Should the NBA bring Back handchecking

[Blazers-1977]

I say yes as currently the rules benefit offensive players so much that it is not funny. Like currently you are not even allowed to touch a player which allows quicker , players with good ball handling to easily get open shots. While I dont believe the NBA should allow teams to be as physical as the Bad Boy Pistons were , they need to allow some physicality .


So here are some rule changes I would propose:

Hand checking is only illegal when the player is 6-20 feet away from the basket.

If an offensive player intentionally bumps into a defensive player that is no longer a block foul, but it wont be a charging foul either .

[Gus Fring]

Imagine Kawhi Leonard being able to hand check opposing players.

[likashing]

All the hands and arms Harden able to hook into and draw fouls, wouldn't have happened if the refs are really enforcing the no hand-check rule.

Watch the games tonight, and pay attention how guards like IT and especially Curry have defenders putting their hand in their bodies, and all the grabbing and holding.

I have watched the NBA for 30 years, and hand-checking is more strict now. But many really have a misunderstanding of either a) hand-checking was a huge advantage back then and b) there is absolutely no hand-checking and no grabbing nowadays.

Go watch a playoff game in the 90s, they are all over youtube. It is not much more physical than today's NBA. A tiny bit, maybe, but it wasn't like what you think it was.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

Imagine Kawhi Leonard being able to hand check opposing players.

It wouldn't help Kawhi that much, he's already got incredible lateral quickness. What it would do is allow slower footed wings to stop guys they wouldn't normally be able to stop, which slows the game down tremendously.

[JoeyLightYears]

If they aren't going to adjust the 3 point line, then they should bring back hand-checking. I don't understand your caveat about it not applying far from the basket though.. that's where it is needed the most. The league changed the rules to get away from the awful knicks/pistons basketball in last 90s/early 00s, but IMO it is just as bad now, just in the opposite way. I think a lot of casual fans like shooting exhibitions but to me it's not really exciting when you see it every single game. Also, it's a shame when a guy like LaMarcus Aldridge is considered "obsolete" because he doesn't shoot threes despite having such a fluid post game. Makes you wonder if McHale would just be a scrub in today's game. For shame.

[Blazers-1977]

Imagine Kawhi Leonard being able to hand check opposing players.

It wouldn't help Kawhi that much, he's already got incredible lateral quickness. What it would do is allow slower footed wings to stop guys they wouldn't normally be able to stop, which slows the game down tremendously.

Hand checking would hurt players like Curry and Harden for Sure but players who are very skilled like Lebron, Durant , and Westbrook still would be unstoppable . Jordan, Malone , Shaq, Kobe, Iverson were still amazing scorers in that era

[Warriorfan]

Offensive basketball it was sells. Hand checking wouldn't really hurt the top faster paced offensive squads.

[jswede]

Imagine Kawhi Leonard being able to hand check opposing players.

It wouldn't help Kawhi that much, he's already got incredible lateral quickness. What it would do is allow slower footed wings to stop guys they wouldn't normally be able to stop, which slows the game down tremendously.

Hand checking would hurt players like Curry and Harden for Sure but players who are very skilled like Lebron, Durant , and Westbrook still would be unstoppable . Jordan, Malone , Shaq, Kobe, Iverson were still amazing scorers in that era

Agree. More powerful guys would see a benefit to their offensive game - LeBron, Westbrook, Kawhi. Might be tough for IT and Kyrie etc.

[-Sammy-]

I'm one of the only people I know who LOVED the late-80s-to-mid-90s-Pistons-Knicks-slowdown-grind NBA, so I'm a huge proponent of this.

[Blazers-1977]

If they aren't going to adjust the 3 point line, then they should bring back hand-checking. I don't understand your caveat about it not applying far from the basket though.. that's where it is needed the most. The league changed the rules to get away from the awful knicks/pistons basketball in last 90s/early 00s, but IMO it is just as bad now, just in the opposite way. I think a lot of casual fans like shooting exhibitions but to me it's not really exciting when you see it every single game. Also, it's a shame when a guy like LaMarcus Aldridge is considered "obsolete" because he doesn't shoot threes despite having such a fluid post game. Makes you wonder if McHale would just be a scrub in today's game. For shame.

The caveat was it doenst apply from 20 feet- to 5 feet. So it would still apply behind the 3 point line and in the paint.


Yes the Bad Boy pistons changed the game so much that the league average for points per game went from 109 in 1989 to 93.4 in 2004 and yes that is a huge drop but since the 04 rule changes it has skyrocketed back to 105.6 PPG. For me I liked mid 2000s- early 10s NBA where the average score was in the upper 90s.

[LivingLegend]

They essentially allow handchecking in NCAA and it makes for much more tough and physical games and gets rid of all the ticky tack annoyingness that makes fans want to pull their hair out while watching guys like Lowry/IT/Harden. I personally enjoy NCAA physicality and it would add anther layer to this 'chuck 3s or die tryin' thing the NBA is in the middle of.

[Winsome Gerbil]

The thing is, that not only did making handchecking illegal give a huge boost to the offense, it gave a huge boost to one particular style of player/offense. It is a major factor in the way the game has gotten so skewed now. Watch what gets called a "foul" on the perimeter, then watch the physical action inside where it's a full on sumo wrestling match with bodies getting bounced all over as guys try to establish position. Big guys must be going WTH? If you want to make the entire league into some sort of pansy two hand touch parody, that's one thing. But to only do it for a certain subset of players at a certain subset of the overall court is outcome determinative. Of COURSE some quick squirty little guy can score more "efficiently" than your big guy -- nobody is allowed to breathe on the quick little guy, while the big guy has to endure a mugging that would be illegal in 49 states just to get post position.

[Starboy]

Yes. All the best defenders already do it and get away with it due to their reputation. I don't want the refs to pick and choose who can handcheck anymore.

[Warriorfan]

Imagine Kawhi Leonard being able to hand check opposing players.

It wouldn't help Kawhi that much, he's already got incredible lateral quickness. What it would do is allow slower footed wings to stop guys they wouldn't normally be able to stop, which slows the game down tremendously.

Hand checking would hurt players like Curry and Harden for Sure but players who are very skilled like Lebron, Durant , and Westbrook still would be unstoppable . Jordan, Malone , Shaq, Kobe, Iverson were still amazing scorers in that era

The book on Curry has been to be physical on him for a few years but his game has gone up. Hand checking will be difficult strategy if Curry is 24 feet plus from the basket. It would create more spacing.

Hand checking would help the already tough GS small ball defense . Warriors focus on player with arm length and functional strength to defend bigger NBA players.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/stephen-curry-can-deadlift-400-pounds/


Harden wold get even more trips to the line if defenders are sticking their arms out defend.

[ProfessorJM]

The far bigger problem is really looking at how fouls are being called outside the three point line and how fouls are now sometimes a real offensive versus trying to actually score. Allowing a little more hand checking might help on this front if it is called well and consistently.

[Blazers-1977]

It wouldn't help Kawhi that much, he's already got incredible lateral quickness. What it would do is allow slower footed wings to stop guys they wouldn't normally be able to stop, which slows the game down tremendously.

Hand checking would hurt players like Curry and Harden for Sure but players who are very skilled like Lebron, Durant , and Westbrook still would be unstoppable . Jordan, Malone , Shaq, Kobe, Iverson were still amazing scorers in that era

The book on Curry has been to be physical on him for a few years but his game has gone up. Hand checking will be difficult strategy if Curry is 24 feet plus from the basket. It would create more spacing.

Hand checking would help the already tough GS small ball defense .

Harden wold get even more trips to the line if defenders are sticking their arms out defend.

But would curry able to shoot the 3 if he was being handchecked the entire time while he is driving the ball

[Clyde Frazier]

Hand checking isn't the problem, this is the problem:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1555582&p=54776896&hilit=Flailing#p54776896

[Warriorfan]

Hand checking would hurt players like Curry and Harden for Sure but players who are very skilled like Lebron, Durant , and Westbrook still would be unstoppable . Jordan, Malone , Shaq, Kobe, Iverson were still amazing scorers in that era

The book on Curry has been to be physical on him for a few years but his game has gone up. Hand checking will be difficult strategy if Curry is 24 feet plus from the basket. It would create more spacing.

Hand checking would help the already tough GS small ball defense .

Harden wold get even more trips to the line if defenders are sticking their arms out defend.

But would curry able to shoot the 3 if he was being handchecked the entire time while he is driving the ball

Warriors run a motion offense and lots of screens forcing teams to switch for mismatches would big be able to hand check.

It is much harder to maintain physical contact with a team like the Rockets Warriors etc.
A team like the Raptors or Cavs would be affected more.

[nolang1]

Imagine Kawhi Leonard being able to hand check opposing players.

I've always said that if handchecking had still been around when LeBron came of age, it wouldn't have been around for long after it.

But also players still handcheck from time to time and don't get called for it. It's just that handchecking requires you to press up close on someone and you can still get burned if you guess wrong or they juke you out: it was just a lot easier to get by with playing that way in the 90s when nobody was a threat to pull up off the dribble from 25 feet.

[JoeyLightYears]

Hand checking isn't the problem, this isn't the problem:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1555582&p=54776896&hilit=Flailing#p54776896

The cheap fouls are annoying for fans to watch, but the issue the OP is addressing goes far beyond that. IMO the game has turned into a farce because the top teams are taking 40+ uncontested threes a game with the rest of their shots being in the paint. This is driven, of course, by the analytics movement, where they've put together the equation that 3 > 2 when you can hit the 3 at the same rate as the 2 thanks to not being guarded. By making it harder to shoot 3s (handchecking or moving the line back), maybe we can get back to using more of the court and playing basketball on both sides. But I don't think this will happen anytime soon because most fans like high scoring games. The all-star game-- the pinnacle of our sport-- is basically a glorified game of "around the world" now.