You know, I rather like the current alternating jump ball rule. It is fair! When a ball gets tied up, it is a 50/50 sharing of the ball (even!) - since one team cannot have half the ball, then the teams take turns receiving the ball at any jump ball situation.
A jump ball is definitely unfair when a point guard ties up the ball on a post player who made the mistake of bringing the ball too low. Even though the guard made a terrific defensive play, it is all for nothing because the jump ball is almost certain to go to the center.
You might say that height is just part of the game, but it is still unfair to the guard. On that note, instead of a jump ball, why not have a race to the ball eg. place the ball in the middle of the jump circle and have the two players run from the furthest end of the court. The player who gets there first gets the ball. Then, the guard would be favoured - after all, speed is an important component of the game as well.
I guess the only fair way of handling jump ball situations (in my humble opinion) is to use an A/P rule. This also has the added bonus of speeding up the game.
Cheers,
David
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