Make nba even better!: Lower the 8 second count.
There is no such thing as a dangerous fullcourt press in the nba. The guards are just too good as ballhandlers. The only presses are mere efforts to delay the start of the offensive plays in the halfcourt--THAT'S IT.
Dangerous fullcourt presses would bring more excitement to the game: More open court steals, more breakaway dunks. A little more quick back-and-forth possesion of the ball. Also, more tension in the early stages of the shot clock.
Anybody remember how nerve-racking it was to watch your favorite college team try bringing the ball up the court against '85-86 Georgetown or '89-90 UNLV? Wasn't that fun, though?
Imagine, for a second that you only had 3 seconds to get the ball past halfcourt, instead of 8. I'm not proposing THIS, but hear me out. The inbounds pass would become more like a Quarterback pass in football, with the guards "running routes" like Wide Receivers to receive the ball closer to halfcourt. But there would be more element of risk, more possibilities of interception, and more open court plays generated on those inbounds passes.
NOW, like I said, I am not proposing lowering the 8 second count to 3, but what about 5-7 seconds? Somewhere in there is a happy medium between the tranquility of getting the ball upcourt that we have now and the exciting, over-the-top mayhem we would have with a 3 second halfcourt count.
My proposal is simple: Lower the 8-second count to 7 next year. If we see no discernable change, drop it to 6 seconds the year after that. At some point coaches will start to employ fullcourt pressure as a TRUE WEAPON instead of the minimal weapon it is now.
Take the boredom out of guards walking the ball up the court!
(Oh, and having two miniature, press-breaking point guards like DJ and Kemba would give us a great advantage under these new rules....)
Thank you for reading.
