Should the NBA throw out the clear path rules?

[ManualRam]

conceptually what is the difference b/t a clear path foul and fouling a player going up for a dunk or layup? there isnt one to me. the defense should be allowed to strategically foul. make the game more balanced. the offense already has way more advantages.
i'm just not a fan of altering the game for the sake of highlights or "manufactured" points. sometimes it's smart to foul. as a counter, i'd make fouls more costly, like 5 a game so players would have to be smart about when to use a foul. i'd also allow more contact.
basically, im getting older and im shaking my fists at clouds. screw the casual fan.

The difference is that the guy going for the dunk still has a chance to make the shot so by doing that you are risking a 3 point play. He's also in the act of shooting, so it's a guaranteed 2 free throws at the very least. By just stopping a fast break, with no penalty, you might not even be giving up free throws since it's not in the act of shooting. You'd just be giving the defense time to set up and take away a free hoop.

ok? that sounds like a good foul by the defense. what's the problem? why should the offense get a free hoop?

[Nonstop]

Not to mention home cooking calls is a time honored tradition in Portland going back decades, no road team is gonna get calls there.

I've been a blazer fan since the early 90's and this is literally the first time I've ever heard this

[history]

yes

next topic

[Roscoe Sheed]

A few rules that need to change

1. Stop calling so many fouls on 3 point shooters.

Yes, I know they need to be allowed to get a shot off, but 3 point shooters are flopping more frequently. They also take advantage of the landing rule by jumping forward sometimes- making it basically illegal to guard 3 point shooters if interpreted incorrectly like this.

2. If a player has already been fouled it should be legal to foul him again to stop him making a basket on continuation. It is unfair that the basket would count but you are basically prevented from playing further defense because if you foul him it is a technical.

3. They should either allow out of bounds calls to be reviewed throughout the game or stop them outright. A possession is worth just as much at any time of the game. How nonsensical is it that you could have an incorrect call stand at the 2:01 mark but not the 2:00 mark?

4. They should widen the court to make the 3 point line further away- especially the corner 3. I really don't like how many 3 point shots there are in the modern NBA. The players have gotten too good at it- it should be moved back by a foot or two.

[Effigy]

conceptually what is the difference b/t a clear path foul and fouling a player going up for a dunk or layup? there isnt one to me. the defense should be allowed to strategically foul. make the game more balanced. the offense already has way more advantages.
i'm just not a fan of altering the game for the sake of highlights or "manufactured" points. sometimes it's smart to foul. as a counter, i'd make fouls more costly, like 5 a game so players would have to be smart about when to use a foul. i'd also allow more contact.
basically, im getting older and im shaking my fists at clouds. screw the casual fan.

The difference is that the guy going for the dunk still has a chance to make the shot so by doing that you are risking a 3 point play. He's also in the act of shooting, so it's a guaranteed 2 free throws at the very least. By just stopping a fast break, with no penalty, you might not even be giving up free throws since it's not in the act of shooting. You'd just be giving the defense time to set up and take away a free hoop.

ok? that sounds like a good foul by the defense. what's the problem? why should the offense get a free hoop?

Because fast breaks and dunks are exciting. Killing those all the time sucks.

[Kupchak9]

I would say 3 free throws is legitimate.

The first 2 are for the fact that the player may easily get a dunk or layup (2 points).

The 3rd free throw is for when coaches try to argue that their player may have shot a 3 or more fitting for And-1s.

Practically speaking though a player has to be pretty incompetent to commit blatant clear path fouls, but in any scenario 3 free throws sounds about right. 2 for the anticipated made basket, 1 for the foul.

2 free throws and possession could equate to 5 points which is quite excessive.

[Moonbeam]

Lillard wasn't in front of Ross. That's a clear path foul I know you'll never accept it cause you're a Blazers fan but that's what it is. And if it was called correctly Raps would've had a chance to tie and if not it's still a one possession game.

Kind of like I know you'll never accept it cause you're a Raptors fan???

Raptor fans are hung up on when the whistle was blown, not when the actual foul occurred. Initially Lillard was ahead of the Raptor player and that was when the foul occurred, not once the Raptor player moved ahead of Lillard. In the other case, Batum was always ahead of Vasquez so there is no doubt, even with Ross coming up in the middle of the court. He was not there yet when the foul occurred.

All of this crying about the ref's screwing the Raptors is bogus. You can go through that game and find just as many poor calls against the Blazers. The Blazers pulled it out. It happens in every game, but typically by the end of the game, the poor calls have evened out. This was just a great, frustrating game to watch with some serous intensity down the stretch. The Raptors were better than I thought and can see them making a run at the title. Congratulations!

Thunder fan here. Yall got away with alot of fouls. I don't think you guys will be gifted fts in the playoffs, so watch out. GG by both teams.

Except the Blazers are among the bottom 5 teams in free throw rate.

[jangles86]

Nearly every game there is an intentional foul on a player in a fast break which stops a near certain score. Most of the time there's no clear path foul because there's a team mate in front of them. I think the rule is pretty useless most of the time anyway.

[dozendonuts]

Lillard wasn't in front of Ross. That's a clear path foul I know you'll never accept it cause you're a Blazers fan but that's what it is. And if it was called correctly Raps would've had a chance to tie and if not it's still a one possession game.

Raptor fans are hung up on when the whistle was blown, not when the actual foul occurred. Initially Lillard was ahead of the Raptor player and that was when the foul occurred, not once the Raptor player moved ahead of Lillard. In the other case, Batum was always ahead of Vasquez so there is no doubt, even with Ross coming up in the middle of the court. He was not there yet when the foul occurred.

All of this crying about the ref's screwing the Raptors is bogus. You can go through that game and find just as many poor calls against the Blazers. The Blazers pulled it out. It happens in every game, but typically by the end of the game, the poor calls have evened out. This was just a great, frustrating game to watch with some serous intensity down the stretch. The Raptors were better than I thought and can see them making a run at the title. Congratulations!

Lillard was ahead but by the time he wrapped one arm around Ross' waist, Ross was already further ahead of him. When Vasquez fouled Batum, he was holding his arm when they were even, but the refs didn't call a foul until Batum got ahead and he grabbed his waist. I'm not saying the Blazers clear path wasn't one, but they have to be consistent about it. If the Ross foul wasn't a clear path then you can't call this one. We're talking about a moment in the game where had the right call been called on the clear path, Raps would have had a chance to tie or take the lead. That's what it comes down to, calls that change the outcome of the game. Yeah the calls were pretty bad in the game but when it most mattered, they all went against the Raptors.

Raptors lead the league in apologies on missed calls at the end of games. Lol this is nothing new to us. How many times have you guys been issued an apology for a blown call? It's just such a coincidence that it keeps happening to one team.

[dozendonuts]

Kind of like I know you'll never accept it cause you're a Raptors fan???

Raptor fans are hung up on when the whistle was blown, not when the actual foul occurred. Initially Lillard was ahead of the Raptor player and that was when the foul occurred, not once the Raptor player moved ahead of Lillard. In the other case, Batum was always ahead of Vasquez so there is no doubt, even with Ross coming up in the middle of the court. He was not there yet when the foul occurred.

All of this crying about the ref's screwing the Raptors is bogus. You can go through that game and find just as many poor calls against the Blazers. The Blazers pulled it out. It happens in every game, but typically by the end of the game, the poor calls have evened out. This was just a great, frustrating game to watch with some serous intensity down the stretch. The Raptors were better than I thought and can see them making a run at the title. Congratulations!

Thunder fan here. Yall got away with alot of fouls. I don't think you guys will be gifted fts in the playoffs, so watch out. GG by both teams.

Except the Blazers are among the bottom 5 teams in free throw rate.

Are you aware the Blazers took 36 3 pointers last night? When are you expecting to go to the free throw line shooting that many outside shots lmao

[Moonbeam]

Thunder fan here. Yall got away with alot of fouls. I don't think you guys will be gifted fts in the playoffs, so watch out. GG by both teams.

Except the Blazers are among the bottom 5 teams in free throw rate.

Are you aware the Blazers took 36 3 pointers last night? When are you expecting to go to the free throw line shooting that many outside shots lmao

Yes, I realise that Portland's 3-point affinity means they won't draw as many free throws as other teams, but they hardly are the beficiaries of a friendly whistle.

[Dubeta]

Except the Blazers are among the bottom 5 teams in free throw rate.

Are you aware the Blazers took 36 3 pointers last night? When are you expecting to go to the free throw line shooting that many outside shots lmao

Yes, I realise that Portland's 3-point affinity means they won't draw as many free throws as other teams, but they hardly are the beficiaries of a friendly whistle.

[MilotheSlayer]

They need to give the coach the option of 2 free throws and give up possession or else they can reset the shot clock to 24 and continue play. Puts a little strategy into it. Doesn't slow down the game at all either.

[AlexDelta]

nope, keep it at 2 FTs

they don't give 3 FTs for an intentional foul at the end of games even if the offensive team needs a 3 pointer to stay in the game

Well, if you commit an intentional foul it is not like your team couldn't have gotten back on defense and try to defend the basket, on a clear path foul the defending team usually does not have a chance to, well, defend it all. A clear path foul is like a professional foul in soccer, where you actually get sent off for doing it. The punishment for committing it should be as harsh as possible in my opinion.

and an intentional foul to prevent the 3 pointer isn't a professional foul?

it's the very definition of a professional foul

Nope, that would be a tactical foul, as there is still a chance to defend the scoring opportunity.

[mademan]

It's actually an interesting question and that Raps/Blazers game showed how ineffective it is. In the Ross fastbreak, Lowry was all by himself...almost guaranteeing a free 2 points. In the Batum fastbreak, while he was closer to the basket in a parallel sense, Batum was running in a diagonal and Ross wouldve got there first (at best a 3 point play, more likely a foul, perhaps none of the above).

And I dont like how subjective it is. In both plays, the defender started in front of the offensive player and both players were fouled at that time. The whistle blew for the Blazers when vasquez got behind Batum but the same call was made earlier for Ross. I think clear path fouls should only be used in the most obvious of cases where the defender starts behind the offensive player.

[Pure_Basketball]

For god sakes

- The Blazers player who committed the foul on Terrence Ross was in between Ross and the hoop ( Not a clear path foul)
- Grevis Vasquez was not inbetween Nic Batum and the basket when he committed the foul (Is a clear path foul)

I'm not sure where all this complaining is coming from, both fouls were different and were called correctly.

The Raptors had a player already stationed next to the Blazers' basket. It would have been a far easier basket than Batum's.

But that's not the rules, so it doesn't really matter there's nothing to complain about, smart foul on the Blazers part, whether or not that should be the rule is a different argument.

[dozendonuts]

Bringing this back..

In the Blazers/Heat game just now, Lillard fouled Wade on a fastbreak and Lillard was completely in front of Wade. Refs looked at the replay and in a total of 10 seconds called it a clear path since Deng was in front of Lillard and would've gotten an easy basket. How is this any different than what happened in the Blazers/Raptors game?

[monopoman]

thunder fan here. The clear path rules are generally fine with the exception of the nbas favorites (blazers).

You heard it here first folks, the Blazers the golden boys of the NBA. That's why we have won so many championships, its the damn refs getting us to the NBA Finals time and time again.

You thought they had a priority for big name teams like:

The Lakers
The Knicks
The Celtics

In reality the team that rarely gets mentioned by ESPN on nationally televised shows like Sports Center is really the golden boy of the NBA.