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Originally Posted by btaylor64
On plays to the basket where there is a block/charge play w/ a secondary defender, I do believe there is time and distance involved, not as literally as with screening action, but overall I believe there is. We judge whether a guy has LGP on plays to the basket involving a secondary defender by seeing when the offensive player starts his motion, right? Well if that is true most guys start their motion when they gather the ball on their first step, right? So that means that the defender has to be there when he gathers, or his first step when he gathers. This gives the player his second step to change direction, which entails to me that there is, in fact, time and distance involved, and that you gave this man a chance to change direction and avoid contact.
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Then why does the collision look so bad? This is an excellent point and the problem that i see is that the shooter is focusing on the basket when they are this close, and not looking at their feet or what's happening around their feet. When you are this close to the basket, you should not have to worry about somebody running under your feet. To me, this is not basketball. The defensive player is not trying to play defense, they are trying to get to a spot on the floor first. Is this really what we want for our game, long term? Players running around trying to get to a spot first. Think about this a minute. Isn't this the definition of dumb basketball? Doesn't take a lot of skill to run over there and stand at a spot first. Remember, the emphasis is on cleverness and skill.
Perhaps these players need to stop making such dangerous offensive moves to the basket, however, we as rule interpreters need to decide what is most important. Obtaining LGP or the ability to score and protect the person trying to score. Also remember the rules say to provide reasonable safety and protection. The NBA has tried to address this with the Restricted Area, so now we see players trying to get outside this area first, again leading to some nasty collisions.
I think if we could apply logic to this issue. Anything involving a collision is bad. Basketball is not a collision sport, football is a collision sport. Basketball is a contact sport. Collisions are bad for the safety of our players, and what I am referring too is happening at an alarming rate around the basket. We need to make some adjustments here before somebody gets seriously injured. I don’t think offensive players are going to stop making offensive moves towards the basket when close. That’s not going to stop. What we could stop is coaches teaching their players on defense to run to the spot to be the first one there while this player is attempting to go airborne to score. The bigger the player, the harder the fall.
If we can give time and distance to someone who is running without the ball, who is about to be screened, then we should be able to give time and distance to a airborne shooter whose close to the basket and whose focus is up top on the basket. We’re not trying to favor the offense here, we’re trying to prevent an alarming trend that is dangerous to "all" players.
Your thoughts…..does this make sense or am I just blowing smoke?