What do you think is wrong with the league? List some rule change ideas

[Im Still Ballin]

I think there are two general problems that I have with the current NBA:

1) Rules and their interpretations favor offense
2) Rules and their interpretations favor perimeter-based offensive strategies (Outside-in, pullup shooting, dribble penetration)

According to EPM, the #1 offensive player is worth +7.8 points per 100 possessions while the #1 defensive player is worth +4.0 points per 100 possessions. Almost twice as impactful, which isn't surprising, given basketball is an offensive-slanted game. It's not like soccer where scores are routinely 0-0 or 1-0.

But I would like to see defenders become more impactful relative to offense. Just a shrinking of the gap. If the top offensive player is worth +8 points per 100 possessions, I'd like to see the top defender around +5-6 per 100 possessions instead of +4. But I'm not sure if that's possible.

I don't have access to historical EPM, but another one-number metric has Gobert's 2021 season as +5.08 per 100 possessions on defense. That's Basketball Index's LEBRON metric. Yes, that's the real name. I wonder what KG, Duncan, D-Rob, Dikembe, B. Wallace, and Mourning's best defensive per 100 numbers are.

Here's a list of rule change ideas. Some are more dramatic than others.

- Bring back hand-checking completely
- Bring back hand-checking only in the backcourt to incentivize ball pressure and encourage scores off turnovers
- Remove three seconds in the key completely
- Extend three seconds in the key to five seconds in the key
- Modify the three-point line to remove the corners
- Modify the three-point line to extend the above-the-break three

I don't think they'll address illegal screen abuse or foul-baiting tactics. Remember the start of last season? Or was it the one prior? They started ignoring foul-baiting and offense immediately went down, only for them to switch up later in the season. I also think any ideas about capping three-point shots or changing to 2.5 points are stupid and completely unrealistic.

My ideal NBA is balanced on offense and defense and doesn't favor one style of offense over another. All types of players and skill sets should be empowered and given a realistic chance to succeed. I think of it in video game terms: the gameplay should be balanced; if there's an overpowered strategy it should be nerfed.

[Xiao Yao You]

ideally the D has a chance and everything isn't favored for the offense. Don't want to bring back the Bad Boys or Knicks or Heat of the 90's but they've went too far the other way now. I'd get the ball handling under control. It's ridiculous what they allow them to do with steps and palming/ Get rid of the corner 3 which would decrease the spacing

[RogueBorg]

Players don't want to play. They're upset about having to meet an 80% come to work threshold. I find it very hard to spend hundreds of dollars to go to a game when there's a pretty good chance the stars will sit. I'm just not taking that chance.

"People don't know this, but one of the reasons my husband played through injuries and pain was because he said he remembered being a little kid, sitting in the nosebleeds with his dad to watch his favorite player [Michael Jordan] play."

"Kobe didn't want to disappoint his fans, especially the ones in the 300 sections that saved up to watch him play."

"I remember asking him why he couldn't just sit a game out because he was hurting. he said, 'what about the fans that saved up to watch me play just once?' He never forgot about his fans."

In less that 10 years, this attitude is all but gone in today's NBA.

[Wardell Curry]

In less that 10 years, this attitude is all but gone in today's NBA.

This is not an NBA problem. This is a societal problem. If you hire kids in their teens or early 20s, they have entirely different attitudes towards work and employers than previous generations. I'm pretty sure old people have been saying this with each successive generation, but never before have ceaseless at will dopamine hits been available in everyone's pockets everywhere all at once.

[RogueBorg]

This is not an NBA problem. This is a societal problem. If you hire kids in their teens or early 20s, they have entirely different attitudes towards work and employers than previous generations. I'm pretty sure old people have been saying this with each successive generation, but never before have ceaseless at will dopamine hits been available in everyone's pockets everywhere all at once.

I won't disagree with your basic premise, but I will say if you're an NFL fan say of the Chiefs, you don't have to worry about Patrick Mahomes taking a game off. In fact, I can't think of one QB where you have to worry about this. I use the QB as the example as they're usually the biggest stars on NFL teams.

[Xiao Yao You]

I won't disagree with your basic premise, but I will say if you're an NFL fan say of the Chiefs, you don't have to worry about Patrick Mahomes taking a game off. In fact, I can't think of one QB where you have to worry about this. I use the QB as the example as they're usually the biggest stars on NFL teams.

NFL only plays 17 games so they are more important

[iamgine]

I'd like to see common sense interpretation of rules among refs and call things that goes beyond the spirit of the rules.

Like this:




Technically not a travel but you gotta call this.

[Wardell Curry]

I won't disagree with your basic premise, but I will say if you're an NFL fan say of the Chiefs, you don't have to worry about Patrick Mahomes taking a game off. In fact, I can't think of one QB where you have to worry about this. I use the QB as the example as they're usually the biggest stars on NFL teams.

Fair enough, but that's one game a week. It's also a big reason why the NFL is the most popular sport in the USA. Total casuals can stay up to date just by tuning in once a week.

[Full Court]

ideally the D has a chance and everything isn't favored for the offense. Don't want to bring back the Bad Boys or Knicks or Heat of the 90's but they've went too far the other way now. I'd get the ball handling under control. It's ridiculous what they allow them to do with steps and palming/ Get rid of the corner 3 which would decrease the spacing

Getting rid of the corner three is an interesting idea. I hadn't really thought about that one, but thinking about it...I like it.

That and stop the whole gather step shenanigans.

[RogueBorg]

NFL only plays 17 games so they are more important

They're much more violent. They have a much better excuse for taking games off than NBA players do.

[SaltyMeatballs]

Bad refs ruin this league. I feel like this season I have seen more missed/bad calls than I have in any other season, and it makes sense since the NBA openly embraces sports betting platforms like no other league.

[RogueBorg]

Bad refs ruin this league. I feel like this season I have seen more missed/bad calls than I have in any other season, and it makes sense since the NBA openly embraces sports betting platforms like no other league.

All leagues have the same Ref problem which makes you wonder, are all referees getting worse or is it our access to instant replay, which seems to come faster than ever, giving us the ability to criticize these guys almost instantly? I remember horrible calls in NFL playoff games all the way back in the 70's that we just didn't know about til long after the games were over. My point is, there's always been bad calls.

[1987_Lakers]

Get rid of the corner 3? I'm glad some posters here are not rule makers.

[FKAri]

Players don't want to play. They're upset about having to meet an 80% come to work threshold. I find it very hard to spend hundreds of dollars to go to a game when there's a pretty good chance the stars will sit. I'm just not taking that chance.

"People don't know this, but one of the reasons my husband played through injuries and pain was because he said he remembered being a little kid, sitting in the nosebleeds with his dad to watch his favorite player [Michael Jordan] play."

"Kobe didn't want to disappoint his fans, especially the ones in the 300 sections that saved up to watch him play."

"I remember asking him why he couldn't just sit a game out because he was hurting. he said, 'what about the fans that saved up to watch me play just once?' He never forgot about his fans."

In less that 10 years, this attitude is all but gone in today's NBA.

Players always want to play. Sponsors want the player to play. The root problem is sports agencies and to a lesser extent the team orgs themselves. The team doesn't want you to have a long term health issue. Small missed time is OK because the tickets are already sold but you need to be ready at the start of each season for the season ticket purchases. The agencies however are only concerned about their cut and for them they want you to take the least amount of risk possible because it affects their earnings. A lot of this is due to guaranteed contracts but that's not going away so it is what it is.

I'd like to see common sense interpretation of rules among refs and call things that goes beyond the spirit of the rules.

The rules don't make sense and never have so I don't know what you're looking for. Since the 50's people have kept asking refs, "if A is legal why is B illegal" and it's led to a domino effect over time. Basketball rules were never designed to hold up to the level of competitive scrutiny they are under. The zero step and all this new language added to the game over time weren't changes. They were an attempt ratify what was already being called.

[iamgine]

The rules don't make sense and never have so I don't know what you're looking for. Since the 50's people have kept asking refs, "if A is legal why is B illegal" and it's led to a domino effect over time. Basketball rules were never designed to hold up to the level of competitive scrutiny they are under. The zero step and all this new language added to the game over time weren't changes. They were an attempt ratify what was already being called.

Which rule don't make sense? I'm saying the refs need to use common sense discretion and call things accordingly. For example, KD's infamous "rip through" move was technically a defensive foul. But when he's doing it intentionally, that would go beyond the spirit of the rules and so the refs shouldn't call it. They should even call it offensive foul. Instead, they need to wait seasons for ratification when there's really no need for that. Same with Harden's stepback.