soapbox time - my favorite rule change

[Mark Padgett]

Now that the regular season is over, it's time to think of proposed rule changes for the future. One I have been lobbying for the past few years concerns technical fouls.

I don't often think the NBA's rules are more equitable than those of the NF, but in this case, I do. I'm not referring to giving two shots vs. one shot, I'm talking about including possession as part of the penalty.

The reason this is not equal is that it penalizes a team more when they are on offense than when they are on defense. If an offensive player is called for a technical, they lose two shots and possession. If a defensive player is called for a technical, they lose only the two shots, since they didn't have possession in the first place. Why should there be more of an expectation for a team to behave when they have the ball?

In the NBA, they view a technical foul as a foul for some action that takes place outside the normal play of the game. I agree. They "freeze" the game, take care of the technical, then resume the game where they left off. This seems eminently logical to me.

I know that some say it prevents the defense from committing a technical to force free throws so they would then get possession afterward if they get the rebound, but this is the same thing that happens if they commit a regular foul (in the bonus). Well, that's basketball. There's no guarantee they would get the ball. Remember, a technical foul is a serious thing and a player couldn't do this more than twice. Maybe we should have some limit on the number of technicals a team could have for the game.

The only other argument I have heard to this is that this way, we don't have to remember who had the ball when we called the T. I don't buy that. We remember who had the ball when we call an injury timeout, when we have an inadvertent whistle (I meant when YOU do, I NEVER do) or coming out of a timeout.

Comments please.

BTW - I also would support a rule change moving the coaching box to the parking lot