Semi-OT: Traveling now legal in the NBA

[B-Roy]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4563546&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

Well, not exactly, but:

NBA players will be able to take two steps before they have to stop, pass or shoot this season.

The NBA has put into writing a rule allowing players on the move to gather the ball, after driving or catching it, and then take two steps. Throughout NBA history, the rulebook said players could take one step.

Ridiculous.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Ridiculous.

Maybe so, but Oden got travelling called on him more than a dozen times last season for exactly this, even when others didn't. It can do nothing but benefit us.

 

[BrianFromWA]

Maybe so, but Oden got travelling called on him more than a dozen times last season for exactly this, even when others didn't. It can do nothing but benefit us.

...and LeBron James.
[video=youtube;DpQBD672HkQ]

 

[julius]

Well, Laker fans always said that to be the best of all time you need to have the game adjusted to your talents..like how the game changed to make it harder for Kareem and Wilt (or maybe it was just Wilt) to score...now the NBA has made it easier for LeBron to score.

 

[BlazerCaravan]

Well, Laker fans always said that to be the best of all time you need to have the game adjusted to your talents..like how the game changed to make it harder for Kareem and Wilt (or maybe it was just Wilt) to score...now the NBA has made it easier for LeBron to score.

Does that make LeBron one of the most overrated of all time if the game has to become easier for him to thrive?

 

[Denny Crane]

It wasn't called on Dr. J (in those days) when it was the rule... I always thought it was 1 and a half steps anyway.

 

[Mamba]

Crab dribble returns!

 

[Entity]

This will probably cause a lot of traveling calls in the Olympics for a lot of teams, especially us.

 

[ironcrotch]

We shall call this the Lebron Rule.

 

[barfo]

At this rate, just another 20 or 30 years until dribbling is no longer required at all.

barfo

 

[RW#30]

I hate David Stern. He will completely ruin basketball as we know it. The owners make money so they don't care. The players make more money by getting better #'s. Welcome to the American Corporations. What happened to sport? 20 years from now when fans are fed up and all this teams are broke because of their crappy products or greed (GM, Chrysler, BofA, Enron... input any Co.) we need a congresional bail out plan for the NBA.

 

[mook]

Seems like yet another rule to help slashing players and punishing defensive big men. So it's probably a net wash for our team, since we've got both.

The guys it may help the most for us is Webster and Outlaw. Neither has the greatest handle or judgment when they take it to the rim, so they tend to launch jumpers rather than risk a travel or charging foul.

Anyway, the rule fucking sucks. It solves no real problem, but exposes the NBA to even more embarrassment when their players go into international competition and get called for even more traveling than they do already.

 

[Masbee]

Seems like yet another rule to help slashing players and punishing defensive big men. So it's probably a net wash for our team, since we've got both.

The guys it may help the most for us is Webster and Outlaw. Neither has the greatest handle or judgment when they take it to the rim, so they tend to launch jumpers rather than risk a travel or charging foul.

Anyway, the rule fucking sucks. It solves no real problem, but exposes the NBA to even more embarrassment when their players go into international competition and get called for even more traveling than they do already.

I think a better solution to the "problem" the NBA is trying to solve would have been to widen the court. NBA players are too long and too fast for the current dimensions, which are perfect for today's high school game.

Damn those (hugely profitable) courtside seats.

 

[THE HCP]

At this rate, just another 20 or 30 years until dribbling is no longer required at all.

barfo

Yeah, it's called football! Pretty soon they keep track of yards rushed! If BRoy is our starting RB, we better bring back Gary Trent to be his FB!

 

[STOMP]

I think a better solution to the "problem" the NBA is trying to solve would have been to widen the court. NBA players are too long and too fast for the current dimensions, which are perfect for today's high school game.

I'd rather keep the same court dimensions but just move fans back about 3' so guys can go for it a little more... that would encourage more spectacular plays around the edges. Courtside seats would still be expensive as hell but the game would be improved... maybe ratings would bump up to make up whatever revenues would be lost from removing a row of seats

STOMP

 

[mook]

I've often wondered why arenas don't try to implement a floating seating ring above the fans. It'd be high enough that it wouldn't impede views from the 300 row of the game, but low enough that you'd get a great view. You could suddenly cram in several more thousand seats into an arena, and they'd be fairly good views.

It'd certainly take the sting off of removing a row of seats.

Here's a quick photoshop I made of my idea:

 

[Blazer_Hippie]

Sweet! Then I could easily drop peanuts on Kobe's head!

Or...what if the floor was clear and you could get seats UNDERNEATH the court! That would be a sweet seat ...especially while the Blazer Dancers were out there...

 

[julius]

I've often wondered why arenas don't try to implement a floating seating ring above the fans. It'd be high enough that it wouldn't impede views from the 300 row of the game, but low enough that you'd get a great view. You could suddenly cram in several more thousand seats into an arena, and they'd be fairly good views.

It'd certainly take the sting off of removing a row of seats.

Here's a quick photoshop I made of my idea:

While it'd be cool to sit up in the rafters, I imagine that that would not go over well. Think of the things you could drop from above, or throw at players or fans. Plus, if you throw up? Or fall?

julius




wait, are we only doing the name thing in that one thread?

 

[Foulzilla]

I don't see how this is an issue. They finally changed the rule to match how they've called it for.. well pretty much always.

-bizzaro barfo

 

[Minstrel]

It wasn't called on Dr. J (in those days) when it was the rule... I always thought it was 1 and a half steps anyway.

It was really three steps, depending on how you looked at it.

You could take one step as you received the ball, one free step and one more step as you did something with the ball--pass or shoot (or, if you're Sergio Rodriguez, turn it over).

Adding another "free step" combined with the length of current basketball players, the distance they can cover with each step...you can pretty much get from midcourt to the hoop without a dribble. Legally, now.

 

[hasoos]

Crab dribble returns!

Actually this doesn't change a carry call at all, which is what a crab dribble was. A crab dribble was palming the ball between dribbles to change the pace of your dribble. You still can't do 2 steps between dribbles, as this rule change is just about the end of the drive.

 

[DaRizzle]

While it'd be cool to sit up in the rafters, I imagine that that would not go over well. Think of the things you could drop from above, or throw at players or fans. Plus, if you throw up? Or fall?

Plexiglass

 

[jlprk]

Here's a quick photoshop I made of my idea:

In the picture, the sightlines from the seats to the floor aren't straight lines. Maybe it's an illusion. The lack of straight lines to (bad news) see the game would also (good news) prevent dropping things below.