The NBA Needs To Address Hack-A-Shaq Strategy

“Players Should Make Their Free Throws”

The biggest counterargument you’ll see in this conversation is obvious: “Well, if players made their free throws, teams wouldn’t foul them anymore.” Technically speaking, that is correct. In a perfect world, everyone would be a 75 percent free throw shooter or better and we wouldn’t have to worry about this.

But this isn’t a perfect world. Not everyone does make their free throws. And you know what else would prevent teams from intentionally fouling? A freaking rule change to prevent teams from intentionally fouling.

I’m not trying to make excuses for the DeAndre Jordans and Andrew Boguts of the world. Ideally, even big men would be able to make their free throws at a reasonable clip.

I completely agree that players should make these wide open shots, but chalking it up to players being lazy or not working hard enough to improve in that area is ignorant. You really think these guys, who are paid to play this game every day, don’t practice their free throws? Give me a break.

If it helps you feel better about “rewarding” players who aren’t good free throw shooters to recognize that every NBA player has his set of flaws, then great.

But even if it doesn’t, how about this argument: changing the rule isn’t even about coddling the poor free throw shooters by making it easier on them. It’s about not ruining a great game by constantly exposing the flaws of its players — who are constantly being groomed up by the NBA’s PR people to make them heroes to the people, by the way.

Think about it. Are free throws THAT vital to the game of basketball that we have this desperate need to reveal the players who can’t make them in some sort of Salem free throw shooting witch hunt? When was the last time you watched a great game of basketball and thought, “Wow, that was such a good game. My favorite part was when they went 40-for-42 from the foul line!”?

Never, that’s when. You want to know what’s exciting? Blake Griffin doing this to Aron Baynes:

Want to know why this happened? Because Pop wasn’t intentionally fouling then so the guys could actually play.

If we’re being perfectly honest, the best games are the ones that are up-tempo with fewer fouls and therefore, fewer free throws. With that in mind, is anyone THAT much of a basketball fundamentalist to say “Nope, I don’t care if it ruins the game, so-and-so should make his free throws”?

And if so, I’d like you to try and sell me on the idea that you’d prefer watching the “theater” of DJ trying to make free throws over this:

It makes sense from a time management perspective too. You know why some people can’t stand baseball until the playoffs roll around? Because games used to take three or four hours and the season is 180 freaking games long. The NBA season only lasts 82 games, but between video reviews and this Hack-A-Shaq crap, how long before basketball overtakes baseball as the insufferably long sport that casual fans don’t want to sit through?

Besides, if we’re really going to talk about how players should make their free throws, how about we talk about the teams that employ the Hack-A-Shaq strategy? How about they play some damn defense and don’t get outscored to the point they have to resort to such a pitifully desperate strategy? Isn’t the whole point of the game to NOT get outplayed when you’re actually, you know, playing?

We focus on how we’d be rewarding poor free throw shooters, but what about how we’re rewarding teams that can’t get a stop straight up and have to use strategy whose nature contradicts the integrity and competitive spirit of the game itself?

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