NBA Coaches will have the ability to challenge plays during the 2019/20 season, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). The rule will be implemented on a one-year, trial basis.
The league has also made changes to the use of replay. The NBA Replay Center will now be allowed to “trigger instant replay in certain circumstances,” per the league’s press release.
The league experimented with the possibility of challenges during the past two seasons in the G League and during this year’s Summer League. Coaches only received one challenge per game and they must have a timeout remaining to use it.
While the rule will be similar to the NFL’s challenge rule, NBA coaches will send a signal to an official rather than throwing a flag into the playing area. In the G League, coaches “twirl his/her index finger toward the referees,” as ESPN’s Zach Lowe recently explained.
Here’s how the new rule is expected to work, according to Lowe:
- Coaches will get one challenge per game, whether or not it’s successful.
- Called fouls, goaltending, basket interference, and out-of-bounds plays are the only calls that can be challenged. Uncalled fouls can’t be challenged.
- Coaches must have a timeout available to use a challenge, and must use that timeout immediately after the call they want to challenge.
- If the challenge is successful, the team will get its timeout back. If not, it will be lost.
- The crew chief for that game’s referee crew will make the final call on challenges involving fouls. All other challenges will be decided by the NBA’s Replay Center.
Is there any mechanism for like an automatic challenge after a certain point in the game? Like say the last 2 minutes or something (similar to the NFL) in the NBA 2-minutes might be too long because the last 2 minutes already last long enough. But if not… I imagine teams will almost always save their challenges no matter what until the final minutes. Because let’s be honest challenging a “called foul” could happen on tons of plays in the NBA but really would only matter at all in the final minutes.
It’s not as if the difference in points gained from the challenge earlier would disappear in the final 2 min. Coaches will use it when they strongly feel like the call can be reversed.
They will use it to appease certain players or save it for the end.
It shouldn’t matter if the foul is called or uncalled. Getting the call right should be the priority.
I think there should be some refs who watch the replay of all the contested shots taken the whole game to make the calls more correct.
“Coaches will get one challenge per game, whether or not it’s successful.”
The whether or not it’s successful is my problem. All this means is that if there is an egregious error in the 1st Quarter, a coach will have to decide whether to just let it go or lose any chance of a challenge the rest of the way. That is no the way replay should be used. The goal should be getting it right regardless. I understand not wanting to stop the flow of the game for 15 challenges, but if a coach gets a challenge correct, then he shouldn’t lose his right to continue challenging poor officiating. The way this is set up is just meaningless.
There are too many contestable calls during a game to obsess over. It would take forever to recheck all of them. The NBA is probably just worried about the ones at the end that get replayed over & over on sportscenter.
Basketball is not a sport that can be gotten all correct. Players have to read the room.
The NBA should worry about more than just the 5 people that still watch Sportscenter.
Like I said, I don’t want to see 15 challenges per game. My only problem is having one with no recourse after you use it. I’d be okay with doing something like baseball with the coaches having one for the first three quarters and then having an extra 1 or 2 in the 4th and OT(s). The “one and done” model just doesn’t seem like it will help anything.
Baseball has actually decreased deliberation time on manager challenges. It surprises me that they’re the ones seemingly getting it right.
Referees should be able to “twirl his/her index finger toward the” NBA’s Replay Center to get more eyes on things like fights or anything they’re not sure of.
I googled NRC and got the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Coaches will be blowing up over their calls but who do they regale at?
I like the idea of centralized league reviewers but how do we check on them? They make things look pre-ordained. There is no sense they are evaluated for observational skills.
The VAR system used to review certain calls at the womens world cup was made visible to FOX viewers, and they were even worse than normal overclipped FOX replays. Still truncated, but in an inhuman GIF mode that was horrible to behold. Hope the NBA does better (they should, they’re Americans) and that tv viewers can see what the officials are seeing. Not sure we are at present.