NBA rule changes ( both realistic and fantasy)

[dannyboy35]

  What would you like? Shorter season ? Shorter games? Less teams? Different formats? No back to backs? No 3 pointer? No corner 3? No defensive 3 seconds?
  They don?t have to be realistic. I?m just curious what people would like if they could have the NBA exactly how they would like.

[slamtheking]

enforce the palming and traveling rules.  ditch the Eurostep nonsense because it's really traveling. 

get consistent officiating for all players, throughout the course of a game and throughout the course of the season.  end the star treatment. 

I'd love to see the return of great post offense but there's no rule changes that'll bring that back short of eliminating the 3 point shot and that's not happening

[kraidstar]

Let home court playoff teams choose their opponent. Top seed picks first. Must choose a 5-8 seed.

It would add drama while making the top seeds more important.

[greg683x]

enforce the palming and traveling rules.  ditch the Eurostep nonsense because it's really traveling. 

get consistent officiating for all players, throughout the course of a game and throughout the course of the season.  end the star treatment. 

I'd love to see the return of great post offense but there's no rule changes that'll bring that back short of eliminating the 3 point shot and that's not happening

I echo all of this.  I?d love to see low post basketball make a come back.

You can?t eliminate the 3point shot like you said, but I?d be in favor of moving the line back.  Something to eliminate some of the 3pt chucking.  It?s really turned me off on watching basketball over the last few years

[BitterJim]

Enforce the moving screen rules, I absolutely hate the plays where someone gets an open 3 because their center is setting a massive moving screen.

Also, goaltends should be automatically reviewed and corrected, either by New York or a video review ref in the arena. There's clear objective rules for goaltending, it's not something that should ever gets missed but refs miss it all the time. And on a similar note, add the possession arrow for 50/50 balls out of bounds. No need for a minutes-long review, just give it to someone and keep things moving.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

I like Mazz's ideas of hockey-style substitutions and power plays for intentional fouls/technicals.

The offensive push-offs and shoulders on drives needs to stop. I know Brown does it often, but I'm kinda' tired of that advantage and wish defenders had the right to the space they occupy.

[Redz]

I like Mazz's ideas of hockey-style substitutions and power plays for intentional fouls/technicals.

The offensive push-offs and shoulders on drives needs to stop. I know Brown does it often, but I'm kinda' tired of that advantage and wish defenders had the right to the space they occupy.

Instead of a team playing shorthanded for a power play take away the 3-point shot for two minutes.  Or five for a major.

[jpotter33]

Let home court playoff teams choose their opponent. Top seed picks first. Must choose a 5-8 seed.

It would add drama while making the top seeds more important.

This makes too much sense. It's kind of mind-boggling that we've not employed this already. From all perspectives (competition, entertainment, etc.), it seems to make sense, and I don't know what a downside to this would be. It would also seemingly help with the mini tanking/position jockeying that we see some teams make to try and get more favorable playoff matchups.

[Kernewek]

Get rid of the corner three by extending the arc naturally. They've been flirting with the idea for 15 years now, but I think it'd be amazing to see what happens to the game, even if the adjustment period would be rough.

[aefgogreen]

I saw an idea that I really liked - reverse draft order in the second round. Meaning the team with the best record gets the 1st pick of the second round, all the way down. I understand that this probably won't affect tanking. But it will reward high performers with a good opportunity to add talent on a rookie contract.

[Silas]

I saw an idea that I really liked - reverse draft order in the second round. Meaning the team with the best record gets the 1st pick of the second round, all the way down. I understand that this probably won't affect tanking. But it will reward high performers with a good opportunity to add talent on a rookie contract.

My fantasy baseball draft works that way.  It's called a snake draft.  Location in the draft is randomly selected by Yahoo 30 minutes before the draft starts. 

[aefgogreen]

I saw an idea that I really liked - reverse draft order in the second round. Meaning the team with the best record gets the 1st pick of the second round, all the way down. I understand that this probably won't affect tanking. But it will reward high performers with a good opportunity to add talent on a rookie contract.

My fantasy baseball draft works that way.  It's called a snake draft.  Location in the draft is randomly selected by Yahoo 30 minutes before the draft starts.

Love snake drafts - not usually used in professional leagues, but I think it would work well in the NBA. Of course, I've also advocated for getting rid of the 2nd round...

[CFAN38]

Listening to "The game theory podcast" hosts Sam Vencenie and Bryce Simon had an interesting take on tanking related rule changes.

To paraphrase:

tanking is never going away and either is the draft

the goal should be to incentives fewer teams to tank

every rule change comes with consequences


One of their ideas was to make the 1st pick solely based on record, worst record gets 1st pick. After that go to a lottery for 2-14. This means the worst team every year gets the "best player" in theory moving the talent where its needed. While teams will still tank realistically only 4-5 out of 30 teams have a shot at being that bad. 

[Vermont Green]

I saw an idea that I really liked - reverse draft order in the second round. Meaning the team with the best record gets the 1st pick of the second round, all the way down. I understand that this probably won't affect tanking. But it will reward high performers with a good opportunity to add talent on a rookie contract.

I have always liked this idea.  I would do it in football too.

I have said this before, but I think the weighted lottery is enough of a factor to discourage tanking, at least the most blatant tanking.  The really blatant tanking occurs when teams are trying to protect a traded pick.

Beyond that, nothing is going to fix this.  Teams are still going to do what is best for their teams.  UTA, for example, is going to be in the lottery whether they shutdown JJJ or not.  Maybe they end up with a few more or a few less ping pong balls.  This is not why they shut him down, or if it is, it is dumb.

[aefgogreen]

Listening to "The game theory podcast" hosts Sam Vencenie and Bryce Simon had an interesting take on tanking related rule changes.

To paraphrase:

tanking is never going away and either is the draft

the goal should be to incentives fewer teams to tank

every rule change comes with consequences


One of their ideas was to make the 1st pick solely based on record, worst record gets 1st pick. After that go to a lottery for 2-14. This means the worst team every year gets the "best player" in theory moving the talent where its needed. While teams will still tank realistically only 4-5 out of 30 teams have a shot at being that bad.

Rachel Nichols said the same thing - she added that you shouldn't be able to have the top pick (or top 3, I really don't remember) two years in a row. Though I'm not sure it will work, it is worth discussing. It's based on the thought that you'll never be able to completely eliminate tanking, so you may as well put in policies to minimize it. On the other hand, when there is a player like Flagg or Wemby available, I do think it may create a race to the bottom.