The NBA has announced a number of new rules that the D-League will test out this season. One of these new rules will allow coaches to challenge officials’ calls, Chris Mannix of SI.com reports (Twitter link). These challenges will allow the officials to review personal fouls, shooting fouls, and offensive fouls, notes Mannix. Other rules being tested include coaches having an opportunity to advance the ball and make substitutions without using a timeout, and the number of fouls before teams shoot free throws will increase. Seeing as the league often uses the D-League to field test new changes, it’s possible that some of these new rules may find their way into the NBA if successful.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Chris Alpert, the D-League’s vice president of basketball operations, thinks the changes “will have a positive impact on speeding up the game” and improving the flow in the final minutes, notes Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press. However, if speeding up the pace of the game is the end goal, increased use of instant replay would seem to clash with that design.
- Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski is under no illusions that highly touted 2015 draft prospect Jahlil Okafor will stay at the school an extra year, notes Stephen Wiseman of The Herald-Sun (Twitter link). Okafor is the top prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings as well as those of Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
- While the 2011 NBA Draft class was regarded at the time as one of the weakest in recent memory, this group has secured the most extensions out of any crop of draftees since 2004’s draft class, notes Michael Lee of The Washington Post.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
all of those rules sound terrible