Hack-a-Shaq, the soul-destroying defensive tactic in increasing usage by desperate NBA teams is something that the League’s power-brokers hate just as much as fans and the media do.
According to commissioner Adam Silver, the NBA is gingerly starting to explore ways to disincentivize coaches from purposefully fouling poor free-throw shooters.
On Hack-A-Shaq Adam Silver is "increasingly of the view that we will be looking to make some sort of change in that rule this summer.”
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) February 4, 2016
Silver thinks there could be a rule change put in place during the offseason.
Per USA Today:
After months of media debate, putrid foul shooting, lengthy games and fan discontent, Silver said that, “I’m increasingly of the view that we will be looking to make some sort of change in that rule this summer.”
Long neutral on Hack-A-Player – the strategy of fouling a poor free throw shooter away from the basketball in an attempt to limit an opponent’s scoring – Silver is taking a side. […] “Even for those who had not wanted to make the change, we’re being forced to that position just based on these sophisticated coaches understandably using every tactic available to them,” Silver said. “It’s just not the way we want to see the game played.”
Hack-A-Player is up this year. The number of those intentional fouls through mid-December surpassed the number of times it happened last season (164), and the league is closing in on 300 Hack-A-Player instances before the All-Star break. […] “Again, as I travel around the league, there’s that one school of thought ‘Guys have got to make their free throws,’ ” Silver said. “But then at the end of the day, we are an entertainment property, and it’s clear that when you’re in the arena, that fans are looking at me, shrugging their shoulders with that look saying, ‘Aren’t you going to do something about this?’ ”
