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The NBA has made some pretty major changes. And I’m not just talking about this collective bargaining stuff. I’m talking about real rules. Changes to the way the game is played.
Via ESPN.com, vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson confirmed some pretty significant alterations. One of them being that KD’s “rip-move” is pretty much not effective anymore.
The rip move will now be considered a non-shooting foul if the contact happens before a player is into his full shooting motion.
But that’s not it. Another change will affect Russell Westbrook’s reckless attacks on the rim. “Also, on drives to the basket, a shooting foul will be called only if contact occurs after the offensive player has begun his shooting motion, not after he has initiated his leap toward the basket.”
Dwyane Wade just punched a wall.
Also, get ready for Perk to get tossed from a few games. “Referees also will be hyper-vigilant about defenders making contact with offensive players when they’re in the air and fully extended attempting to score. In most cases, expect that kind of foul to draw a Flagrant Level 2, which is two free throws, possession of the ball and the defender being ejected.”
I’ve been a defender of the rip-move for a while, but mainly behind the shield that it was a legal play. Now, it’s kind of not. It still draws a foul on the defender, which is good, but you don’t get the two shots. One thing about the rip-move is that it’s an offensive tactic used to create space. Defenders like Shane Battier and Tony Allen love to crowd Durant so the rip-move was something he could put in the back of their mind to lay off.
Durant has always had a simple approach to the criticism of the move.
“They’ve said it’s a legal play, so I’m going to keep doing it until they tell me I can’t,” Durant said last season. “That’s when I’ll stop.”
This change isn’t about trying to take away an offensive tactic. It’s about watchability of the game. The league is concerned with the amount of free throws being shot each game which slows it down. They want every game play in a little over two hours and so by cutting down on fouls, it’ll speed up the game.
The Thunder though are a team that kind of lives at the free throw line. Durant and Westbrook were both in the top 10 in free throw attempts per game and the Thunder were second in the league in free throws attempts per game. Oklahoma City got 24.1 points per game from the stripe, leading the league with a team percentage of 82.3.
So these two rule changes will greatly change the way OKC plays. Westbrook’s hard drives at the rim often won’t be rewarded now with two shots and Durant’s rip won’t get him to the line either. It’ll be interesting how this affects everyone but there’s no denying it could hurt the Thunder more than most.
About the rip move ... It still draws a foul on the defender, which is good, but you don’t get the two shots.
“Referees also will be hyper-vigilant about defenders making contact with offensive players when they’re in the air and fully extended attempting to score. In most cases, expect that kind of foul to draw a Flagrant Level 2, which is two free throws, possession of the ball and the defender being ejected.”
The league is concerned with the amount of free throws being shot each game which slows it down. They want every game play in a little over two hours and so by cutting down on fouls, it’ll speed up the game.
The league sounds conflicted
So does this chris paul debacle kill the season with a players strike as a protest?
@f5alcon definitely would be an interesting twist. Owners lock players out to save money and achieve "competitive balance", end lockout, immediately begin instilling competitive imbalance, and the players strike back with a work stoppage of their own. Won't happen, but would make for a heckuva storyline.
Chris_Broussard twitter: "Nets have emerged as No. 1 choice for Dwight Howard, multiple sources say. D12 is expected to ask Magic to trade him to NJ."
Yes!!! Anywhere but the Lakers or any Western Conference team for that matter.
@Daniel Hawaii So we will see Lopez in the Christmas game.It is not a good news for those men who buy the tickets
it will be a free win, i will take it.
@shiki It's good news if those who buy the tickets would like to enjoy watching the Thunder win their season opener.
Very interesting. Read Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert's entire email to David Stern asking him to kill the deal:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-nba_dan_gilbert_email_lakers_hornets_trade_120811
he has a point, with the salaries, i hadnt even thought about that, but i still thinks it makes them a worse team.
@f5alcon I still don't see a problem. The Lakers take a step backwards but get a big time building block and save lots of money (although still over the cap), the Rockets get the big man they've been begging for, and the Hornets get enough pieces to still be very good. I say make the Lakers throw in a draft pick or two if you're worried about fairness (maybe to Houston because they sure get the short end of the deal in this one), and proceed as planned. The blocking of a trade because it's "too good" is a stupid precedent to set, even if it is by a league owned team.
wowzers. I leave for four hours and the NBA turns into a communist country
If I were Dell Demps, I'd just throw my hands in the air and say F it. I did my best. I got 4 potential starters and 2 future picks in a great deal and I'm not going to do any better than that. So F it. Whatever happens from here on out is on the NBA, not on me.
Chris Mannix on Twitter: "Not sure Paul, NBPA have any legal recourse. NBA owns the team. They can veto any deal, like any other owner."
Regardless of how long it takes, it seems clear that CP3 and D12 will end up playing for either the knicks, lakers, or bulls. So when that happens and you look at ESPN's player rankings, that would put 13 of the 15 best players on one of the 8 richest teams (NY, LA, CHI, BOS, HOU, DAL, MIA, PHX, as ranked by Forbes). The other 2 play for us, the 18th team in Forbes rankings. It's hard not to be incredibly thankful when Durant tweet's stuff like 'I'm okc til they don't want me.' We really do have something special here. You gotta love that while all the free agency/trade chaos is going on, presti has the thunder quietly practicing in our new building.
@okLAhoma Excellent insights here. Kudos!
@okLAhoma _ Amen. When I heard the CP3 to the Lakers talk I thought it sounded like a desperate move by a team otherwise headed to also ran status.
I know this is a bit technical, but how can the league office block a trade when free agency doesn't start until tomorrow?
@easto9 The league office blocked the trade while acting as the owners of the Hornets. They own the Hornets, so they can do whatever they want when it comes to the Hornets. If this trade involved any other teams other than the Hornets, the NBA wouldn't have been able to do anything.
@easto9 I imagine it's a matter of informing the parties involved that the trade will be block. Not trying to be glib, but why would it be any more complicated than that?
@easto9 *blocked.
I like the new commenting system. Still wish I had an edit button though :)
@SammyThunderer Do what I do. Copy your comment, delete your post and re-post with the error corrected!
Now there are rumors that it was the league office that blocked the trade not the league owners.
@[censored] The league office blocked the trade BECAUSE the league owners asked it to. The only reason this is possible is because the NBA owns the Hornets. It's akin to Clay Bennett telling Sam Presti to kill a trade. Stern and the NBA owns the Hornets, so they can tell their GM to kill a deal.
@Daniel Hawaii Yes I know but it's just a weird statement to make IMO... sounds like damage control.
@[censored]@Daniel Hawaii It's definitely damage control, but I am not sure their reasoning for vetoing the trade. No one was getting robbed in the deal...
@[censored] How much do you believe that? Cause I'm on the 0 percent.
@[censored] any idea what "basketball reasons" means?
So is this going to be a habit now. Letting all the other owners and David Stern to run your team? What about the Miami deal with the big 3? Should that have happened? This is ridiculous
@OkcBaby
The difference is the Hornets actually ARE run by the Stern and the NBA! The Heat were not. As owners, technically, the NBA can do whatever they want when it comes to anything Hornets-related.
@OkcBaby lebron and bosh were both acquired in free agency...a more valid argument would be the carmelo trade
@OBoy@OkcBaby
Technically it was a sign and trade
Darnell just tweeted that Nate Robinson will not be on the Thunder this year. Don't know yet how the Thunder will let him go (amnesty, buyout, trade, etc.) but he won't be attending camp.
Now as for the CP3 dead deal, I'm so pissed. This trade was actually fair for all sides. I really wanted to play the Lakers without Gasol and Odom. Now they have all their size back. This sucks. Screw those owners who asked Stern to kill the deal. The Lakers would've been worse after this deal.
Darnell is reporting that Nate Robinson is going to be waived. What does that do to our cap space?
@dantheman Im just glad they are working with Nate to find a good team for him, unlike some other teams that would hold on to him or trade him to any team with the best offer.
@dantheman Not waived. Not yet at least. Just not on the team. Trying to work on a buyout right now, but could be traded or amnestied if not buyout is agreed to (unlikely)
Wonder how much Richard Jefferson will get from someone, I'd take a look at him if it's cheap.
doesnt hurt to make a bid, the downside is that it is for the length of his current deal, so it would cut into the first year of harden/ibaka extension, i might offer 3 mm but i would think somebody like was who needs to hit the salary floor might offer more.
@[censored] Was he amnestied?
@SammyThunderer@[censored] I heard that he was earlier.
Well then. That was fun. Moving along... RT @WojYahooNBA: The NBA has killed the proposed deal to send Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources tell Yahoo! Sports.
@SammyThunderer The reason some owners complained to Stern and got him to kill the deal was not because it was an unfair trade, per se. Certain owners complained about it because the Hornets are effectively co-owned by the other 29 owners (the NBA took over the team last year from George Shinn) and one of the major points of division in the lockout was that large-market teams should not be able to swoop in and take players from small-market teams simply because they can afford to pay them more.
@courtsense Also, this: RT @freemaneric: Guys, 29 teams do not own the Hornets. The league controls them and has appointed people to run them.
@SammyThunderer But apparently, the NBA still has final say in anything the Hornets do. If today wasn't proof of that, I don't know what is.
@courtsense But the deal was fair. By some analyses, biased in the Hornets favor, even. And where do you draw the line now? Check out @rohan_cruyff 's timeline, he's been on fire for a while. Are the Hornets allowed to sign RFAs? Are they allowed to match an offer sheet for David West? If the Hornets trade Chris Paul to some other team, the Lakers get hosed. If they're forced to let him go in FA, the Hornets get hosed. It's just a world of s___ the league just stepped into. By all accounts, Dell Demps was running that team autonomously until now.
@SammyThunderer What a joke. Seriously.
@SammyThunderer Hornets need a buyer ASAP. I think this screws the Hornets more than anything... will they get more for CP3 before he bolts?
@[censored] This tweet from Rohan is perfect: where do you draw the line? if you can't trade chris paul, can you go out and make an offer to an RFA? huge can of worms unleashed
@SammyThunderer Just heard that Paul refuses to report to Hornets training camp.
@[censored] It's really effed. Forcing the team to basically let CP3 go to FA for no return strikes me as really wrong. I can't imagine the owners would have thrown the same fit if, say, GS were the trade partner.
@Loud City Jimmy@SammyThunderer@[censored] It just makes no sense. Lakers would have no pf, a weak bench, and very little chance at Howard. I don't understand what there is to be mad about
@SammyThunderer@[censored] No...it's definitely because it's the Lakers. They must have reason to think that they were going to be able to get Howard too. Only thing I can figure, because the trade wasn't unbelievably lopsided.