Rule Changes Will Affect Game . . . Slightly

By Adrian Vicente

Ron Harper is holding the ball on the wing looking for a clean entry pass to Shaq, who is being loosely contained by a Dale Davis forearm. As Harper waits for an opportune time to throw the ball over the unextended arms of Steve Smith, the shot click dwindles away with each pump fake. Robert Horry stands on the weak side corner, pointing and yelling to Harper to look at Kobe, who is standing just a few feet away from Harper, with an undersized Damon Stoudamire guarding him. Horace Grant stands at the top of the key watching. Without even acknowledging the lack of movement by his teammates, Harper throws it in to Shaq, who then pounds Davis down under the basket before he is finally purposely hacked. Shaq then goes to the stripe and bricks two free throws.

If this scenario is exciting basketball to you, then maybe you attend games simply because you can afford to throw money away. Or maybe you're easily awed and watch basketball for the dunks. Perhaps, you just like to take bong hits and laugh at media-created superstars missing shots that you and your friends could have easily nailed during your elementary school playing days. Whatever the case, you enjoy basketball for the wrong reasons.

Let's be honest, the NBA game is hurting.

Now, with the league's decision to crumple up illegal defense and strictly allow for zones, fans and players fitting the aforementioned criteria are up in arms about the changes. Most are saying the new rules will ground Vince Carter and crown the likes of Matt Bullard. That zones will result in bad shooters putting up more shots. I've even heard game analysts, including Charles Barkley and Boston Globe writer Peter May, mention the name Manute Bol. Manute Bol? What the heck are people thinking these new rules will do . . . change the world?

The rule changes will hardly change the game.

Zones will be allowed, yes, but to what extent will teams use them? On the NBA level, players can obviously do a great deal of damage if left open. So why would some squad double or triple-team Rasheed Wallace, only to leave two or three defenders guarding Steve Smith, Scottie Pippen, Dale Davis and Damon Stoudamire? Thus, a 3 on 1 scenario in favor of the defense quickly turns into a 4 on 2 scenario in favor of the offense with one pass out of the post. At least in a man-to-man defense, there is a body near an offensive player most of the time. It wouldn't make much sense for a team to use a zone except for specific occasions where serious man-to-man match-up problems were present.

But even if all coaches decided to implement the zone, it still wouldn't have that great of an effect on superstars. Shaq scored over 20 points per game in college despite playing against zone defenses designed to stop him. Vince Carter's most acrobatic shots and dunks occurred at North Carolina against zone defenses. So why would the zone kill the excitement of the game? It wouldn't.

The rule changes that will most affect the game are the 8-second timeline to cross half-court and the 3-second rule limiting the amount of time a defensive player may stand in the lane when he is not closely guarding anyone.

The 8-second rule will cause more teams to consider the application of full-court pressure defense, which will lead to more turnovers and easy buckets. This clearly speeds up the game.

The rule that will have the greatest impact will be the 3-second rule, which will prohibit players from standing in the paint for longer than three seconds unless they are guarding a body. This will punish teams that don't rotate well from the weak side when attempting to double-team in the post. For example, you can either keep two players closely guarding Shaq, one in front and back, which means you leave a man wide-open. Or you can leave Shaq in single-coverage. Pick your poison, either way the Lakers have a better chance to score.

Scoring may or may not increase and superstars won't change, but the ball will be passed around much more. In other words, it will be the same game except now the other four players who don't have the ball will have to move rather than just stand and watch. Wake me up when that happens.