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It does reward good defense. The player with the ball should know he has 5 seconds. If the defenders prevent him from escaping and limit his ability to pass, they've played good defense. It's a good rule. If memory serves, however, this used to be an offensive player who was considered to be tied up, resulting in a jump ball. Sometime ago (mid 80's?) the rule was changed to a turnover. I wouldn't mind seeing a jump ball, but the AP arrow takes away that option. (Have I ever said that I HATE the AP rule . . ..)
One more thought: The rule is almost essential in the absence of a shot clock. An offensive player could just stand with the ball for as long as he wanted, and all the defense could do would be try to hack at the ball. That would be an exciting game . . . . I think the NBAs relatively short shot clock is part of why the 5 second clock was not part of their rules.
[Edited by hawkk on Dec 18th, 2002 at 08:34 AM]
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