ll likely have the official word on all three proposed changes by early October at the latest. For now, stay tuned.

NFL Makes Another Rule Change to Try and Stop the Patriots

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USA Today – Special teams players trying to block a kick might have to resort to a new set of tricks next season. On Tuesday, NFL owners voted to outlaw players from leaping over offensive linemen on field goal or extra point attempts. The competition committee’s measure was endorsed by the NFL Players Association, with union president Eric Winston saying at the scouting combine that the tactic put players at risk. Players previously were permitted to vault over the line of scrimmage so long as they did not land directly on another person or use their hands or arms to gain leverage.

Just when Belichick is starting to get the hang of something the NFL goes and bans it. Yesterday the league voted to prohibit players from jumping over the offensive line to block a kick.

Why you ask? Because apparently playing a game of leap frog is a tactic that “puts players at risk.” Bullshit. You know what is a tactic that puts players at risk? Slant routes across the middle of the field.

This isn’t rugby where you have to lock arms with other players with no way of protecting yourself if you fall forward. This is a bunch of 300 pound guys in armor that would rival the Kingsguard.

I’m sure they can handle someone trying to Air Bud over them. I mean maybe the NFL worries about the guy jumping over the line getting speared to the moon, but hey thats the risk you take when you play the most violent sport in America.

I still picture Bill Polian at these meetings openly petitioning against this play like he’s lobbying against Big Tobacco because its something that Belichick and the Patriots have gotten good at. Like the time Polian openly bitched and moaned (while on the NFL Competition Committee) after 2003 when the Patriots absolutely mauled Peyton Manning and the Colts in the playoffs. So much so that the league created the new rule Illegal Contact, which helped spawn the flag football league that we know today.

All in all pretty uneventful rule changes, but the league is getting rid of the replay monitor on the sideline. Starting next year referees will have a handheld device and won’t have to run over and get under the hood for 20 minutes to determine a replay. So thats a welcome change. One rule change that didn’t pass that sounded excellent:

  • A proposal that would have placed the ball at the 20-yard line (rather than the 25) if a kickoff went through the uprights did not pass.

That would be awesome. Sebastian Janikowski just BOOTING the ball to try and save his teams 5 yards of field possession. I feel like theres going to be a change made to touchbacks sooner than later though since Belichick and other coaches have figured out they just can kick the ball to the 1, force the return man to come out and still bring them down before the 25. So that kind of negates the intentions of that initial rule change.

But hey, you mess around with the rules and smart coaches are gonna figure out the best way to manipulate them.