Ban the Free Throw

Also, "Ball Don't Lie" would no longer be a valid way of taunting refs and floppers.

I'd love to live in a world where no NBA fan is ever again subjected to the odious "Hack-a-Dude" tactic, but when I close my eyes and imagine a world where refs simply award points every time they blow they call shooting fouls, I get a little queasy. 1) There'd no longer be a "somebody had to make a shot" barrier between the refs whistle and the scoreboard. It may seem trivial, but how's a fan going to feel like it wasn't rigged when the ref literally puts points on the board? 2) The game already incentivizes attacking players to make contact and draw fouls. More than a third of Lebron's shots in a given game come from the line. I'd be worried that you'd see waaaay more attackers trying to sneakily draw fouls and defenders sneakily trying to draw charges. That's even worse to watch than free throws. Suggested Solution: Why not just treat intentional "wrapping him up" fouls where there's no genuine attempt on the ball as clear-path fouls? It's practically the same thing anyway. Even Mark Jackson is going to stop intentionally trying to send Dwight to the line if the Magic get the ball back afterwards.

I will say, the worst part of free throws is when you get down to the last minute of play and both teams are fouling each other as soon as they get the ball inbounded, which of course sends you straight to the stripe. Attending a game like that, as I did a couple of years ago when the Spurs visited my Thunder, makes that last minute take 10+, and completely removes all value from it. It would also encourage good defense in the last minute of play, rather than the hack-a-player strategy. That said, the opportunity to miss a few at the line is the only thing that keeps the score respectable in some games when KD, Westbrook and Harden are driving and getting fouls called.

I understand the article's point of view, but I disagree with the solution. If this was implemented, then coaches would lose a valid defensive strategy (it's not the prettiest, but it can be effective). Just like all strategies, some people abuse it, like Mark Jackson. But, that doesn't mean everyone should be banned from using it. To clarify, if free throws are automatic points, then you're pretty telling all the coaches not to foul, no matter who the player is. Another issue is that this will cause the players on offense to put up a shot any time they hear a whistle, no matter how unlikely the shot attempt was. Yes, the refs might waive off some of those shots, but in general, players will get good at doing it and scoring will go waaaaay up because players will get massive automatic points and/or nobody will play defense since you don't want to foul. Scoring going up is not necessarily a problem, but I still think it'll destroy the game. I think a milder measure, such as extra free throws awarded if too many fouls in X amount of time would be better. But, I admit these kind of things could make the rules too complicated. So, maybe the best way might be if the media and public made fun of guys like Mark Jackson so they'll be discouraged to abuse such strategies. =)

This elimination of free throws would affect the game in several ways. For one, bigs who can shoot FTs will become slightly less valuable by the amount that those who cannot shoot FTs become more valuable. Kevin Love's FT shooting ability? Meaningless. Andris and Kevin Love would have the same value from the FT line. I do agree that I'm against the Hack-A-... strategies, but I think the solution is to just make all fouls away from the ball technicals a-la 3 seconds: 1 FT by any player (or that player, doesn't matter because both eliminate it from happening) and team retains possession. Essentially extend that rule from the last 2 minutes in a half out to the entire game. That said, I still like the free throws. Fouling guys like Steve Nash or Steph Curry is dangerous. Eliminating FTs and all of a sudden Rondo is just as dangerous as Steph Curry is to foul. That doesn't seem right. Guards that are "automatic" from the line will be fouled a lot more if they ever choose to drive. This discourages those guards from driving and may increase fouls. Such a strategy of automatically giving someone 1 point may actually reduce the number of FGs we see in a game, as teams opt to just give their opponent 1 point for that possession. That doesn't seem more fun to watch to me.

I think the NBA should ban stupid coaches who use hack-a-strategies. If the guy you're fouling shoots anything over 50% from the line you're still giving the other team more points than by playing defense. If you are actually as bad as Andris Biedrins at the line. You have no business on a basketball court anyway.

I sympathize with your overall takes, but there's something like watching a workhorse take it to the defense over and over again, drawing contact, and getting himself to the line to help his team. Eric Gordon is great at this. It's Corey Maggette's only redeemable quality. Wade had mastered it by '06. With Mike Beasley out and Derrick Williams pining for minutes, the Timberwolves might never score if Kevin Love didn't have the guile to draw so many fouls in the least probable situations. Love was the anti-D12 last night against Nola with his 17-18 from the stripe.

The thing is, your proposal to simply grant points would have the effect of increasing the importance of the subjective calls of referees to the game beyond the point where it already is. So if you want the refs to have a bigger role in the game, knock yourself out.

@Ebo Love the idea of the And One points. I want all free throws eliminated, but I'll settle for some.

I love this. I hate free throws, and have long thought them to be the worst part of the beautiful game of basketball (along with charges). I don't agree that the solution is to give automatic points on each foul, but perhaps an and-one should be an automatic point while a standard shooting foul should award one free throw and possession, and players should have 5 seconds at most to shoot free throws. This wouldn't cancel them completely, but massively reduce the quantity of free throws and the time they take out of the game.