Worse strategy to play the game ever. As a fan who watches the games, you should not like the teams to play this way.
I know it is a legal play right now, and coaches are justified in exploiting whatever gives them the best chance to win, but the NBA really needs to look at this. It is easy to say, "Player X needs to be able to make free throws", but the reality is that every player has weaknesses, but currently coaches are able to disproportionally exploit this one weakness. It is kind of like if there were a way to force pitchers to bat every inning in baseball. Yes, it is true that pitchers should be able to hit, but it is not fair to make one player's relatively minor weakness dominate the game. A player who shoots free throws badly is already penalized on offense due to the fact he becomes an unreliable offensive option when he has the ball. There is no good reason to penalize him when he doesnt have the ball as well.
It's perfectly fine If you can't make the free throws at this level at an acceptable rate, then it's on you and nobody else. You deserve to be exposed at the NBA level for such atrocity. Also, we not many here complained when we used hack a Howard when he was back in LA. Ask Morey to get big men who can actually shoot the FT's or get a coach who will make the right decisions come hacking time. I'm glad Pop exposed McHale
At the end of the day, basketball is a made-up game put on TV as an entertainment product. It's rules are also made-up and arbitrary. When the current rules lead to a product that is no longer entertaining, the league will need to change the rules, just like they did with hand-checking and illegal defense.
Basketball was not made up to be put on TV as an entertainment product. The NBA and NCCA basketball however, yes you can make the argument. But it's going to take more than a few rants to get rid of the rule. You'd have to actually see people voting with their wallets (aka decline in viewership and game attendance specifically due to hacking).
Not all PG's are expected to guard centers, but all players shoot free throws. So work on what you're expected to do. It's embarrassing how bad some of our guys shoot. And don't give me this "Oh well he's 7 feet tall." Yao Ming didn't seem to have any trouble... he did seem to have determination though.
Free throw shooting is part of the game, not the main focus of the sport. 1 free throw and the ball after an intentional foul off of the ball. If they want to play this intentional foul game just make it 2 free throws for intentional fouls on the ball. Teams can still play the free throw game but by only being able to do it when the player has the ball, we can get at least some action between plays.
I posted this in the game thread last night, but my idea for getting rid of the hack-a-whoever would be if a foul occurs off the ball, the team that was fouled is allowed to choose who shoots the free throws like when a technical foul occurs. Shooting fouls would remain just as they are now. This would prevent the intentional fouls and also be an incentive for teams to play better defense to prevent an elite shooter from going to the line.
Tired of these awful analogies. As it's already been pointed out, every NBA player ever has been expected at some point to shoot free throws, regardless of height, size, gracefulness, etc. This is the case if you play basketball in 2nd grade. 6th grade. High school ball. What aren't people understanding about this? If you can't hit 1/2 FTs with regularity (which takes hack-a-whoever off the table, and is also still a horrid FT %), you probably shouldn't be paid (or paid as much) to play professional basketball. Shoot the ball underhanded. Work on the underhanded shot in practice. Why anyone would rather keep their "pride" in shooting traditionally while maintaining a 20-50% clip from the line is hilariously insane. The "reward" for the team getting hacked should be to get free points, which is how the game is currently structured. The only change that would make any sense without being a total cop-out for embarrassingly bad FT shooters might be to allow the coach of the hacked team to opt for receiving the ball out-of-bounds rather than taking FTs.
I agree with you. These guys play this sport for a living. If my two daughters can find time to practice free throws between school, homework, and part time jobs, then I see no reason someone who goes to work at the gym can't improve their free throws.
Pop got really lucky last night hacking a 50% shooter over and over again. It's not like the Rockets offense was playing all that well. It was pretty borderline IMO to even try it. I've got faith that Smith will improve in the playoffs and make Pop or whoever pay a hefty price for using the strategy.
Seriously this place is full of hypocrites. None of you were complaining when Rockets hack a Dwight when he was a Laker. In fact I remember alot of posters laughing about Dwight's inability to finish freethrows.
Why should the NBA change a rule to cover up a player's deficiency? Most of these guys are getting paid millions of dollars to play basketball, they're suppose to make an uncontested 15 foot shot with ease. And to those clamoring that Pop is making a mockery of the game for using this strategy, no. He's making a mockery out of guys like Josh Smith for disrespecting the game and not learning how to shoot proper free throws.
An easier solution would be to allow the team with the hacked player to decide if they want the ball out of bounds or if they want to take the free throws. Another solution would be to let the team with the hacked player to pick who it wants to shoot free throws. I completely agree with the believe that the spirit of the rule was never intended to reward teams in the penalty.
Was glad for the win but still think it should be stopped. Do you think any of those college teams that won games by playing 4 corners for 30 minutes with a 5 point lead want to give any of those wins back? Hell no. Do you think they are probably all happy that the shot clock rule was adopted and 4 corners defense is a thing of the past? Hell yes. Just because you are happy for your teams success, regardless how it happens, does not mean you have to like a rule that helped with that success. Life does not always have to be that black and white.
It's not "case closed" DaDakota. It was not fun to watch when the rockets used it, and it's not fun to watch when any two random teams play. That's why the following post is quite an excellent one. It's very similar. 4-corners was a loophole that totally broke the game of basketball. It was designed to not let the opposing offense operate at all. Hack-a-who similarly breaks the idea of an opposing offense getting to operate. Yes, blah blah, make your free throws. Yes, I agree to an extent, but there will always be terrible free-throw shooters. If you think it's okay to reduce an interesting athletic contest between 10 men to an excruciating and slow process of the worst free-throw shooter taking 40 free throws, I will vehemently enjoy my right to disagree with your knuckleheadedness. Agree with those saying McHale is an accessory to that murder of a game, by the way.
Don't get five points behind and you won't have to worry about 4 corners defense. Case closed. Archaic thinking at its best. I for one am thankful that college basketball adopted the shot clock. Maybe ugly basketball means nothing to you. The NBA has adopted rules over the last couple of decades to try and make the game more aesthetic. They removed the illegal defense in large part because of the Houston Rockets and the strategy of turning the 5 man game into a 2 man game by forcing 6 players to one side of the court. I love those championships but I'm not willing to go back to the days of no zone defense where every player has to be on one man. The game had become ugly and slow, its much better now. I'm glad the NBA didn't take the approach that teams should just learn how to play the 2 man game. While i agree that players should spend enough time learning how to shoot 60% or better, I also believe that putting a team in the penalty was never intended to benefit that team in the penalty in any way. The hack a whoever strategy is an unintended loop hole that was never fixed and now has become accepted strategy to the detriment of the game. It's time to close the loop hole.
