My letters to the NBA front office about Hacking... share your thoughts

Greetings Rocket fans,

I share the same sentiment as many of you when it comes to opposing coaches deploying the intentional foul strategy against our poor free throw shooters. I sent the NBA an e-mail suggesting they treat intentional fouls like flops and fine NBA coaches. Their response was pretty much a "cut and paste" reply:

Thank you for contacting the National Basketball Association with your concerns about intentional fouls.

The league’s Competition Committee has investigated this issue in the past and, to this point, has decided not to change the existing rule. As the rule stands currently, when a player is intentionally fouled in the final two minutes of regulation or overtime, the offended team shoots a free throw and then is permitted to re-inbound the ball. As we do with many aspects of our game, the NBA will continue to monitor the effectiveness of this rule and our players’ oncourt actions and evaluate ways to improve the overall experience for everyone participating in or watching a game.

Thank you again for your feedback and interest in the NBA.​

To which I replied,

Not to sound skeptical, but it seems as this message is an 'auto reply' to e-mails regarding the intentional foul situation, and quite honestly it seems like my suggestion was not addressed. Although I do have an issue with the fouling, my request did not have anything to do with how the fouls are given, or the regulation by which the fouls are enforced. As I stated in the previous e-mail, intentional fouls are synonymous with flops. NBA players will draw fouls, and referees cannot stop that, nor can referees stop hacking from occurring. The change I am suggesting to implement comes as a 'Front Office Review' amendment, similar to reviews of flagrant fouls, flops, and even the evaluation of the final 2 minutes of NBA officiating in games played. So, just to restate my suggestion, coaches who implement intentional foul strategies, aka "Hack - a - [insert poor foul shooter's name]", should be penalized and fined by the NBA in a similar or perhaps more strict manner as fines for players who commit egregious Flop fouls. Hopefully the issue can be brought to light. Thank you for your time and consideration.