TORONTO — The stat laid out by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was head turning:
There have been 5.5 times more Hack-a-Shaq (or hack-a-player, if you prefer) fouls this season than last season.
During his annual All-Star Weekend address to the media, Silver again said that winds of change seem to be growing stronger on this issue — and now the NBA’s television partners are weighing in on the issue. DeAndre Jordan shooting 30 free throws a game is bad television and this is an entertainment business. if television networks want a change, things happen.
We all know how American sports works — if television networks want a change, things happen.
“Well, first of all, change will not be enacted this season. But it’s an issue that we’ve been studying for some time now...” Silver said. “So far, up to the All-Star break this season, we’re seeing the Hack-a-Shaq strategy used at roughly a five and a half times greater rate than it was used last season. So to the extent that the data is coming in, it’s showing there is a clear trend and that clearly our coaches who are smart and using very complex analytics believe it is benefiting them. My personal view, as I said last week, is beginning to change on the issue. As I said last summer, I said I was personally on the fence as well. I’m beginning to feel that a change needs to be made. And that comes in response to conversations with our network partners. It comes in response to fan data that we look at, we’re constantly surveying our fans to get their sense of what they see out on the floor. I’m talking to players and general managers and our owners of course.”
The challenge, Silver said, is building a consensus around an alternative.
“So I think it’s my job right now to at least formulate an alternative together with the Competition Committee to ultimately bring to our Board of Governors (the owners),” Silver said. “I should point out that to change a playing rule in the league it requires two-thirds of the owners to vote in favor of it, so it would require 20 teams voting in favor of it. So we’re nowhere near that point where we’re even starting to count heads.”
By the time the owners meet in July, expect the owners to vote on this. And as those owners are stuffing all those dollars from the new television deal in their pockets, if those networks want a rule change, well, money talks.
And as those owners are stuffing all those dollars from the new television deal in their pockets, if those networks want a rule change, well, money talks.
Silver addressed a variety of topics in his 45-minute talk. Among the other news of note:
• After the All-Star break ends, expect the league to let teams know that when making one of those Hack-a-Shaq fouls by jumping on the back of another player (to make the foul obvious), that player could get hit with a flagrant foul. Silver said this is about player safety.
• Silver said the Collective Bargaining Agreement is working in the sense that the elite talent in the NBA is being spread out more evenly between big and small market teams.
“In terms of the effectiveness of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, yes, we think there is clear evidence,” Silver said. “One, we know that by tightening up the cap and putting in place a harsher tax, we’re seeing fewer teams go into the tax because the financial consequences are so great of going high into the tax and what it would mean for their payrolls.
“In addition, other changes we made in the system were once teams go into the tax, it dramatically limits what they’re able to do in terms of trades and the signing of free agents. So ultimately what that system is about is player distribution. So if you look now at the league, we see the way our stars are distributed throughout the league. You see seemingly no correlation between market size and where the stars are located.”
However, the spike in the salary cap coming up this summer (and the one after) because of the new television deal could change that dynamic. Maybe. Silver is not sure how this will shake out.
“The intention wasn’t that in this system that teams could sign without going above the tax that many max player contracts and that many All-Stars,” Silver said, referring to the rumor the Warriors could chase Kevin Durant this summer. “So if you ask me from a league standpoint, we would prefer that our All-Stars be distributed around the league rather than having so many All-Stars in one market. But we’ll see what happens this summer. I mean, as I’ve said, there will be unintended consequences from all this additional cap room this summer, I just don’t know what those consequences will be.”
• Silver said the NBA Draft could be pushed back in future years — but not much. He said the league wants the Finals and draft to be done before the end of June, and before free agency starts July 1.
• The NBA is “always talking” about the idea of an All-Star Game in Europe, but don’t bet on it anytime soon. The logistics are too complicated.
“It’s logistically more difficult than it may seem because there’s a ripple effect in terms of the number of days we take off on the rest of the schedule,” Silver said. “So right now we play an 82-game schedule in roughly 162 days. When we added the additional time off for AllStar, that took days off. When we added additional days of rest during The Finals days, which we did that season, that took days out of the schedule. If we travel overseas for All-Star, given our experience with largely preseason games, but some regular season games in Europe as well, players will need additional time to readjust their sleep patterns and to get re-acclimated when they come back to the States.”
Silver later hinted the next international All-Star Game could be in Mexico City.
• While there is no “center” designation on the All-Star ballot anymore (three frontcourt, two guards), don’t expect the center spot to go away from the All-NBA Team anytime soon.
