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Saturday, March 31, 2001
Rule changes will promote more flow
Associated Press
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NEW YORK – Whether it's a box-and-one, a triangle-and-two,
a 2-1-2 or some other variation, zone defenses have long been a
staple of college basketball. Not so in the NBA.
Though pro teams have been known to resort to quasi-zone
tactics, the league's rules have never permitted zones.
That could change next season.
With scoring and TV ratings in decline as teams increasingly
rely on isolation plays, the NBA Board of Governors discussed a
package of changes Friday, including doing away with complicated
illegal defense rules.
"This is going to a different place for the game,"
commissioner David Stern said. "We're trying to ensure the game
will have more movement, passing and a faster pace."
The proposals: scrap the illegal defense rules; institute a
defensive 3-second rule, whereby defenders would be allowed to stay
in the lane for 3 seconds unless they were within arm's length of
an opponents; give teams 8 seconds instead of 10 to bring the ball
past midcourt; redefine incidental contact to cut down on touch
fouls; and allow players to touch the ball while it is on the rim.
"I came away persuaded," deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.
"You're never certain exactly what the results will be with rules
changes, but it's worth taking a chance here."
The changes are meant to discourage teams from gearing offenses
toward isolation plays in which a majority of a team's players
stand idle on the weak side to draw defenders away from the ball.
That trend has helped fuel a decrease in points over the past
decade. Teams are averaging 94.6 points, down about three points
per game from last season.
"I'm all for it with some guidelines, simple guidelines. I
guess it would get us to playing some basketball, have more
movement of the ball and take away the isolation, or at least some
of it," Dallas coach Don Nelson said.
Not everyone shares that view, though.
"I hope it never happens. That would be the worst," New York's
Latrell Sprewell said. "They're worried about scoring, but if you
have a zone, can you imagine a team like Miami, for instance, with
Alonzo (Mourning), (Anthony) Mason
and Brian Grant sitting in the
paint? You'd never get a layup, and would have to shoot jumpers all
day long. Guys would become better shooters, but you wouldn't have
the same plays."
Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, who headed the committee
that drew up the proposals, said there would have been the
necessary two-thirds support had there been a vote Friday by the
representatives of the league's 29 ownership groups.
Instead, teams will have a chance to weigh the suggestions
before voting in about two weeks. If approved then, the changes
would take effect next season.
"They're putting all these rules in there for the fans, trying
to get low scores, trying to get high scores," Celtics guard Kenny
Anderson said.
"Maybe they should put the 3-point shot at the foul line."
In other developments Friday:
A committee of seven owners was appointed to examine Memphis'
viability as an NBA city. They have 120 days, though Granik said he
thought it would take half that time. The owners of the Grizzlies
and Hornets asked for permission this week to relocate to Memphis
for next season. "Moving the Hornets from Charlotte would not be
my first personal choice," Stern said, adding that he had asked
the Hornets' owners not to talk to the media "for a while. ... The
only people I can gag are our owners."
George Shinn, who owns a majority share of the Hornets, is open
to selling, but minority owner Ray Wooldridge prefers to continue
owning part of the team, The Charlotte Observer said Saturday. A
Hornets spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The Board of Governors agreed to give a subsidy of up to $3
million to Canadian teams starting next season. Grizzlies owner
Michael Heisley has said he'll lose $40 million this year.
The sale of the SuperSonics to a group of investors led by
Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz was approved.
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