NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on SiriusXM radio on Sunday that, while he doesn't like intentional fouling aesthetically, he wants to be careful when it comes to making rule changes. Silver made it clear that, despite recent calls for reform on the hack-a-whoever strategy due to its increased frequency, the league won't rush into anything.
Adam Silver told us he has received e-mails from youth coaches begging him not to take away Hack-a-Shaq. They want kids 2 learn 2 shoot FTs.
— Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) May 3, 2015
Here are Silver's full comments from SiriusXM Bleacher Report Radio:
"I’ve learned over all my years in this business, too, to not necessarily trust my gut but to go to the data. For example, it may seem, just purely on the point of basketball as an entertainment product, before you get to the game itself, knee-jerk may be this is terribly boring, people are turning the channel. And I even said that the other day, talking to the AP sports writers, that group that came in — I was saying, 'Yeah, I can feel that people are changing the channel.' And a few people came back to me and said, 'Not so fast. You can actually look at the data, Nielson data is minute-by-minute.' In fact, when we looked at the data, it’s not so clear that people are turning the channel. In some cases, people are fascinated by the strategy. I’m not saying that to be the final answer, but just looking at it as an entertainment matter, we should make sure we look at the data to see if people truly are tuning out because of a hack-a-Shaq strategy.
"Next, from a basketball standpoint, and this is one where I really I am torn, I mean, I don’t like it. Aesthetically, it’s not good, I think, for a fan to watch it. Even though I find the strategy fascinating. On the other hand, when we raised it — and I’ve said this before — the last time we discussed it as our board meeting several years ago, I remember Michael Jordan was at that meeting, Larry Bird was at that meeting, and the greats who were there, their reaction was, ‘Guys gotta make their free throws.’ And, ‘It’s sending all the wrong messages to youth basketball.’ And even in terms of fundamentals of our game, somehow this has been the case from early days of the NBA.
"Rod Thorn recently told the story about how he was sent out as a young player to foul Wilt Chamberlain ‘cause everybody knew — same issue back then, the strategy wasn’t used the same way but people knew Wilt couldn’t make his free throws. And so it’s nothing new in the league, and once again, I’m not saying we shouldn’t make the change but I think we gotta be really careful on how we go about doing it. And I get a ton of emails from people involved in youth basketball saying, ‘Please don’t make the change.’
"I just think that all the factors you raised in terms of the length of the games, the entertainment value, some of those, we gotta look at the data. Everybody’s into analytics these days and, rather than just saying, ‘Oh, it must be boring for fans, they must be turning the channel,’ it’s not necessarily the case. And personally I do find it a fascinating strategy in certain cases, the way Pop has used it and other great coaches, deciding when to foul. And then next, I think we do have to look in terms of what’s in the best interest of the game, so it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make changes. You just gotta be very cautious about the way you do it."
Silver has previously said he's "on the fence" about the issue. As the commissioner, that position makes sense right now. The most you can ask of him is that he acknowledges that this needs to be examined, which he's done. He's also said that general manager will discuss it at their upcoming meeting, as will the competition committee. It's his job to let the process play out rather than prescribing a fix during the playoffs.
A few thoughts:
1. We could be overthinking this. If it's bad for the game aesthetically, which it is, that is reason enough to make a change. The NBA should want the best product possible, and it doesn't need boatloads of data to support the idea that watching poor free throw shooters go to the line over and over is worse than watching the normal flow of a basketball game.
2. A rule change wouldn't mean that free throws will suddenly be unimportant. It's not like we're discussing banning them -- there has been talk of making all trips to the line one shot -- and it's not as if guys like DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard are missing because of lack of practice. People in youth basketball might be asking for things to stay the same, but it's a stretch to say that this will have a major effect on how kids approach fundamentals.
3. It's dangerous to lean too much on what former players think, and it's irrelevant that Wilt Chamberlain was intentionally fouled. Silver has long been described as a forward-thinking commissioner, and it's a good thing that he's willing to explore ways to make the game better today. He's the sort of person who generally doesn't want things to stay the same just because that's the way they've always been, so I'd be surprised if he continues to let this stuff get in the way of real basketball.
4. Let's look at what San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said about this on Saturday:
Pop was asked, again, if he'd like to see Hack-A-Whoever rules changed next season. His answer was basically a maybe. pic.twitter.com/gRqOYS8dl1
— Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) May 2, 2015
Sounds like he wouldn't exactly be angry if a change was made.
