ESPN Network: ESPN.com | RPM |  NFL.com | NBA.com | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER

  Scores
  Schedule
  Standings
  Statistics
  Transactions
  Injuries
  Players
  Message Board
  Power Rankings
  NBA en espaņol
Clubhouses






Saturday, March 31, 2001
Rule changes will promote more flow



NEW YORK – Whether it's a box-and-one, a triangle-and-two, a 2-1-2 or some other variation, zone defenses have long been a staple of college basketball. Not so in the NBA.

Though pro teams have been known to resort to quasi-zone tactics, the league's rules have never permitted zones.

That could change next season.

With scoring and TV ratings in decline as teams increasingly rely on isolation plays, the NBA Board of Governors discussed a package of changes Friday, including doing away with complicated illegal defense rules.

"This is going to a different place for the game," commissioner David Stern said. "We're trying to ensure the game will have more movement, passing and a faster pace."

The proposals: scrap the illegal defense rules; institute a defensive 3-second rule, whereby defenders would be allowed to stay in the lane for 3 seconds unless they were within arm's length of an opponents; give teams 8 seconds instead of 10 to bring the ball past midcourt; redefine incidental contact to cut down on touch fouls; and allow players to touch the ball while it is on the rim.

"I came away persuaded," deputy commissioner Russ Granik said. "You're never certain exactly what the results will be with rules changes, but it's worth taking a chance here."

The changes are meant to discourage teams from gearing offenses toward isolation plays in which a majority of a team's players stand idle on the weak side to draw defenders away from the ball.

That trend has helped fuel a decrease in points over the past decade. Teams are averaging 94.6 points, down about three points per game from last season.

"I'm all for it with some guidelines, simple guidelines. I guess it would get us to playing some basketball, have more movement of the ball and take away the isolation, or at least some of it," Dallas coach Don Nelson said.

Not everyone shares that view, though.

"I hope it never happens. That would be the worst," New York's Latrell Sprewell said. "They're worried about scoring, but if you have a zone, can you imagine a team like Miami, for instance, with Alonzo (Mourning), (Anthony) Mason and Brian Grant sitting in the paint? You'd never get a layup, and would have to shoot jumpers all day long. Guys would become better shooters, but you wouldn't have the same plays."

Phoenix Suns owner Jerry Colangelo, who headed the committee that drew up the proposals, said there would have been the necessary two-thirds support had there been a vote Friday by the representatives of the league's 29 ownership groups.

Instead, teams will have a chance to weigh the suggestions before voting in about two weeks. If approved then, the changes would take effect next season.

"They're putting all these rules in there for the fans, trying to get low scores, trying to get high scores," Celtics guard Kenny Anderson said.

"Maybe they should put the 3-point shot at the foul line."

In other developments Friday:

  • A committee of seven owners was appointed to examine Memphis' viability as an NBA city. They have 120 days, though Granik said he thought it would take half that time. The owners of the Grizzlies and Hornets asked for permission this week to relocate to Memphis for next season. "Moving the Hornets from Charlotte would not be my first personal choice," Stern said, adding that he had asked the Hornets' owners not to talk to the media "for a while. ... The only people I can gag are our owners."

    George Shinn, who owns a majority share of the Hornets, is open to selling, but minority owner Ray Wooldridge prefers to continue owning part of the team, The Charlotte Observer said Saturday. A Hornets spokesman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

  • The Board of Governors agreed to give a subsidy of up to $3 million to Canadian teams starting next season. Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley has said he'll lose $40 million this year.

  • The sale of the SuperSonics to a group of investors led by Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz was approved.

    Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
  • ALSO SEE
    NBA Board of Governors approves Sonics' sale




    ESPN.com:  HELP |  ADVERTISER INFO |  CONTACT US |  TOOLS |  SITE MAP
    Copyright ©2001 ESPN Internet Group. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information are applicable to this site. Employment opportunities at ESPN.com.