NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has recently spoken out on the "hack-a-player" strategy, saying he's changed his mind on the matter, and after the season, it's quite possible we could see a rule change regarding the matter.
He elaborated, saying, "At the end of the day, we are an entertainment property, and it's clear when you're in the arena that fans are looking at me shrugging their shoulders with that look saying, "Aren't you going to do something about this?'"
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appears to disagree with Silver, as he recently uttered the following:
- "Will they leave him in or leave him out? How do both teams feel about it? How will they foul? Is it a new creative way, or is it just chasing? ... Does he make the free throws? If he makes one or two, will they do so again? Did the strategy work?"
- "We have to realize that the number of basketball purists that aren't in the media is probably under 1,000 people globally. There is no special basketball beauty in walking the ball up the court and dribbling around the perimeter. Will we change that too?"
- "[Parents could spend time] watching the shots and telling your kids why practice matters and how amazing it is that they can do something that an NBA player can't.
Will a 7-foot man try to run and escape a foul so he doesn't have to do what so many 12-year-olds do in games every day?"
Cuban insinuated that the "hack-a-player" strategy is both fascinating and entertaining. I don't know what the Dallas owner is watching, but I'm definitely on Commissioner Silver's side here. It's one thing for a team to intentionally foul a poor foul shooter toward the end of a game. It's quite another for this to be a team's "strategy" for 48 minutes, and there's absolutely nothing fascinating nor entertaining about a team intentionally fouling a poor free throw shooter for the entire duration of a game. That's not basketball. That doesn't even qualify as "strategy" as far as I'm concerned, for what kind of intellect does it take for a well-paid coach to tell his guys, "Okay, for 48 minutes, we're going to be alternating guys when we're on defense to foul their poorest free throw shooter. Why? Because they always seem to beat us and I've given up trying to outsmart their coach. Yes, this is why they're paying me the big money"?
Personally, I like Pardon The Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser's idea regarding the matter. He recently suggested that the "hack-a-player" strategy should result in a team being rewarded free throws and the ball back during the first 45 minutes of a game, but for it to be legal in the final 3 minutes. This would likely result in a significant drop in intentional fouls for a large majority of the game, yet wouldn't completely do away with it either. Mark Cuban can believe whatever he'd like, but I and many other fans are going to change the channel if we're subjected to "hack-a-player" games, ticketholders will feel ripped off, and the league will lose fans and money unless a change is made. If the Mavericks owner doesn't believe me, perhaps he should go around asking die-hard NBA fans this question: "To you, what's more entertaining, watching Shaquille O'Neal shoot 40 free throws in a game, or writing the words 'paint dry' with the slowest drying paint ever created and actually watching it do so?"
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14725623/mark-cuban-dallas-mavericks-owner-says-nba-leaving-hacking-strategy-place
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2614428-mark-cuban-comments-on-potential-hack-a-shaq-rule-changes
He elaborated, saying, "At the end of the day, we are an entertainment property, and it's clear when you're in the arena that fans are looking at me shrugging their shoulders with that look saying, "Aren't you going to do something about this?'"
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appears to disagree with Silver, as he recently uttered the following:
- "Will they leave him in or leave him out? How do both teams feel about it? How will they foul? Is it a new creative way, or is it just chasing? ... Does he make the free throws? If he makes one or two, will they do so again? Did the strategy work?"
- "We have to realize that the number of basketball purists that aren't in the media is probably under 1,000 people globally. There is no special basketball beauty in walking the ball up the court and dribbling around the perimeter. Will we change that too?"
- "[Parents could spend time] watching the shots and telling your kids why practice matters and how amazing it is that they can do something that an NBA player can't.
Will a 7-foot man try to run and escape a foul so he doesn't have to do what so many 12-year-olds do in games every day?"
Cuban insinuated that the "hack-a-player" strategy is both fascinating and entertaining. I don't know what the Dallas owner is watching, but I'm definitely on Commissioner Silver's side here. It's one thing for a team to intentionally foul a poor foul shooter toward the end of a game. It's quite another for this to be a team's "strategy" for 48 minutes, and there's absolutely nothing fascinating nor entertaining about a team intentionally fouling a poor free throw shooter for the entire duration of a game. That's not basketball. That doesn't even qualify as "strategy" as far as I'm concerned, for what kind of intellect does it take for a well-paid coach to tell his guys, "Okay, for 48 minutes, we're going to be alternating guys when we're on defense to foul their poorest free throw shooter. Why? Because they always seem to beat us and I've given up trying to outsmart their coach. Yes, this is why they're paying me the big money"?
Personally, I like Pardon The Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser's idea regarding the matter. He recently suggested that the "hack-a-player" strategy should result in a team being rewarded free throws and the ball back during the first 45 minutes of a game, but for it to be legal in the final 3 minutes. This would likely result in a significant drop in intentional fouls for a large majority of the game, yet wouldn't completely do away with it either. Mark Cuban can believe whatever he'd like, but I and many other fans are going to change the channel if we're subjected to "hack-a-player" games, ticketholders will feel ripped off, and the league will lose fans and money unless a change is made. If the Mavericks owner doesn't believe me, perhaps he should go around asking die-hard NBA fans this question: "To you, what's more entertaining, watching Shaquille O'Neal shoot 40 free throws in a game, or writing the words 'paint dry' with the slowest drying paint ever created and actually watching it do so?"
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/14725623/mark-cuban-dallas-mavericks-owner-says-nba-leaving-hacking-strategy-place
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2614428-mark-cuban-comments-on-potential-hack-a-shaq-rule-changes
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