RealGM

It's still the off-season, so these kind of posts help fill the void of games
So, by some freak happenstance, you find yourself the Commish. of the NBA for a while, and as such you have the power to make any changes you see fit (forget the owners or board members - you are pretty much all-powerful with whatever changes you want), so what would you do while the power trip lasts?
Would you make rule changes? Schedule changes? Add or take away teams? Conference readjustments...
What would be some of the first things you would do?
I would probably go after a few quick rule changes first - like no 3 second lane violations for defenders. I think I might also try to establish more of an accountability system for refs (if after a game a review shows that certain refs are missing calls / or showing bias to one team over another a warning followed by game suspensions or something like that).

I would abolish freedom of movement rules, reinstate hand checking rules, and change 3 seconds to 5 seconds

I'll start by making Jalen Brunson the logo

1. Get rid of "defensive 3 seconds" and the freedom of movement rules, start allowing hand-checking to an extent
2. Crack down on all basic rules "traveling, double dribble, palming, etc"
3. Instate a Hard Cap on all teams
4. Change player "salary" rules to allow for contracts based on percentages not just #s (meaning LeBron can sign for 90% of the cap but then you only have 10% left to get 11+ players)
5. Change the G-League to a true minor league system such as MLB/NHL, all 12 G-Leaguers are owned by parent club (club basically gets 24 contracts to work with) and can push players to the minors or bring players up as needed

I would make FIBA rules the standard in the NBA

also the supermax is reserved for All NBA 1st and 2nd team only and requires you to make the team two times in a row to qualify aka only real superstars like Jokic, Embiid, Luka, SGA, etc. will be able to qualify.

No trade clauses are illegal

Move Lebron and Curry to Cleveland

Immediately change the lottery so that teams that win the play in have the best chance at winning the top pick on down to teams with the worst record have the worst chance. I would then bask in the praise I receive for all time for being the guy who finally fixed tanking in the NBA.

Reduce the season to 72-74 games and eliminate B2Bs, cancel ASW and move the NBA cup to this time slot.

1. Implementing the FIBA rules without the goaltending rule.
2. 72 games.
3. Moving Memphis and New Orleans to the eastern conference. Hello Seattle and Vegas.
4. Rid of these apron rules.

Give Seattle a Basketball team. Crazy that it's already 16 years of "Oh, they definitely get a team again in the future."

Officiating should be simplified
- remove defensive 3 second
- remove jump balls and use the FIBA possession rules
- clock continues to run during live play for the end of the first 3 quarters instead of stopping after made baskets. 4th quarter stays the same.
- No foul calls for when offensive player initiates contact into defender
- Dedicated remote official that is responsible for out of bounds calls, flagrant foul rulings, reviews, goaltending etc. No going to the screen, official just lets on-court officials know result. Needs to be as quick as possible.
- Related to the previous point: when it comes to possession calls, stop trying to use microscopic angles to see who touched the ball last. If it can't be determined quickly and obviously, penalize the player/team who caused the ball to go out of bounds with their momentum.

Salary cap rules
- Players drafted by their original team's contract has a 80% hit on the salary cap. As in a 30M AAV contract's cap hit is 24M. Allows for teams to more easily keep their own players.

I'd go on ESPN, look in the camera, and tell fans and players to stop whining about officials. Stop whining about the rules. Stop whining about the CBA.

Make myself the permanent Commish.

Mavrelous wrote:Reduce the season to 72-74 games and eliminate B2Bs, cancel ASW and move the NBA cup to this time slot.

That's actually a great suggestion but I doubt players would ever agree to their break being taken away from them.

Not everybody wants to go to work on their off day lol

I'd move all 30 teams to Brazil.

iLLmatic860 wrote:

Mavrelous wrote:Reduce the season to 72-74 games and eliminate B2Bs, cancel ASW and move the NBA cup to this time slot.

That's actually a great suggestion but I doubt players would ever agree to their break being taken away from them.

Not everybody wants to go to work on their off day lol

Only 4 teams make it to the semi finals and final, so 87% of the players still get their break, if they insist they can always tank the cup games

1. Get rid of the in-season tournament and force the Lakers to take down that banner. Casual fans don't give a **** about the tournament unless there are some season long implications.

2. Reduce the number of regular season games and back to backs.

3. Get rid of all-star weekend instead just give the players 3-4 days of midseason recovery time.

4. Gameplay changes: Allow more contact (hand checking), adopt FIBA goaltending rules and remove defensive three seconds, blow fewer whistles when offensive players initiate contact, and actually enforce the technicals for egregious flopping or foul baiting. Defense needs to make a comeback.

5. Unlimited coaching challenges as long as you don't lose. In the same light, there should be more accountability for refs. They should be fined or have some sort of demerit points system that leads to their suspension.

Mavrelous wrote:

iLLmatic860 wrote:

Mavrelous wrote:Reduce the season to 72-74 games and eliminate B2Bs, cancel ASW and move the NBA cup to this time slot.

That's actually a great suggestion but I doubt players would ever agree to their break being taken away from them.

Not everybody wants to go to work on their off day lol

Only 4 teams make it to the semi finals and final, so 87% of the players still get their break, if they insist they can always tank the cup games

I see what you're saying. I thought you meant have every team play lol. I forgot how the cup worked.

I hate the "take-charge" foul, so I would get rid of this first. To me, running in front of a person and holding your crotch to take a foul, is not a basketball play. The defensive player should be making a fair attempt on the ball for there to be a chance for an offensive foul.

Next I would get rid of flopping. There would be a ref team that would be responsible for analyzing flops and players would be fined/suspended after the fact if a player flopped or was a repeat flop offender.

I'm on board with shortening the season and getting rid of back to backs

I'm on board with the idea of removing the foul-out rule and adding more penalties to every foul over 6.

Next I would modify the salary cap structure, such that teams that have home-grown drafted talent, don't get penalized with crazy luxury taxes. E.g. Denver can give out maxes to their core of MPJ, Jokic and Murray (because they drafted them) and this would have no impact on going over the cap. I got this idea from Bill Simmons as I agree it sucks when teams who draft well get penalized by tax penalties.

Lastly, I'd swap some West teams with East teams to better balance the power .

everything related to officiating so far i agree with. i'd add get rid of 6 fouls ejection. penalize a different way.