Fed 3-second rule change. Absurd.

[jbduke]

The article on the front page was very diplomatic in its criticism of the new rule, which eliminates the discontinuation of the count during an interrupted dribble.
This change is just crazy. The article brought up the case of a loose ball in the lane, where the offense could be effectively be penalized for going after the ball.

But what if the ball's loose outside the lane?

There's no three-second count while the ball is in the back-court. This is presumably because with no reasonable scoring threat present, there is no significant advantage in extending one's stay in the lane. During an interrupted dribble, the same could rightly be said. The player is no longer simply a pass away from being in good scoring position, he is a recovery by a teammate plus a pass away from being in good scoring position.

If mistakes by the offense, e.g. bad passes and poor dribbling are going to be penalized more; and good play by the defense, e.g. knocking the ball loose, is to be rewarded more, I wish the committee would have taken the next logical step in this line of reasoning, which is automatically awarding held balls to the defense. I don't think the latter is a good idea by itself, but the idea gains a lot more plausibility with the institution of the new assenine rule.

jb