I wasn’t aware that the NBA was in danger of losing fans because the product wasn’t moving along quickly enough, but perhaps I’ve been watching games incorrectly. In comparison to the NFL’s mindless and brain-altering slugfests and Major League Baseball’s endless Great Day Out, the NBA seems rather wonderfully-paced. It may fall short of the NHL when it comes to nonstop end to end action, but then again this (fantastic, we love the NHL) sport features low scoring contests and 36 minutes’ worth of intermissions.

ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz recently revealed that some within the NBA’s ranks have suggested eliminating the decades-old standard of awarding two free throws for either a shooting foul, or a personal foul committed by a team that is over the quarter’s penalty limit. The change would shorten game lengths, purportedly giving fans a faster product with shorter standing-around breaks while relieving the overall time of game of a few extra minutes.

From Arnovitz’s piece:

Around last season’s All-Star break, preliminary chatter began among the league’s basketball operations folks and rule geeks about the prospect of reducing all trips to the free-throw line to a single foul shot. D-League president Dan Reed and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey were the closest thing to co-sponsors of a bill. Nobody was proposing anything to be fast-tracked, but an imperative to figure out ways to shorten pro basketball games gave the idea some life as something to consider implementing in the D-League.

The concept was this: A player fouled in the act of shooting or in a penalty situation would attempt only a single free throw. If that player was shooting a 2-point shot or in a penalty situation at the time of the foul, the free throw attempt would be worth two points. If that player was fouled in the act of launching a 3-point shot, he’d go to the line for a single shot worth three points.

By Kevin’s estimation, overall free throws would be relieved by nearly half, and the game time would be cut by five minutes. A radical, game-changing ploy created to merely cut five minutes off of the total package.

OK, “radical” may not be the best choice of words. By any sensible account, free throw percentages would stay nearly the same, as would points per contest and overall efficiency. Arnovitz went on to note that free throw shooters generally perform better on their second free throw attempt, so while free throw percentages would dip slightly, it wouldn’t cause a huge shift in the long run.

That “second free throw” anecdote is important, though. It’s true that effectively taking a practice free throw on the first attempt helps settle your stroke and help you find that muscle memory on your way toward better percentages, but the another strong benefit is the fact that time spent at the line also allows for a bit of rest after competing on both ends of the ball. There’s a reason NBA players try to grab the rebound after a made or missed first free throw and hold onto the ball, and there’s a reason NBA free throw shooters back off of the line after the initial shot and take part in needless fist bumps or low fives.

It’s to delay the game. And the reason they’re delaying the game is because the game is tiring, and they need some rest.

Arnovitz doesn’t shy away from this realization in his very good feature, but it boggles as to why the executives he mentioned and even quoted on record aren’t running away as fast as they can from changes like this, more than aware of the fact that they players they employ and/or oversee are expected to run as fast as they can while dragging Lanier and Walton up and down the court for 48 minutes a night.

If those worries were expressed, they weren’t quoted, but the mere consideration by these current and former basketball executives (two men with basketball minds we respect greatly) is enough to allow us to wonder about why they’d want to do away with the current free throw format. The NBA already dropped the ball in declining to extend the calendar length of a season, forcing more and more back-to-back nights in exchange for a proper All-Star “break,” and rest is always at a premium. Whether it’s on a plane, in a hotel mid-afternoon, or while catching your breath during an in-game whistle stop.

Story continues