NBA Reform: In What Ways Would You Improve the NBA (2024)?

[threrf23]

Coach's Challenge – If upheld, Team keeps Challenge(s). (2 initially. Expandable to 4.)- absolute no brainer

Don't want to slow the game down too much, though. Maybe a good middle ground would be unlimited challenges - until a challenge is lost - so each team is only guaranteed 1 challenge per game. A dedicated reply official can help increase efficiency as well.

Expand League – To at least 32 Teams- there's certainly enough interest/demand from fans/cities, but realistically there's not enough top level talent to stock that size of a league. Superteams will still reign supreme and tanking will still be all too prevalent. More money to go around could mean less superteams or it could just dilute the talent pool so much more that there is no chance to compete with them, not really sure which way it would swing. If you combine it with reducing the draft age and trying to lure more Euro talent, then maybe net/net you end up with a more interesting product.

IMO expand rosters instead of expanding the league, use the extra roster spots to encourage the utilization of depth, and the development of the G League.

Widen the NBA Court – (At least 3-6 ft, in width and length.)- I'd rather see more attempts to make it easier to play defense and see how that impacts play prior to changing court dimensions. I'm not opposed to it in the long-term but I feel like it's a more drastic measure than changing zone defense/lane violations/shooter initiated fouls, which should be explored first.

Extra space and spacing would add to the game independent of style of play, IMO

[Parliament10]

Reform Shooter Initiated Fouls – to be Offensive Fouls.

This should be absolute first priority for the league. Probably needs to be slightly more nuanced than this but the main objective needs to be reducing free throws and increasing pace of play. I am so tired of games getting mired down into free throw shooting contests. It slows the game down massively, it's boring and I hate it.

Specifically they need to completely remove the foul created by jumping into a defender and throwing up a "shot" that is completely disingenuous. No one wants to see that. Doesn't need to be turned into an offensive foul, simply don't call anything and let play continue. It'll speed up the game and encourage guys to make better basketball plays. You get a guy up in the air by falling for a pump fake? Great, now use that as an opportunity to drive to the basket or take a side-step and shoot an open jumper. Don't reward it with free throws.

Secondarily, I'd like to see them dramatically reduce the number of fouls called from ball handlers going into the body of a defender and then going up for a shot to get the foul called. This one I feel like is a little trickier because I don't want defenders to get rewarded for not staying square and bumping a guy driving the lane, but at the same time it's become far too regular an occurrence for guys to hunt the free throws by going into the body with their secondary objective of making the layup/floater. I want to incentivise that to be flipped. Reducing those whistles will keep the game going, reduce the number of free throws and create a better product.

I mean seriously, does anyone actually want to see this many free throws? Does anyone enjoy watching guys fling up bullsh*t shots while jumping into a defender or trying to give themselves whiplash after initiating contact in the lane rather than trying to actually get a bucket?

These seem like easy wins:

Coach's Challenge – If upheld, Team keeps Challenge(s). (2 initially. Expandable to 4.)- absolute no brainer

Draft Age – Change to 18- appreciate concerns vet players would have over this, but I think you can easily mitigate this by adding in an extra roster spot for teams or expanding to 32 teams. I just hate the forced NCAA pipeline, it's ridiculous and needs to be ended. Invest in the G-League please.

Increase the number of Referees. (I.e: 4 On-Court. 1 on Replays. 1 In-Training [from G-League].)- specifically the replay referee. Replays slow things down too much, this is an easy solution. Put a 90 second timer on it, if it's not discernible within that time then the call on the floor stands.

On the fence about:

Expand League – To at least 32 Teams- there's certainly enough interest/demand from fans/cities, but realistically there's not enough top level talent to stock that size of a league. Superteams will still reign supreme and tanking will still be all too prevalent. More money to go around could mean less superteams or it could just dilute the talent pool so much more that there is no chance to compete with them, not really sure which way it would swing. If you combine it with reducing the draft age and trying to lure more Euro talent, then maybe net/net you end up with a more interesting product.

Staunchly against:

Eliminate Back-to-Backs- I'm fine with load management. I don't think stars need to play every game. This provides advantages to teams with good depth in terms of playoff standings and gives more developmental opportunities for guys at the end of the bench.

Widen the NBA Court – (At least 3-6 ft, in width and length.)- I'd rather see more attempts to make it easier to play defense and see how that impacts play prior to changing court dimensions. I'm not opposed to it in the long-term but I feel like it's a more drastic measure than changing zone defense/lane violations/shooter initiated fouls, which should be explored first.

Love all of the G-League reforms. So much more money/thought should be invested in the G-League. It's such a great opportunity for the NBA that's being underutilized. Would love to see more talent stolen from the NCAA and Europe which would drastically improve the product and that'll start the ball rolling in terms of getting the most out of it.

These answers are really Great. Very Thorough.
Thank You for adding to this Thread.

[Parliament10]

Little by little, the NBA is starting to adopt some of these Reforms.:

Coach's Challenge increased by 1 = Need to go to 2 Full Challenge's, increased to 4, if Won.
Two-Way Contracts increased to 3 = Need to go to 5.

[zoyathedestroya]

Let the Celtics win more titles. It will be good for the NBA.

[Parliament10]

I thought that the whole December Start was a good experiment. As the NBA wanted to get out of the NFL's background.
I'd be all for a protracted Preseason; and also adding a month to the Regular Season. Eliminate Back-to-Backs altogether.

[ryan in Maine]

I should be vetting these cheerleaders.

[Curmudgeon]

They should go back to two officials, not increase to four. The less the officials see, the better it is for the flow of the game. Let the players play.

[Gant]

1. The NBA has become too three-oriented. Moving back the three point line would encourage more diversified offenses. Maybe do this by widening the court, or eliminate the corner 3 and move the rest of the line back a bit.

2. Ads are weeds that have grown into the garden. Ads on the uniforms, superimposed cgi ads on the court, ads on every surface, and spoken regularly during play by play. There's a place for ads, and places where they shouldn't be. Greed has eclipsed the game.

3. The outdated delivery system for the NBA is based on having cable or a cable clone streaming service. Decouple the games from mandated channels by selling direct as well as going to OTA broadcasts the way the Phoenix Suns are doing. As an alternative to the obsolete channel system, sell the games, in market and out, directly to those who don't want cable, in flexible consumer friendly ways.

Cable is dying. Direct delivery will happen. It's inevitable.


Oh and don't expand the league. There might be enough talent to do it, but rivalries are based on playing teams several times a year. More teams diminishes this.

[Celts17Pride]

Kick the Lakers out of the league.

[Spin Move]

The way charges are being called needs to be changed, IE the whole block charge thing.

[Parliament10]

I have no issue with load management or back to backs; coaches just shouldn't feel pressured to play their starters every game. There are backups and end of bench players longing for a chance to show what they can do, fans longing for a chance to see their binkies play, and the only other alternative is fewer games. In other words, starters play fewer games, but the team doesn't play fewer games, and depth becomes more important when it comes to playoff positioning.

I would bring back the old preseason format; fewer preseason games consistently seems to correlate with more injuries.

I agree there should be a dedicated replay official per game. Common sense.

I would very much support a wider if not slightly longer court. Today's athletes are not the same as yesterday's and the court should be redesigned to better accomodate them.

I would support discouraging players from unnaturally attempting to draw fouls on offense.

I like these ideas.:
Load Management = Play more Bench Players. Why have 15 players (18 w/Two-Ways) on a team, if you're not playing them?
Back-to-Backs = I Still feel they need to be eliminated. They don't work in today's NBA.
Preseason = Lengthen it. Give more time to get in shape. Especially time for the Fringe Players.
Court Size = longer and Wider Courts. Most Players are in the 6 - 7 ft range these days.

[hickfromfrenchlick]

The way charges are being called needs to be changed, IE the whole block charge thing.

And now that Marcus is gone, my position is that they should throw floppers in jail. In all seriousness, I hate flopping. It's dangerous and it sucks.

[celticfan42487]

Franchise tag so players can't demand trades in the middle of max contracts to a single team like we often see and it allows GMs to be GMs and players to be players again as the balance of power will be how it's supposed to be.

A NFL or even stronger than that Franchise Tag does everything "max" contracts are supposed to do but they never actually do because of the law of diminishing returns on NBA salaries was passed a LONG time ago.

And most importantly a Franchise Tag would bring back General Managers to having an key role in the success of their franchise even if they aren't in New York, FL, or CA again as a team.

That's the #1 issue because that would resolve a lot of the biggest issues that cause the largest amount of resentments among core fans and players.


Secondly would just to allow physicality. Hand checking would be allowed on defense and not a foul so player's size can matter again, and when it comes to foul just go back to "who initialized contact" mattering for defensive fouls on drives. Just like they call it in Europe and used to in the NBA. Fouls will still be fouls but the BS offense that is Embiid's entire career would stop. As well as making small PGs unstoppable because they can just jump into guys.

[BigTrade92]

#1: Move the 3 point line back slightly, in an effort to increase difficulty.
- Think this one is obvious. Shot has become too easy now and the abundance of 3s being shot nightly spams the game to unwatchable levels at times.


#2: Remove the Technical Foul, or at the very least, remove the free throw shot award.
- There’s no reason games should be decided by emotional referees reacting to emotional players/coaches, most of the time, when the game isn’t even in play. Have the techs be strictly a monetary deduction, but something substantial that it prevents players/coaches from continually complaining or getting out of line.

For a team to lose by a point, all because a player reacted to a bad call back in the first quarter is just nonsense and makes the league look rigged at times, especially now with all the gambling tie-ins and the well-documented shady past.

[Curmudgeon]

#1: Move the 3 point line back slightly, in an effort to increase difficulty.
- Think this one is obvious. Shot has become too easy now and the abundance of 3s being shot nightly spams the game to unwatchable levels at times.


#2: Remove the Technical Foul, or at the very least, remove the free throw shot award.
- There’s no reason games should be decided by emotional referees reacting to emotional players/coaches, most of the time, when the game isn’t even in play. Have the techs be strictly a monetary deduction, but something substantial that it prevents players/coaches from continually complaining or getting out of line.

For a team to lose by a point, all because a player reacted to a bad call back in the first quarter is just nonsense and makes the league look rigged at times, especially now with all the gambling tie-ins and the well-documented shady past.

I like these changes. The corner 3 is too easy. Eliminate it or widen the court.
But what I'd really like to see is the NBA adopting FIBA rules, except for four 12-minute quarters and a longer 3 point line. The wider foul lanes and the ability to play all zones force teams to run rather than slow it down. I also think the NBA rules on charging vs blocking are FUBAR and make it much too easy for the offensive player.

[ThePigeon]

1. Give the Celtics a few more banners
1.1 Widen the NBA Court – (At least 3-6 ft, in width and length.) AND move the 3 point line back by the same width-length added. Make basketball great again
2. punish load management. Fans want to see the stars paly. If there is no star (with bogus injury, or played less than 10-15 minutes in such a game) - punish

And a bunch more of these great suggestions (back to back elimination, less regular season games etc).

[cl2117]

Priority number one still needs to be reducing fouls and increasing pace/flow of play.

Get rid of shooter initiated fouls, make it a no-call play on. That'd include foul calls when ball handlers go into the body of defenders to create contact (regardless of whether the defender is in position). It'll slowly work it's way out of the league if the whistles stop coming and it becomes a turnover. The risk will no longer be worth the reward, pace of play will pick up and trips to the free throw line decrease massively. Overall it will be such a better game to watch.

I actually think it's a fairly easy transition as well because the whole thing hinges on who initiated the contact rather than trying to police flops. Offensive players can still initiate contact but it's up to them to be able to finish the play rather than waiting for a bailout whistle. Defenders now have massively increased ability to challenge shots/protect the lane.

[Parliament10]

#1: Move the 3 point line back slightly, in an effort to increase difficulty.
- Think this one is obvious. Shot has become too easy now and the abundance of 3s being shot nightly spams the game to unwatchable levels at times.


#2: Remove the Technical Foul, or at the very least, remove the free throw shot award.
- There’s no reason games should be decided by emotional referees reacting to emotional players/coaches, most of the time, when the game isn’t even in play. Have the techs be strictly a monetary deduction, but something substantial that it prevents players/coaches from continually complaining or getting out of line.

For a team to lose by a point, all because a player reacted to a bad call back in the first quarter is just nonsense and makes the league look rigged at times, especially now with all the gambling tie-ins and the well-documented shady past.

I like these changes. The corner 3 is too easy. Eliminate it or widen the court.
But what I'd really like to see is the NBA adopting FIBA rules, except for four 12-minute quarters and a longer 3 point line. The wider foul lanes and the ability to play all zones force teams to run rather than slow it down. I also think the NBA rules on charging vs blocking are FUBAR and make it much too easy for the offensive player.

Technical Foul might be something to really review. At the very least, add a 3rd Tech Before you get booted out of the Arena.
The corner 3, is ridiculous. It's an Art not to step out of bounds. They absolutely need to widen and lengthen the court.

[Parliament10]

Priority number one still needs to be reducing fouls and increasing pace/flow of play.

Get rid of shooter initiated fouls, make it a no-call play on. That'd include foul calls when ball handlers go into the body of defenders to create contact (regardless of whether the defender is in position). It'll slowly work it's way out of the league if the whistles stop coming and it becomes a turnover. The risk will no longer be worth the reward, pace of play will pick up and trips to the free throw line decrease massively. Overall it will be such a better game to watch.

I actually think it's a fairly easy transition as well because the whole thing hinges on who initiated the contact rather than trying to police flops. Offensive players can still initiate contact but it's up to them to be able to finish the play rather than waiting for a bailout whistle. Defenders now have massively increased ability to challenge shots/protect the lane.

I think that they're doing that this year? I'm not exactly sure, with the wording of the New Rule.

[LenBiasRIP]

Didn't see it as an option but I would vote for:

- Force LeBald James, Durant and Kyrie to retire.

I'm counting the days! Lol