Silver says changes to Hack-A-Shaq rules unlikely
The commissioner's message to the NBA, at least temporarily, sounds a lot like "hack on."
A thrilling opener to the NBA Finals seemed a far cry from the Hack-A-Shaq debate that slowed down and plagued the first three rounds of the postseason, but the strategy's specter could still be felt in Oakland on Thursday.
With Adam Silver in the house for the commissioner's annual pre-Finals media conference, the subject of intentional fouls came up once again.
Silver all but confirmed an earlier report that there wasn't much support from general managers for modifying the rules, stating that any action taken would essentially be a reaction to only a couple of players.
"The data shows that we're largely talking about two teams, throughout the playoffs," Silver said Thursday. "In fact, 90 percent of the occurrences of Hack-A-Shaq involve the (Houston) Rockets and the (Los Angeles) Clippers, and for the most part, it's two players," Silver said, singling out a pair of star big men. "Seventy-five percent involve two players, DeAndre Jordan and Dwight Howard. So then the question becomes, should we be making that rule change largely for two teams and two players?"
The commish also noted that the Hack-A-Shaq strategy, in which teams purposely put notoriously poor free-throw shooters on the line, has little effect on ratings and that he's concerned about whether eliminating the strategy would also eliminate a reason for young players to practice their free throws.
On Wednesday, an admittedly torn Silver told the Rich Eisen Show that he'd like to look at one more season of data.
Silver's statements, while more in line with recent reports, contradicted a report from early May that suggested severe punishments for hacking were on the way.
Under the current rules, nothing discourages teams from intentionally fouling poor free-throw shooters in the game's first 46 minutes, although teams who commit off-ball fouls in the game's final two minutes are penalized with one free throw and possession for the opposing team.
Jordan and Howard – 41.7 percent and 57.3 percent career free-throw shooters, respectively – were the subject of intentional fouls throughout the playoffs, with the strategy dominating discussion when the Clippers and Rockets squared off in the second round.
The strategy was famously dubbed 'Hack-A-Shaq' due to its use against Shaquille O'Neal in the 1990s and 2000s, as Shaq was a nearly unstoppable interior force at his peak, but never shot better than 62 percent from the stripe in a single season.