[constable]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

Where do I begin, oh where do I begin.


Rule Change 1a: I would abolish, at all levels (NFHS, NCAA Men's/Women's, NBA/WNBA, and FIBA), that abomination of the game called Alternating Possession. I would go back to "The Ancient Days" when everything was good and right in the game.


Rule Change 1b: I would abolish, at all levels (NFHS, NCAA Men's/Women's, NBA/WNBA, and FIBA) the shot clock. The way the game is played now in the NBA, it seens like there was more scoring in the early pre-shot clock days of the NBA.


Rule Change 2: I would replace all of the different types of technical fouls in the NCAA Men's/Women's Rules with the NFHS types. Keep It Simple Stupid!!


Rule Change 3: 1 + 1, for Common Fouls when the Team Foul totals are 7, 8 and 9; two (2) free throws, for Common Fouls when the Team Foul totals are 10, 11 and 12; and three (3) free throws, for Common Fouls when the Team Foul totals are 13 and greater. I will elaborate on this change if others would like an explanation.


Rule Change 4: Get rid of the stupid "circle under the basket rule" in the NBA/WNBA and its abomination in the NCAA Men's.


Rule Change 5: Allow a player to request timeout (see NBA/WNBA and NCAA Men's/Women's) while going out of bounds. If a team wants to burn a timeout, let them.


These are just a few of my favorite things.

Have fun with them.

MTD, Sr.


P.S. I am not officiating the rest of December, I did something to my left knee last week while officiating so I am going to rest in hopes that I do not have to see an orthopedic surgeon.

Many say that this invention saved the NBA, as it had problems attracting fans (and television coverage) before its inception.[2] This was largely due to the stalling tactics used by teams once they were leading in a game (killing the clock). Without the shot clock, teams could pass the ball nearly endlessly without penalty. If one team chose to stall, the other team (especially if behind) would often commit fouls to get the ball back following the free throw.

Very low-scoring games with many fouls were common, boring fans. The most extreme case occurred on November 22, 1950, when the Fort Wayne Pistons defeated the Minneapolis Lakers by a record-low score of 19-18. A few weeks later, the Rochester Royals and Indianapolis Olympians played a six-overtime game with only one shot in each overtime. The NBA tried several rule changes in the early 1950s to speed up the game and reduce fouls before eventually adopting Biasone's idea.

According to Biasone, "I looked at the box scores from the game I enjoyed, games where they didn't screw around and stall. I noticed each team took about 60 shots. That meant 120 shots per game. So I took 48 minutes - 2,880 seconds - and divided that by 120 shots. The result was 24 seconds per shot."[3]

When the shot clock first came into play, it made many players so nervous that the clock hardly came into play, as players were taking fewer than 20 seconds to shoot. According to Syracuse star Dolph Schayes, "We thought we had to take quick shots - a pass and a shot was it - maybe 8-10 seconds...But as the game went on, we saw the inherent genius in Danny's 24 seconds - you could work the ball around for a good shot."[3]

The shot clock, together with some rule changes concerning fouls, immediately revolutionized NBA basketball. In the last pre-clock season, teams averaged 79 points per game. In the first year with the clock (1954-55), the average was up to 93 points; by the fourth year (1957-58), it was 107 points


snopes.com: Origins of the 24-Second Shot Clock