Basketball Needs To Be Fixed

[ilyazhito]

Two words: Shot clock. I have experience with both shot clock (DC Public School basketball/WCAC Girls basketball) and non-shot clock (college intramural, MD middle school, recreational basketball games), and have noticed that there is less end-of-game fouling in shot clock games than in non-shot clock games. This removes the guesswork of having to decide which fouls are called intentional fouls (by rule, all end of game fouls could be called intentional, because they are usually done to stop the clock instead of to play the ball) and which fouls are called common fouls, and improves player safety, by not having players becoming subject to fouls for strategic reasons, and retaliating after said foul.

Perhaps this is because teams can afford to actually play defense until the game clock goes under 30 seconds (or 35 for those states/leagues where that is the standard time). Teams are actually at a disadvantage when they foul before 30 seconds remain in the game, because a foul will reset the shot clock, and give the offended team an additional possession (HS with shot clock, NCAA Women's, (W)NBA, FIBA), prolong their possession (NCAA Men's for fouls without free throws), or allow them to retain possession for the rest of the game, if the foul happens with less than the appropriate shot clock period.