WSJ: Leagues Favor the Fleetest Feet

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SPORTSMAY 6, 2009
Leagues Favor the Fleetest Feet
Rule Changes Spur the Pace of Games and Boost Scoring; in the NBA, 'a Foot Race to the Rim'
By MATTHEW FUTTERMAN

In 2007, the Houston Rockets drafted point guard Aaron Brooks, who at 6 feet, 180 pounds is a relative string bean in the NBA. The draft pick would have been unthinkable just a decade ago in a league once dominated by 7-foot behemoths like Shaquille O'Neal and Tim Duncan.

Why the change? League officials implemented rule changes that allow smaller players to get more open looks at the basket, and they're no longer getting mugged when they have to create shots. The result: The league's smallest players dominated the first round of the playoffs, and scoring is on the way up -- with teams now averaging more than 100 points per game.

"The game has become a foot race to the rim," says Sam Hinkie, vice president of basketball operations for the Rockets.

And fast, high-scoring games put more fans in the stands.

"It's Marketing 101 impacting the rules of the NBA," said Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks. "There are a lot more exciting guys under 6-3 than over 7-2."

It's not just the NBA. The philosophy that favors speed and offense over slamming and banging pervades the current thinking of the four biggest professional-sports leagues in North America. As the leagues fight for every sponsorship dollar and struggle to maintain television ratings against alternatives just a click away, they are more sensitive than ever to their critics.

"It's all about making sure fans feel they are being entertained and wanting to come back for more," said Jon Litner, the former chief operating officer of the NHL who is now the president of Comcast Corp.'s SportsNet unit, with 10 regional sports networks.

In the NFL, where for years receivers were bullied and quarterbacks battered, the league now belongs to its fastest players, the wide receivers like Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald who have feasted on the increasingly strict rules limiting contact from defenders downfield. Other rules to protect passers have also helped create a more vertical game.

As a result, the five wide receivers with the highest yards per catch average in 2008 averaged 20.2 yards per reception, up from 17.7 yards five seasons ago.

In hockey, critics once hammered the NHL for letting defensive schemes clog the center of the ice. After the 2004-2005 lockout ended, league officials began enforcing long-ignored penalties against interfering with skaters who don't have the puck and eliminated the prohibition against long passes to encourage the fastest skaters to spring free for high-speed rushes on an opponent's goal.

This week's showdown between young, fast-skating superstars Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin is a testament to the current rules. Mr. Ovechkin took 528 shots this season, falling just 22 short of Phil Esposito's nearly three-decade-old record.

In baseball, where recent revelations about steroids and increased testing have threatened to slow down the offensive onslaught of the past 15 years, MLB has focused on its umpires. They are charged with enforcing rules that don't let pitchers intentionally throw at hitters to intimidate them. That can allow power hitters like Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez to lean over home plate and swing hard with little fear of brush-backs or beanings.

While home runs per game have dropped 14% since 2000, the median among the top 40 players in the game's most important offensive statistic, OPS, or on-base plus slugging percentage, has dropped just 9%.

Bob Watson, vice president of on-field operations for MLB, said the change has not affected play, but he acknowledged it took one element out of certain pitchers' repertoire. "Pitching inside and throwing at someone are two different things," Mr. Watson said.

It remains uncertain whether all the emphasis on speed and offense ultimately improves the overall product. Skilled offenses are often more fleeting and more expensive to maintain, because offensive stars usually receive the largest paychecks. Also, changes in the rules rob fans of the ability to debate the abilities of players of different eras, an activity almost as popular as the sports themselves.

The NBA's transition began eight years ago after league officials decided slow players with big bodies were using the rules -- and their arms and shoulders and chests -- to slow down nearly every opponent.

During the 1998-99 season NBA teams averaged just 91.6 points per game, compared with more than 100 in 1994-95. Thick defensive specialists could virtually handcuff the game's potential stars and undersized players. "The game looked bad," said Stu Jackson, the league's executive vice president of basketball operations.

In 2001, NBA Commissioner David Stern appointed a committee, on which Mr. Jackson served, that recommended several major rule changes.

For decades the NBA had prohibited zone defenses to force one-on-one duels rather than allowing players to guard a defined area of the court. The committee decided to bring back the zone to make players pass quickly and cut through a zone's seams. But the committee didn't want to allow defenses to plant a lead-footed giant under the basket to block shots. So it barred defenders from standing in the lane for more than three seconds.

In 2004, the league prohibited virtually all contact on the perimeter between defenders and ball-handlers. That move gave even more help to quick guards who may be undersized but can penetrate around stronger, slower opponents. These and other changes sent a message to the NBA's little guys: Stop worrying about charging fouls and head for the rim.

Mr. Jackson notes that "being able to dribble pass and shoot became more paramount as opposed to how much you could bench press."

To be sure, speed isn't everything. Teams that combine great guard play with a star big player will likely win the conference semifinals now under way. Orlando's Dwight Howard, Cleveland's LeBron James, Denver's Carmelo Anthony, Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Houston's Yao Ming are all at least 6-foot-8 and have the speed and talent to dominate. And the most feared player remains the Lakers' 6-foot-6 guard Kobe Bryant, who hasn't won a championship since the 7-foot, 300 pound Mr. O'Neal left his team.

But the change is palpable, and if the NBA has anything to say about, real. "It's a small-players league now," said Tom Barisse, an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets, whose breakout star this season was Devin Harris, a veritable sprite at 6-foot-3 and 185 pounds, who averaged 21.3 points per game. "He would have gotten killed 10 years ago."

Write to Matthew Futterman at matthew.futterman@wsj.com