NBA emphasizes ‘freedom of movement’ this season

Paul Mata

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NBA emphasizes ‘freedom of movement’ this season

Paul Mata

There will be no more jersey holds, shoulder grabs, arm wraps – things that fans were used to seeing in a highly physical game

 

 

 

CHARLOTTE, USA – As Brandon Ingram received a pass from a running Rajon Rondo, Kevin Durant raised his left arm to block the young Lakers’ forward view. Ingram then decided to go right and started to attack the basket while Durant countered by placing his left arm on Ingram’s left arm.

“Prrrrtt!” as Leon Wood blows his whistle to give Durant his sixth foul with 5:07 left in the 3rd quarter of the preseason game of the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Warriors’ teammate Steph Curry places his hands on his head in disbelief. 

ESPN analyst Mark Jackson looked at the replay and remarks, “That’s the right call. There’s contact.” 

In previous seasons, such calls would have been let-go by the referees. But the upcoming season is looking to be different as the league is looking to institute more “freedom of movement” for the game and its best players.

Ever since 2004 when hand-checks were considered as fouls, the league has been slowly putting more emphasis on the free-flow environment of the game. This season, they’re going all-in. 

“Wraps around the waist are fouls this year,” Monty McCutcheon, NBA vice president and head of referee development and training, pointed it out at the during a training camp for referees prior to the preseason and in video a released by the league last September 27.


Add to that list – No more jersey holds. No more shoulder grabs. No more arm wraps. No more dislodges. Things that fans were used to seeing in a highly physical game. 

What McCutcheon was pointing out was that they were putting more importance to a rule that already been on the NBA rulebook all this time, specifically, Section 12B (1) on Personal Fouls: 

“a. A player shall not hold, push, charge into, impede the progress of an opponent by extending a hand, arm, leg or knee or by bending the body into a position that is not normal. Contact that results in the re-routing of an opponent is a foul which must be called immediately.  

Players and coaches will now need to be more creative in their defensive strategies.

One of them that could benefit from this point of emphasis is Curry, whose game thrives in screens and constant running but has been hampered by body checks by some of the burliest defenders put against him. 

For Durant, he knows that they have to be adjusting to such calls. “It’s tough to make that kind of switch, points of emphasis and how to call those things,” he said. “We just have to be patient. We know it’s early in the season. But you know when you are in the court in the moment it sometimes gets the best of you.”  

When asked further about such changes in the post-game interview, he added: “The NBA is making ways to make the league better, to make the game better. The referees are working hard to figure some of those out. It’s a great time to put it in use in the preseason. It’s not one of those things that you have to pissed off after a game. I know they’re doing their job and I know they’re going to make adjustments as well.” – Rappler.com

 

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