NBA Finally Ready To Make Rule Change On Hack-A-Player

[Don Tommy]

Where did the goal tending rule come from? Why is the lane the way it is? Because the NBA, very early on, noticed that ONE PLAYER was dominating too much of the game. There have been rule changes before that were based on a single player. Intentional fouling has ruined the game for me.

Going back to baseball, if Giancarlo Stanton or some other big hitter is up to bat and first base is open, the opposing team may choose to intentionally walk him. Or, they can throw at him and give him first base like that.

In basketball terms, a bad FT shooter can be hacked away from the ball, stopping play before it evens starts, or he can be fouled as soon as he is touching the ball. The first one to me is like throwing at a player on purpose. Not part of the game at all. But now you say one of these guys is passed the ball and he is fouled right away, instead of a dunk or layup, now he has to shoot free throws. You keep the same pace of play, but you are effectively removing that player from the game. You are now playing 5 on 4 defensively because the Rockets are afraid to let Howard touch the ball. It gives you an advantage on defense and keeps the game entertaining.

[Shootdabull]

Baseball and the Designated Hitter where players hit for the pitchers who cant bat.

That's not the reason for the DH rule. Most pitchers can hit well - they tended to be the best hitters on their college teams before they got drafted.

The reason for the DH rule has more to do with injury prevention and the fact that substitutions are a one time thing in baseball - once you're out, you can't go back in. The American League wanted pitchers taken out of games for pitching reasons, not for hitting reasons.

Also, it should be noted that the DH rule applies to all pitchers. It doesn't matter if they hit like Babe Ruth, or hit like me - it's not protecting them, it's just changing how things work.[/quote]

I don't think injury prevention is the reason (from Wikipedia so it must be true) - I remember more scoring being the point:

The rationale for the designated hitter rule arose comparatively early in the history of professional baseball. It was observed that, with a few exceptions — most notably Babe Ruth, who began his career as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox — pitchers are usually selected for the quality of their pitching, not their hitting, and that most pitchers were weak hitters who had to be batted ninth in the batting order and pinch-hit for late in games when their team was trailing. The designated hitter idea was raised by Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack in 1906,[63] though he was not the first to propose it. The rumors were that he grew weary of watching Eddie Plank and Charles Bender flail at pitches when at bat. Mack's proposal received little support and was even lambasted by the press as "wrong theoretically". The notion did not die. In the late 1920s, National League president John Heydler made a number of attempts to introduce a 10th man designated hitter as a way to speed up the game, and almost convinced National League clubs to agree to try it during spring training in 1929.

However, momentum to implement the DH did not pick up until the pitching dominance of the late 1960s. In 1968, Denny McLain won 31 games and Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA, while Carl Yastrzemski led the American League in hitting with a .301 average. After the season, the rules were changed to lower the mound from 15 to 10 inches and change the upper limit of the strike zone from the top of a batter's shoulders to his armpits. In addition, in 1969 spring training, both the American League and National League agreed to try the designated pinch hitter (DPH), but they did not agree on the implementation. Most NL teams chose not to participate. On March 6, 1969, two games utilized the new DPH rule for the very first time. Two newly formed expansion teams, the Montreal Expos and the Kansas City Royals, would participate in one such game, and the New York Yankees and Washington Senators in the other. On March 26, 1969, Major League Baseball nixed the idea for the time being. Like other experimental baseball rule changes of the 1960s and '70s, the DH was embraced by Oakland A's owner Charlie O. Finley. On January 11, 1973, Finley and the other American League owners voted 8–4 to approve the designated hitter for a three-year trial run.

[Rek]

Nice to see that Silver will continue Stern's pattern of contorting the game to fit what they perceive to be "beneficial to the game". I see no reason to alter rules just because certain players couldn't be bothered to learn how to shoot free throws. As a coach, if you're going to knowingly put that type of player out on the floor, then the opposing coach has every right to take advantage of it.

No no.. let's coddle players that can't be bothered with fundamentals instead. Yes, that's the answer. As was already stated - way to reward failure, idiots.

[Parataxis]

That's not the reason for the DH rule. Most pitchers can hit well - they tended to be the best hitters on their college teams before they got drafted.

The reason for the DH rule has more to do with injury prevention and the fact that substitutions are a one time thing in baseball - once you're out, you can't go back in. The American League wanted pitchers taken out of games for pitching reasons, not for hitting reasons.

Also, it should be noted that the DH rule applies to all pitchers. It doesn't matter if they hit like Babe Ruth, or hit like me - it's not protecting them, it's just changing how things work.

Are you serious? Have you seen AL pitchers try to bat in any cross-league games or World Series? It's comical. Even in the NL, where pitchers are required to bat and are used to it, they are always dumped by the coaches to the bottom of the line up and switched out when the team needs a good batter.

I can guarantee you that just about any Major League pitcher can hit better than just about anybody on this board. I don't think it'd even be close.

That's not the case with Free Throws though. I'm willing to be that a good percentage of this board can shoot FTs better than Shaq, Drummond, Biyombo, etc...