Last year, when it was just a couple or three specific players, Adam Silver probably said the right thing that it could be a situation where those players need to learn to shoot free-throws.
The problem, now, is two things have happened that I fully expected from that stand:
First, it's become an epidemic. Though the same three players are still the target for about 70% of such fouls, it has become such a regular coaching strategy that over 20 such players are now involved and such a strategy seems to be implemented every night!
(So much so that one player for the Golden State Warriors was Hack-A-Player'ed at midcourt, seemed to go into a shooting motion, and sank a half-courter which, IMHO, should've counted with the NBA's continuation rules.)
Last year, according to statistical experts, Hack-A-Player was implemented 164 times. We're already up to 260, and we haven't even hit the All-Star break or the playoff push yet.
Second, it now DOES sound like Adam Silver's mind has been changed, more as a result of the explosion in the number of players being hacked than anything else.
(And Mark Cuban is yelling for people to learn to shoot free throws.)
That said, the concept of Adam Silver talking about the NBA as an entertainment property is concerning, given the NBA's long history and reputation of fixing.
Andre Drummond of Detroit (one of the three main players targeted) missed 23 free throws out of 36 (an NBA record for misses) on January 21.
Players are now deliberately jumping on the backs of Hack-A victims to force them to the line, even when other players are shooting free throws! (Isn't that a technical foul anyway to do that during free-throw attempts??)
No comments:
Post a Comment