The Jeff Van Gundy Game: Changes you want to see in the NBA

In the spirit of Jeff Van Gundy's proclamations that the league needs to change X or there should be a rule for Y...what changes, big or small, would you make to the NBA?

Off the top of my head...

• Cut down on the amount of charging fouls that are called. Seems they're not going to hand out technicals or fines for flopping, so punish players with blocking fouls or non-calls. I'm weary of seeing players scoot over at the last second, barely set their feet/move their foot out of the restricted zone just in time and get the charging call. It's perfectly legal under the current rules of course, but I'd like to see them tighten it up. Offensive fouls should come if an out of control player bowls over a defender with established position (going straight up), drops their shoulder, pushes off, throws an elbow to clear out the defender, etc.
  
  That's not to say gamesmanship should be completely eliminated and that players can't try to draw an offensive foul with good position and willingness to take the hit but it's still way too easy and encourages flopping. I say tighten up the rules to make it a little tougher to draw charges, allow for more non-calls and above all, don't reward flopping.
  
  
• Same goes for offensive players. This one's a bit tougher because when there's hard contact, arms will flail and bodies will go flying but it's annoying to watch replays and see clean strips be called fouls because the offensive player hits the floor or flails their arms to sell or even fake contact. Kind of a tough one, maybe it comes down to the referees watching more closely for this or identifying players who make a habit of crying wolf.
  
  
• Work out what constitutes a continuation call, define it in the rules, call it. Right now there's not a lot of consistency in the calls; obviously star players are going to benefit from the occasional generous call but even then there's inconsistency, to the point where you wonder if the referees think "That looked pretty cool, I'll give him the and-one for that". I suppose this really goes hand in hand with defining what constitutes being in the act of shooting. My suggestion would be that a player must be clearly taking a shot (ball at/above their head, in a shooting motion, sending the ball towards the rim) and they cannot take another step or dribble for it to be called a continuation. Anything else is non-shooting and shouldn't put a player at the line (unless the other team is in the penalty) and renders the ball dead.
  
  On a similar note...
  
  
• Don't award shooting fouls when the player with the ball pivots or leans into the defender to create the contact and get the whistle, then puts up a shot attempt. Right now it's a savvy play because the rules allow for it but it's a cheap call and a good example of the very generous criteria for continuations. Assuming you want to still give the defender a foul when the offensive player initiates contact - and if the defender is off balance after gambling on a fake I suppose that's fair enough - the foul has occurred on a pivot, a move that isn't in the act of shooting and can just as easily lead to a pass or dribble, or the contact wouldn't have even been there if the offensive player had leaned in. More often than not, these should be fouls on the floor (unless it's a penalty situation) or non-calls.
  
  
• Late whistles. Sometimes it's inevitable, referees are human after all and can't always react straight away and other times the crowd is so loud that the referee can't be heard so the whistle just seems late. However, I'm talking about times when the referee seems to wait to see if the shot goes in before calling a foul (if it goes in, no call; if it doesn't, free throws) or otherwise delays making a call. It always comes across as being a little fishy, even when the call itself isn't bad (just really late).
  
  
• Baskets counting on an offensive foul away from the ball. That just seems bizarre to me, if there's an offensive foul then that should negate the basket. If a player with the ball commits an offensive foul while attempting a shot which ends up going in, the basket is waved off. It should be the same deal if a teammate away from the ball commits an offensive foul, not a made basket and loose ball foul.
  
  
• Allow play to continue if the defensive team gains control of the ball on a shot clock violation. I think this one might already be defined in the rules because they do seem to let teams play on in some situations but I'd like the game to be a bit more free flowing here and let play continue if the defense gains possession as the shot clock expires.
  
  
• Continue to expand the use of instant replays, specifically when they can be used and what can be reviewed. I know the concern here is slowing up the game but it needn't be the case. Just continue to make allowances for various infractions to be reviewed as they have been doing so far. With flopping being an issue, perhaps referees could have the option to review whether a foul was actually committed at certain junctures of the game, or doublecheck who a foul should be on, etc. Basically, I'd like the instant replay rules to allow for as much correction of human error/clarification in uncertain situations as possible, without hindering the flow of the game. You don't need to stop the game and review every single play, just allow for it to happen when there's reasonable doubt.
  
  
• Eliminate fan voting in the dunk contest. Fan participation is a great idea in theory but it's just silly to have judges in one round and fan voting in the next, especially when the voting opens before any dunks have been attempted in the finals. I say bring back the old format, judges having the final say with a field of six competitors and three dunks per round; have the players with the top two or three scores advance to the final round, player with the highest total score in the finals wins. The current rules on attempts and the like are fine, the two minute time limit plus two replacements allows players more freedom to be creative.

I agree with many of what you have listed. I would like to see guys that jump into players and initiate contact get no-calls, depending on the circumstances. If a player goes straight up with the shot then yeah, it's a foul because it's their space, but if they pivot & jump into player (e.g. Pierce) or simply jump into the player (e.g. Wade) or kick their legs out (e.g. Reggie Miller) then it's a no call. If a player gets somebody up in the air with a fake, just take a step sideways or go around them & shoot the easier basket.

I'd like to see less timeouts or more of the standard timeouts turned into 20 second timeouts. What is it now? Six full and one 20 second per team? So 14 timeouts per game. Game already stops enough for fouls, we don't need that much. I'd like to see them cut down to five timeouts each per team, with two or three of those being the 20 second variety.

I agree with many of what you have listed. I would like to see guys that jump into players and initiate contact get no-calls, depending on the circumstances. If a player goes straight up with the shot then yeah, it's a foul because it's their space, but if they pivot & jump into player (e.g. Pierce) or simply jump into the player (e.g. Wade) or kick their legs out (e.g. Reggie Miller) then it's a no call. If a player gets somebody up in the air with a fake, just take a step sideways or go around them & shoot the easier basket.

Absolutely, though I do think it's fair enough if a player can get a defender to gamble and leap at them with a fake, then they go straight up for the shot and draw the foul. But when they have to jump, lean or pivot into them...ugh, it just feels like a really cheap foul, especially if the foul comes before they're in the act of shooting.

I'd like to see less timeouts or more of the standard timeouts turned into 20 second timeouts. What is it now? Six full and one 20 second per team? So 14 timeouts per game. Game already stops enough for fouls, we don't need that much. I'd like to see them cut down to five timeouts each per team, with two or three of those being the 20 second variety.

I'd agree with that. I think they are actually looking at taking a timeout away, I remember Stern saying something about that in an interview, so we could be in luck there.

That also reminds me of teams fouling to stop the clock or taking a timeout in the waning moments of a game that is well out of reach. Hard to rule against it or punish it since there are miraculous comebacks (rare as they may be) and there's nothing wrong with teams competing until the final buzzer per se, but sometimes it's taken too far. It's just something in the culture I'd like to see change a little.

I agree with many of what you have listed. I would like to see guys that jump into players and initiate contact get no-calls, depending on the circumstances. If a player goes straight up with the shot then yeah, it's a foul because it's their space, but if they pivot & jump into player (e.g. Pierce) or simply jump into the player (e.g. Wade) or kick their legs out (e.g. Reggie Miller) then it's a no call. If a player gets somebody up in the air with a fake, just take a step sideways or go around them & shoot the easier basket.

Absolutely, though I do think it's fair enough if a player can get a defender to gamble and leap at them with a fake, then they go straight up for the shot and draw the foul. But when they have to jump, lean or pivot into them...ugh, it just feels like a really cheap foul, especially if the foul comes before they're in the act of shooting.

I think we agree on that as I said more or less the same thing

That also reminds me of teams fouling to stop the clock or taking a timeout in the waning moments of a game that is well out of reach. Hard to rule against it or punish it since there are miraculous comebacks (rare as they may be) and there's nothing wrong with teams competing until the final buzzer per se, but sometimes it's taken too far. It's just something in the culture I'd like to see change a little.

I don't like it either. I don't know how you police it though. I think that really comes down to coaches. They will go for the 3% chance of coming from behind. I can understand if it's less than a 6 point game, but when it's 8, 9, 10 points, I'd prefer the clock to run down.

That's the problem, I don't think you can really police it. I remember the topic coming up before and while a technical or fine seems appropriate on the surface, you can't really discourage teams from wanting to compete to the final buzzer and employing such tactics to do so. Even though it's a rare occurrence, one could point to Tracy McGrady's performance against the Spurs some years back as proof that games that appear to be out of reach may indeed still be winnable, so you can't really set a rule prohibiting a team from calling a timeout or fouling if they're down 10, 15 or whatever with X amount of time left, because that's not in the spirit of competition.

I think it's something that needs to be weeded out of the culture though, maybe discouraging timeouts and intentional fouls when there's less than 24 seconds left and it's at least a five possession game or something. We actually just saw an example of it during this year's Finals with a little under 20 seconds left in Game 6. It may be difficult to rely on coaches to recognise when a final push could happen and should be attempted or decide that it's merely delaying the inevitable, though I reckon nine times out of ten they could make an educated guess based on their team's body language and current performance. It's tough though. I'd love to see it change but it's hard to make that kind of change come about.

Consistency with the calling of technicals I think is a big issue. So many times during the season I saw LeBron and D-Wade have a cry over just about every bad call they had and not get called, while someone like Kevin Martin can just show the smallest amount of disappointment with a call he did get and get the technical as well.

I don't like taking all the emotion out of the game, but I'd like to see the same rules for everyone. None of this "let them play" BS that commentators often crap on about during big games.

I don't necessarily want it as policy, but I would enjoy seeing someone call every lane violation in a game.

For those who don't understand, I've long held that you can call a lane violation on basically every terminal free throw. (And many of the others.) I have yet to see evidence otherwise.

Consistency with the calling of technicals I think is a big issue. So many times during the season I saw LeBron and D-Wade have a cry over just about every bad call they had and not get called, while someone like Kevin Martin can just show the smallest amount of disappointment with a call he did get and get the technical as well.

I don't like taking all the emotion out of the game, but I'd like to see the same rules for everyone. None of this "let them play" BS that commentators often crap on about during big games.

Can't believe I forgot about that; I agree 100%. I like JVG's suggestion during the Finals, allow a reaction and then leave it to the referee to say "Alright, that's enough" and walk away. If a coach or player continues to argue or make a scene after that, T them up.

That also reminds me of teams fouling to stop the clock or taking a timeout in the waning moments of a game that is well out of reach. Hard to rule against it or punish it since there are miraculous comebacks (rare as they may be) and there's nothing wrong with teams competing until the final buzzer per se, but sometimes it's taken too far. It's just something in the culture I'd like to see change a little.

I don't like it either. I don't know how you police it though. I think that really comes down to coaches. They will go for the 3% chance of coming from behind. I can understand if it's less than a 6 point game, but when it's 8, 9, 10 points, I'd prefer the clock to run down.

You can't change it, it's in the 'coaching' culture.
It's not like the about to be defeated coaches are blind or stupid (hopefully), in most cases (no proof, heard it from a commentator, you can be sure it's not Mark Jackson) coaches try out untested plays during those few remaining seconds that's why they call a timeout.
Sure they can do it in practice but like what AI feels, it's only practice. It's better to test plays against actual opponents, and since it's a new play it's no surprise to see the offense acting like headless chickens as if there's no play because they're unfamiliar with it.

That could also be considered as a reason to watch blowout games. During that time coaches also test out new plays.

Sometimes they do that but it seems like a lot of the time they're just going through the motions while delaying the inevitable loss.

It's also part of the culture. Coaches can't give up on a game. It could possibly lead to players having an instant excuse to quit on other games. We don't need to be Clippers fans to know how that will end up.

Culture can change though. Once upon a time, you could leave a player like Wilt in the game for 48 minutes and chase 100 points. These days it's considered bad form to leave stars in the game when it's a blowout and running up the score/chasing personal milestones like that, as blatantly as they reportedly did in the waning minutes of Wilt's historic game, just wouldn't happen today because it's frowned upon.

I don't think you need to discourage it completely, just the most egregious examples. If you're down 20 with less than a minute to go...just let it go. There's no need to start fouling or calling timeout when there's barely enough time to make a dent in the score.

Culture can change though. Once upon a time, you could leave a player like Wilt in the game for 48 minutes and chase 100 points. These days it's considered bad form to leave stars in the game when it's a blowout and running up the score/chasing personal milestones like that, as blatantly as they reportedly did in the waning minutes of Wilt's historic game, just wouldn't happen today because it's frowned upon.

This isn't really a fair characterization at all. Wilt wasn't left in for "chasing personal milestones." Wilt played basically every single minute of every game that season. And he wasn't alone in logging minutes that would be unheard of today. Russell, West, Baylor, Oscar, etc. all played 40+ minutes a game. And they did this in the era of back-to-back games and cross-country games in Chucks and with the rest of 1960s shit science. And you can read in many accounts that Wilt and Oscar, even Russell, and others were far more encouraged to pursue these numbers because they needed to bring people to watch the games. Wilt or Oscar dominating a game alone put butts in the seats like the Globetrotters. I'm not sure it's still frowned upon, 81 after all.

The culture change was that you didn't burn out your stars during the season trying to attract fans, you instead paced them throughout the season for the playoffs.

I'm not sure it's still frowned upon, 81 after all.

That wasn't really a blowout though.

This isn't really a fair characterization at all. Wilt wasn't left in for "chasing personal milestones." Wilt played basically every single minute of every game that season. And he wasn't alone in logging minutes that would be unheard of today. Russell, West, Baylor, Oscar, etc. all played 40+ minutes a game. And they did this in the era of back-to-back games and cross-country games in Chucks and with the rest of 1960s shit science. And you can read in many accounts that Wilt and Oscar, even Russell, and others were far more encouraged to pursue these numbers because they needed to bring people to watch the games. Wilt or Oscar dominating a game alone put butts in the seats like the Globetrotters.

It wasn't meant to be a knock on Wilt.

I would like them to start calling flagrant fouls during those late game moments. Look at those fouls and tell me how often they are actually making a play on the ball. They are grabbing arms and hips just trying to get the call. I think it will discourage the fouls, and encourage teams to play harder during those last few minutes in order to make a comeback. It should make the end of games more competitive, and play out faster. Who wants to see the last minutes of the game take half an hour due to freethrows and timeouts?

I think they should also make a minimum requirement of career games played or minutes played for rookies to actually complete their rookie season.

There should be a coaches game during the all star weekend. The top 5 coaches in each conference go head to head for 30 minutes. Their respective squads should be coached by wnba players. A retired players game would be even better, but less comical.

4 pointers.

A retired players game would be even better, but less comical.

They used to have one at the All-Star Weekend, but they replaced it with the rookie game after a few of the old timers got injured. They had their moments.

The Rookie and Sophomore teams should have their own jerseys, just like in 2009. And in contrast to that, the ASG players should use their team jerseys. I kinda liked that.

The Rookie and Sophomore teams should have their own jerseys, just like in 2009. And in contrast to that, the ASG players should use their team jerseys. I kinda liked that.

Agreed, it looks so much better IMHO & represents each player's team.

I think they have separate jerseys for Rookie Game due to T-Mobile sponsorship & separate jerseys for All-Star Game so they can sell more merchandise.

Who wants to see the last minutes of the game take half an hour due to freethrows and timeouts?

This is the #1 thing that needs to be changed in all of basketball. IMO the only way to truly change it and speed things up is if you "flagrant" foul (like how you described it) with less than 1:30 left, instead of free throws that team automatically gets 2 points and possession.

I do want to see the proposed FIBA goaltending rules implemented and I would also like to see defensive 3 seconds in the paint removed along with illegal defense calls to allow true zone defenses.

I want to see hand checking being allowed in the NBA again. And illegal defense calls back in effect just like in Jordan's days. Not sure if I really want the latter but definitely the former. Should allow more physical plays and less calls. Superstar calls should disappear as well.

Should allow more physical plays and less calls. Superstar calls should disappear as well.

Dwyane Wade disagrees.

yea, well, F him, the game needs to be regarded as a "contact" sport again

andrew pretty much covered what i thinks wrong with the nba in the original post. players jumping into other players who go for the fake (all big name players seem to do this now) is about the worst thing for basketball. its to the point where i cant stand to watch a full game outside of a playoff game. far worse than flopping. i also do not think it should be a no call i think it should be an offensive foul when its clear the offensive player jumped into the defender. you watch a defender play great D then bite on a fake but they do so by jumping to the side of the shooter so they will avoid contact but then the shooter jumps to the right and gets to the line.

flopping, well this has been a problem for ever. the nba does not seem to care to fix it at this point. there was a guy who flopped in the nhl playoffs. got a few calls to go his way then all of a sudden he didnt get a single call. spent half the time on his ass on the ice while his teammates were stuck picking up the slack. do this, after awhile tplayers will bitch at the floppers on their team

also the charging calls. i swear more than half should be blocking fouls. maybe i am just used to 80's and early 90's basketball. guys slide after the player has already left his feet and they call charge. makes no damn sense.

The Rookie and Sophomore teams should have their own jerseys, just like in 2009. And in contrast to that, the ASG players should use their team jerseys. I kinda liked that.

Agreed, it looks so much better IMHO & represents each player's team.

I think they have separate jerseys for Rookie Game due to T-Mobile sponsorship & separate jerseys for All-Star Game so they can sell more merchandise.

I'm not sure which I prefer when it comes to All-Star jerseys; I like the idea of having special jerseys for the Rookie Challenge and All-Star Game but then I also quite like the concept of players wearing their individual team's jersey. To be honest I'm fine with either, I usually enjoy the All-Star Weekend for the most part anyway but if I had to choose I'd go with having special All-Star jerseys that don't have a new design every year, as they did in the 80s and early 90s. Harder to move merchandise that way of course so it's unlikely, but I'd probably stick with the All-Star jerseys. I'd stick with individual team jerseys for the Rookie Challenge.

andrew pretty much covered what i thinks wrong with the nba in the original post. players jumping into other players who go for the fake (all big name players seem to do this now) is about the worst thing for basketball. its to the point where i cant stand to watch a full game outside of a playoff game. far worse than flopping. i also do not think it should be a no call i think it should be an offensive foul when its clear the offensive player jumped into the defender. you watch a defender play great D then bite on a fake but they do so by jumping to the side of the shooter so they will avoid contact but then the shooter jumps to the right and gets to the line.

I think an offensive foul call would be appropriate in some situations but there are still times when I'd favour a no call. Same goes for flopping defensively, let them flop and lie on the floor while their man blows by them, leaving their team playing five-on-four.