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View Full Version : NBA to alter traveling rules


spectre
10-16-2009, 09:03 AM
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4563546&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines


NBA players will be able to take two steps before they have to stop, pass or shoot this season.

The NBA has put into writing a rule allowing players on the move to gather the ball, after driving or catching it, and then take two steps. Throughout NBA history, the rulebook said players could take one step.
The new rule reads, in part: "A player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball."
It is believed to be the first time any league, at any level anywhere in the world, has explicitly allowed two steps.
In March, NBA vice president of referee operations Joe Borgia told TrueHoop's Henry Abbott (http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/6035/nba-traveling-we-really-don-t-reference-the-rulebook) that referees had long been instructed to ignore the rulebook on this point and allow two steps.
Muttley
10-16-2009, 11:39 AM
Yeah, I was gonna say that this seems like a change of the rulebook to match what was already being enforced. Then Abbott's report confirms this.

I'm with LB (and Bill Walton, et al who have mentioned this before) that there should be a standard set of rules on all levels of basketball.
teej
10-16-2009, 12:52 PM
Just them justifying their own ineptitude...
amour217
10-16-2009, 08:14 PM
I thought this thread would be about a decision forcing Sean May to travel via cargo plane to games
davcbow
10-16-2009, 10:17 PM
Just them justifying their own ineptitude...

LOL got that right....:cool:
dnbman
10-17-2009, 09:44 AM
Just them justifying their own ineptitude...

I don't think it has anything to do with ineptitude. In fact, this could be a case of the replacement refs following the rule when the others didn't.

I just read this as the NBA making a change that allows for more excitement into the game, whether it's good for the game or not. Put it this way, most of the dunks we see in games couldn't take place if only one step was allowed. The NBA is choosing a rule that makes the game more of a spectator sport. I just hope it doesn't alienate purists, though they seem to have left long ago.