Say goodbye to Hack-a-Shaq.
It’s all but gone.
From Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post:
After years of debate over whether the strategy of fouling a weak free throw shooter in order to force him to take foul shots has a place in the NBA, it appears the league will find a way to eliminate the practice this summer.
“It’s not unanimous, but there’s clearly an emerging consensus that we need to address the situation,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors on Thursday afternoon at the league’s midtown Manhattan headquarters. “Exactly what the new rule should be is open for debate, and at least I’m hoping that between now and the next owner’s meeting in July we can create and form a consensus as to what the change in the rule should be.”
This was inevitable. The implementation of Hack-a-Shaq has been debated to no end. When that happens, it’s only a matter time before it gets addressed.
Personally, I’m all for leaving it. Eliminating it lets guys who cannot shoot free throws off the hook. In its current form, Hack-a-Shaq may not be aesthetically pleasing, but it adds another layer of intrigue to the game. Coaches must decide whether to pull certain players. Opposing coaches have to weigh the trade-off between those potential points at the foul line and some extra offensive possessions.
But the NBA is a business. The aesthetics matter. Hack-a-Shaq slows the game down and isn’t pretty to watch. It makes sense to kiss it goodbye from a marketing standpoint.
It also drums up the value of foul-line-challenged bigs like Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan. They are already at a disadvantage with the league leaning more and more on small-ball lineups; now they at least won’t have to worry about being late-game liabilities because of their free-throw warts.
