ORLANDO – “I’m increasingly of the view that we will be looking to make some sort of change in that rule this summer,” Silver told USA Today Sports. “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. It’s just not the way we want to see the game played.”
Silver told ESPN in October that he was “conflicted” on the issue because he sees both sides of the argument about whether the league should do more to try to prevent teams from intentionally fouling poor free throw shooters.
Skiles on hacking: “I have before. For whatever reason in my personal experience it hasn’t really worked. I’ve done it with Shaq, I’ve done it with Dwight. They tend to step up and make the free throws. But it’s a viable option. I understand aesthetically it’s something that the league is not real fond of, but I think we need to be really careful if we’re going to start legislating peoples’ weaknesses. I’ve said it before, does that mean if a guy can’t shoot 3-pointers we still have to run at him at the 3-point line? If a player can’t do something, can’t go right, are we going to legislate that? I understand both sides of it, and I’ll just wait and see what the league decides to do.”
“The good news is you don’t have to deal with Blake Griffin. The bad news is that means more Chris Paul. They play small quite a bit. I think Chris controls the game, and they kind of keep it simple and set a bunch of high ball screens and Jordan dives to the rim and they spread the floor with shooters.”
“He’s one of the best decision makers to ever play, so he takes it in there, he changes pace, changes direction, finds shooters. And they certainly have shooters.”
Not a lot of guys with hacking – “It doesn’t happen that much, but when it does, especially when it’s extreme, if you foul a guy and he misses two so you do it again the next possession and all of a sudden the guy’s shot 11 free throws in the last two minutes and the clock stops, but there’s also some drama in it. Is the guy finally going to make a couple when you foul, and things like that. I do realize you bring in a three-second rule because Wilt Chamberlain’s standing under the basket and they throw it in there and he dunks it all the time or lays it in, so a rule will change when it’s necessary. This one, again, I would hope that if it’s left untouched sort of generationally it’ll make a difference. There’s some 14-year-old big kid somewhere who can’t make his free throws and decides I don’t want to be one of those guys when I get there, and it makes people make their free throws.”
Doc Rivers: SILVER TALKED ABOUT DOING AWAY WITH HACK-A-SHAQ. D.J. now.
BETTER GAME WITHOUT IT? I do even though the old-school part of me still thinks the free-throw part, you should make them. But I do. I’ve had to endure it. It’s tough to watch. And the rule has already been changed. That’s why when you hear people say, Why change the rule? What’s the last two minutes of a game? So the rule’s actually been changed before. Now they’ll just do it all game. I think it should happen and I’ve changed. And I’m not saying that because it affects me but it’s no fun.
SPECIFIC THING YOU’D LIKE TO SEE? No, I don’t have a rule. I really don’t think I should have an opinion on it because it affects me and I think it just looks too disingenuous, so I just try to recuse like when we’re having the meetings, I’m like, come on, ask someone else please. I don’t want to get involved and I hope that’s how it goes in our next competition meeting because if it comes from me, I try to stay away from it. EVERYONE GOOD? Yeah. Well, I think.
