The NBA’s competition committee met on Monday to discuss rule changes that would address how fouls are called, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The proposed rule changes would focus primarily on limiting players’ ability to draw fouls by leaning to the side or backwards on shot fakes, a direct response to some of the more unnatural foul-baiting that has become common in recent years, especially with players such as Trae Young, James Harden and Luka Doncic.
The competition committee assembled a collection of clips of the shooting motions deemed to be “unnatural,” according to Wojnarowski. The committee, the NBA, and the league’s GMs will discuss specific recommendations next week as they look to address the growing perception that the rules are slanting too much towards giving advantage to the offensive players, especially superstars. The committee hopes these rule changes can be instituted as early as during this year’s Summer League.
We have more odds and ends from around the NBA.
- Celtics All-Star forward Jayson Tatum has committed to playing for Team USA in Tokyo, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Tatum joins Damian Lillard and Draymond Green as the first group of players to commit to USA Basketball’s Olympic squad.
- Former Suns guard Archie Goodwin has signed with Eberlein Drive of The Basketball Tournament, tweets JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors. Goodwin played four seasons in the NBA, most recently in the 2016/17 season for the Pelicans and Nets. He joins former Jazz forward and NBA Slam Dunk Contest winner Jeremy Evans on the Drive.
- Former Jazz forward Tyler Cavanaugh has signed with BC Zalgiris, a Lithuanian-based team that is one of the oldest in the EuroLeague. Cavanaugh previously played for Iberostar Tenerife, a Spanish club that made it to the semifinals of the ACB last year before losing to powerhouse Barcelona.
- The Athletic’s John Hollinger goes through every possible team and player option decision heading into the offseason with predictions as to whether those options will be exercised or declined. Some predictions of note: Hollinger thinks that Suns guard Chris Paul will opt in and sign an extension. He also predicts Kawhi Leonard will opt out, and notes that if Leonard chooses to sign a one-plus-one contract with the Clippers (a two-year deal with a player option in the second year), he would be eligible for a five-year deal worth a projected $246MM in 2022 due to the Clippers having his full Bird rights, as opposed to the four-year, $175MM deal he could sign this summer.
Good, unnatural foul-baiting has always dragged basketball down. It’s lame.
Thank god
Thank God. It’s so boring watching Harden, Young, et al do that all game.
Don’t leave out Doncic, he does it too.
Et al includes everyone else..
It’s not a “growing perception” (that the rules are slanting too much towards giving advantage to the offensive players, especially superstars), it’s the NBA’s mission statement.
Yes, the latest fad of hunting contact, with the defender nowhere close, is an eye sore, and should be dealt with. Of course, they could just repeal the most recent rules outlawing tight defense, and offensive players would likely stop it, since they’ll have an easier time drawing contact with natural basketball moves.
Maybe they could move on to the travelling rule next. “When a player has taken more than 2 steps without the ball being dribbled, a traveling violation is called. ” Yeah. Right.
Don’t hold your breath. The NBA only cares about aesthetics. It’s why a player will never get called for travelling for picking up his dribble as part of an offensive move. But will call it on a guy that walks prior to dribbling. The first leads to highlights. The second is an eye sore.
Jeremy Evans was underrated. So was Goodwin. I hope that they both especially Evans get back in the league
Trae Young will still get to the ft line with his patented move where he gets around a defender and, as the defender is trailing, Trae stops on a dime and jumps strait up – but the defender still runs into him from behind. In my opinion, if he jumps strait up and not backwards, its a legal move and still a def. foul.
I agree players shouldn’t be able to jump forward or sideways into a defender that’s clearly attempting to avoid the shooter and would not have made contact otherwise.
The Reggie Miller outstretched leg is still fun tho!
Hollinger thinks the Suns will give CP3 an extension after he opts in for $44M next season? Good luck with that prediction. Would Phoenix be stupid enough to do that?
Wonder if Harden will ever get called for offensive fouls for throwing his arms into people and then flailing, or if he’s just going to go to the ft line 20 times a game forever, making him seem efficient on 3 of 17 shooting nights where he has 8 turnovers
His 44.4% career shooting % doesn’t even compare to Kobe’s 44.7%, does it?
Kobe wasnt an efficient scorer, but at least I respected his game, even though there were times he was hard to watch play. That being said, the floor wasnt as open as it is today, especially with the further rule changes 2-3 years ago that made it so defenders cant touch anyone, and the pace increased. He also was a lock down defender for a relatively long time, even if not as long as he got rewarded for it. I consider him a top 12-18 player of all time, maybe as low as 22 or 23, and that makes him an all time great. Part of it is longevity, but it’s his will to be great that made him as great as he was. I also thought he could have done other things if he wasnt so focused on being like someone else. He proved that his final full year where he arguably had one of the better years of his career, being more of a facilitator…but to the main point, his numbers arent elevated by unearned vacations at the FT line
James Harden is the one player in any sport, all time, where I can say I dont respect his game. Part of that is b/c of what he could have been without being a gimmick. Maybe that sounds a certain way, but that’s just how I feel, loving the game the way that I do. I dont actively hate on something like others might, but I can say that I choose not to like watching him play. Had him as a top 22 player going into this season, so it’s not like I think he isnt a good player, although some more young guys I had behind him may have passed him heading into next year
Couldn’t agree with you more! Harden is the one player in all sports I feel ruins his or her sport. I don’t want to watch any game where he plays. Great shooter with loads of talent but the flailing, faking, and hunting for fouls makes him one of the most annoying stars in all of sports.
In my opinion, he isnt attempting to score
Harden uses a different thing, where he takes advantage of reach-ins… which used to be illegal anyway.
Of course now more players are doing it.
Already others are working on the turn-in to the defense, which does not take much skill. Open to even non-stars!
I have seen players in interviews saying they “know about turning the corner”. This would be driving down the side of the lane, which is often available as the defense will favor the middle, and then cornering to the rim.
But why say you know about it now?—
Because the turn-in is not about getting to the rim, but drawing a shooting foul. Refs always call it.
A lot of players are doing it, and talking about it, like…
*The coast is clear, yeah I know.
Suddenly action from the league office! The competition committee must be embarrassed.
It is still getting the calls tonight—driving laneside, turning the corner into the defense, initiating contact, the defender getting called no matter what. PaulG & DonovanM did it.
Anyone else in media talking about players talking about it in cornering terms and “knowing about it” like a fix was in?— I doubt it. Nobody listens for players to say anything tactical, just if they credit teammates for being interview-worthy.
Sad day when the league penalizes players for their craftiness… SMH!!!
Flopping is craftiness. Based on your logic, flopping should not be called out or penalized.
Craftiness is one thing; blatantly disrespecting the game is another thing. James Harden has talked about sitting with Demar DeRozan in the offseason, and not working on their games, but trying to figure out new ways to make refs think they got fouled
RULE CHANGES =
Since traveling is NEVER called anyway, just strike anything having to do with that infraction eliminated.
In fact, the entire rule set related to the requirement of dribbling could also very well be ELIMINATED.
They call at least 1 travel per game on the Sixers.