Hacking

A common practice in the NBA nowadays is hacking an opposing player who can't shoot free throws to get the ball back. Teams don't like doing this in the remaining two minutes of the game anymore because it's an automatic two shots. Earlier, they might just get and miss one.

A guy ( I don't remember his name but I think it was Drummond) was fouled 5 times in the first two minutes of the second half the other night. He was fouled by the other team's worst bench player all five times. The strategy worked. The team that did all the fouling didn't win, but they were back in the game rather quickly, erasing a huge halftime deficit.

The discussion the last few days was should this kind of deliberate fouling be allowed as strategy or should the NBA change their rules based on a few really bad free throw shooters. They are afraid this kind of deliberate fouling will turn off viewers and affect ratings.

Personally, one of the reasons I hate watching the NBA, is all the fouling and timeouts in the last two minutes of close games. If the last 2 minutes didn't last 20 minutes to a half hour, I'd probably be more inclined to watch more games. As it is now, it's all about timeouts and "strategy" rather than actually playing.

My solution? Anytime a player is fouled, the offended team gets the ball. No more free throws. Ever. That way the offending team never gets an advantage from fouling the other team. The game will be cleaner and faster. There won't be so may game stoppages, and nobody will have to sit through a professional player's on-court inadequacies.

Yes, it will be a totally different game, but so what? A BETTER game will result.

Now, let's talk about 4 players on the court for each team instead of five. The game could be so much better...