A Welcome Change In The NBA

Adam Silver's league has quietly taken a significant step towards respectability

Thank you all for your support of the Basketball Bulletin! Keith and I are excited for what’s to come, and happy to add Bryce Simon’s fantastic work on the draft and game breakdowns to the Stack! If you aren’t a subscriber yet please consider upgrading! On with the show…

Everyone finds themselves off course, even if only once in a while. And sometimes, all that we need is a slight correction to set things right again. 

When I was in my early teens, I vividly remember pulling my quad while kicking a soccer ball just weeks before the season began. After a few weeks of recovery, I adjusted my swing slightly, moving the placement of my plant foot and focusing on landing on my kicking foot on my follow-through. I was able to limp through the first game then quickly got back to 100%, because that’s what teenagers do. The new kicking form stayed, a necessary adjustment that ultimately created more power on my shot. 

A small correction, out of necessity, that set me on a much-improved long-term path.

The NBA, too, has now undertaken a slight course correction, as Adam Silver and the powers that be recently instructed officials to let defensive players play a bit more, specifically curbing the number of free throws granted to players veering off course in order to create contact before shooting. 

The results have been noticeable. Since the All-Star break, play across the NBA has gotten more physical and the median number of team fouls per game has dropped by roughly two, which means that in any given game we’re seeing about four less total foul calls compared to the pre All-Star break period.