NBA Commissioner David Stern does not like hack-a-Howard
Hack-a-Howard has been the talk of the town recently.
In two consecutive Los Angeles Lakers games this week, Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets employed this strategy, fouling Dwight Howard anywhere on the court, whether he had the ball or not, and forcing him to shoot free throws,
something the big man really struggles in.
Howard managed to covert only 50 percent free throws in both those games and the result was a Lakers’ loss in each. It would be unfair to say that Howard’s weakness from the foul line was the only reason for both these losses,
but it did contribute to a major extent. Importantly, the tactics ensured that the Lakers got cheaper results on their possessions. They never cried foul, with it being the part of the game, but it is one facet which is ugly and makes the game boring.
That is something which is unacceptable to David Stern, especially when he has spent the last 20 years of his life in an effort to convert this league into a multi billions industry. While the league has ensured that these sort
of tactics are not employed in the last two minutes of the game when the player is off the ball – it not only gives the opposition two free throws but also the next possession – it has not been able to introduce a rule to ban it completely.
According to Stern, it has been due to the disagreement between the stakeholders.
“I would have liked to have seen the rule changed to make the last-two-minute rule the whole rule,” he said according to Henry Abbott at TrueHoop. “It was getting to a point last year where, [in the] first period, they were just
grabbing players. I think that’s ludicrous.
“We tried to change it to any time in the game because last year I guess it was everyone was fouling Tiago Splitter early on and the committee didn’t want to do it. And so that’s just the way it is. Because the reality is that
there are a lot of basketball purists — and I understand that point of view — who say, ‘Hey, why don’t you learn to shoot foul shots? You’re supposed to be a pro.’”
The Lakers are not only ones who have faced this problem. Big men all around the league are generally weak free throw shooters and this is something oppositions have the right to exploit, especially when they are undersized.
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