If you could change the game what would you do ?

[gouki88]

A hard cap, but more flexibility in re-structuring / waiving bad contracts.  Get rid of max contracts.

Didn't even think about changing salary cap structures! This is something I'd agree with too. No max deals would be fun

[PhoSita]

Eliminate offensive goal tending rules.

Eliminate defensive and offensive three seconds.

Expand the three point line to exclude the corners.

Set a cap on the amount that a player drafted by a team could count against his team's cap based on years of service, and allow teams to pay such players well beyond that cap with no luxury tax impact.  Example: Jayson Tatum can't count more than $25 million against the Celts cap, but the Celts can pay him much more, e.g. $40 million per year.  Reward teams for drafting and developing, reward players for staying with the team that drafted them.  Making the extra money count against the cap and luxury tax, and limiting it to one player (Rose rule) is unnecessarily punitive to teams and creates a dynamic where players earn the right to be paid the maximum amount and then immediately become a negative asset (see: Westbrook, Wall, Griffin etc).

Eliminate East vs West for playoff purposes and seed 1-16.

All teams except for the top 8 seeds get ping pong balls in the lottery, with greatly flattened odds from the worst record to the 17th record, and the top 5 spots are selected by lottery.

[Csfan1984]

Shorten the shot clock to 20 seconds.

Eliminate back court violations.

Eliminate time to cross half court.

No advancing the ball with a timeout.

No jump balls just switch possession.

Changes to end of game: Games can only be won by 2 pts or more. When 4th quarter elapses with no winner there is no stoppage for an overtime. The game just continues into a sudden death. First team to go up by 2pts or more wins.

[johnnygreen]

Eliminate offensive goal tending rules.

Eliminate defensive and offensive three seconds.

Expand the three point line to exclude the corners.

Set a cap on the amount that a player drafted by a team could count against his team's cap based on years of service, and allow teams to pay such players well beyond that cap with no luxury tax impact.  Example: Jayson Tatum can't count more than $25 million against the Celts cap, but the Celts can pay him much more, e.g. $40 million per year.  Reward teams for drafting and developing, reward players for staying with the team that drafted them.  Making the extra money count against the cap and luxury tax, and limiting it to one player (Rose rule) is unnecessarily punitive to teams and creates a dynamic where players earn the right to be paid the maximum amount and then immediately become a negative asset (see: Westbrook, Wall, Griffin etc).

Eliminate East vs West for playoff purposes and seed 1-16.

All teams except for the top 8 seeds get ping pong balls in the lottery, with greatly flattened odds from the worst record to the 17th record, and the top 5 spots are selected by lottery.

This is a fantastic idea.

[gouki88]

Shorten the shot clock to 20 seconds.

Eliminate back court violations.

Eliminate time to cross half court.

No advancing the ball with a timeout.

No jump balls just switch possession.

Changes to end of game: Games can only be won by 2 pts or more. When 4th quarter elapses with no winner there is no stoppage for an overtime. The game just continues into a sudden death. First team to go up by 2pts or more wins.

Seems like you want basically 3 dribble pick-up en masse. Would be wild

[Csfan1984]

Shorten the shot clock to 20 seconds.

Eliminate back court violations.

Eliminate time to cross half court.

No advancing the ball with a timeout.

No jump balls just switch possession.

Changes to end of game: Games can only be won by 2 pts or more. When 4th quarter elapses with no winner there is no stoppage for an overtime. The game just continues into a sudden death. First team to go up by 2pts or more wins.

Seems like you want basically 3 dribble pick-up en masse. Would be wild

Yes more action is my goal. Speed up the game in more ways than one. Spread things out with no backcourt. Be more fair on game winning plays, hate seeing a game end on a single free throw or half a score.

[gouki88]

Shorten the shot clock to 20 seconds.

Eliminate back court violations.

Eliminate time to cross half court.

No advancing the ball with a timeout.

No jump balls just switch possession.

Changes to end of game: Games can only be won by 2 pts or more. When 4th quarter elapses with no winner there is no stoppage for an overtime. The game just continues into a sudden death. First team to go up by 2pts or more wins.

Seems like you want basically 3 dribble pick-up en masse. Would be wild

Yes more action is my goal. Speed up the game in more ways than one. Spread things out with no backcourt. Be more fair on game winning plays, hate seeing a game end on a single free throw or half a score.

I feel like these rules would be fun in the Rising Stars game

[PAOBoston]

1.  Widen the sidelines so players literally don’t step out of bounds from the corners every possession

2. Extend the circle to FT to open up the lane and get rid of that stupid charge/blocking foul where the offensive players have no chance at avoiding.

3. Get rid of the challenge

[Csfan1984]

Shorten the shot clock to 20 seconds.

Eliminate back court violations.

Eliminate time to cross half court.

No advancing the ball with a timeout.

No jump balls just switch possession.

Changes to end of game: Games can only be won by 2 pts or more. When 4th quarter elapses with no winner there is no stoppage for an overtime. The game just continues into a sudden death. First team to go up by 2pts or more wins.

Seems like you want basically 3 dribble pick-up en masse. Would be wild

Yes more action is my goal. Speed up the game in more ways than one. Spread things out with no backcourt. Be more fair on game winning plays, hate seeing a game end on a single free throw or half a score.

I feel like these rules would be fun in the Rising Stars game

They should absolutely do these rules for exhibition and preseason games at the least. We want them to go faster and be done lol

[johnnygreen]

I would get rid of the charging rule. I don’t consider flopping related to defense. Is it too much to ask these athletes to actually try to move their feet or block a shot? I think we would also see more players attacking the paint if they weren’t concerned about this. On a related note, is there any correlation between charge calls and the increase in 3 point attempts? Why drive to the rim and risk getting called for an offensive foul, when you can safely shoot a 3.

Get rid of Hack-a-Shaq completely. If there is an intentional foul away from the ball, it’s one free throw (coaches choice of the team that was fouled) and that team retains possession.

I believe each game has an alternate official (if not, add one). This official would be in charge of instant replay. The officials on the court, remain on the court, so there is no need for them to view a monitor. Since this replay official is in front of the monitor already and is at the game, it cuts down on set up time. The replay official only has 30 seconds to change or confirm the call. If an official can make a call in real time, then 30 seconds is an eternity for them.

I know the NBA can’t make a change to this, but I would also ban players on the ground from asking other players for help getting up. Get up your [dang] self. This is another complete waste of time.

[GreenWarrior]

Take away the power from the players. No more picking where you want to go unless you've been in the league for 7 seasons.

Only one ref on the floor that watches only the ball handler and the player defending the ball handler. Another official on the sideline watching what the viewer at home sees looking for anything egregious or out of bounds plays.

Only one max player per team, and the rest of the roster is role players.

[Ogaju]

make all made shots beyond the mid-court line worth 17 points.

allow tackling, just like they do in football.

let players kick the ball, as in soccer.

no time outs for any reason.

only one substitution per half.

no one is allowed to walk or stand. you either run, jump, or bounce in place.

and players should also be allowed to eat hot dogs while playing. it would help us relate to them better.

 

Do we still call it basketball? Hahahaha!

[gouki88]

Take away the power from the players. No more picking where you want to go unless you've been in the league for 7 seasons.

Only one ref on the floor that watches only the ball handler and the player defending the ball handler. Another official on the sideline watching what the viewer at home sees looking for anything egregious or out of bounds plays.

Only one max player per team, and the rest of the roster is role players.

Feel like your first and third point would be literally impossible, unless you somehow scrap the players association

[Ogaju]

A foul is a foul!  I don't agree with, he didn't get that call because he's a rookie, or he got that call because he's Lebron.  Call the darn game!

This x 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

[jpotter33]

Take away the power from the players. No more picking where you want to go unless you've been in the league for 7 seasons.

Only one ref on the floor that watches only the ball handler and the player defending the ball handler. Another official on the sideline watching what the viewer at home sees looking for anything egregious or out of bounds plays.

Only one max player per team, and the rest of the roster is role players.

Feel like your first and third point would be literally impossible, unless you somehow scrap the players association

The first point is probably impossible, and I don't necessarily agree with it. But the third one has been proposed many times before. But it's not necessarily "one max per team" but allowing each team one "super max" contract with a high salary limit. The thought is that this would create more parity over the league with the top 25-30 stars looking for that "super max" contract.

Completely agree with the idea of the second point. My major change would reduce the refs' impact on the game. They get so much wrong because they're way too involved, which inevitably leads to inconsistency and subjective calls. I'd probably go down to two refs per game and dramatically cut down what is considered a foul in terms of severity of contact. Further, there'd be an emphasis to start curbing all the gaming of the system by offensive players to get free throws.