By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The NBA G League will be implementing a new rule, as an experiment, in 2019-2020 according to which all fouls will be awarded a single shot from the line, ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports. What will change is how many points the shot will count for: two, or three, depending on the situation was the foul was committed.
The change will serve to help “improve the game flow” and “reduce the length of games.”
Per ESPN:
The NBA G League is experimenting this season with a new rule under which all trips to the free throw line will include only a single foul shot that will be worth one, two, or three points depending on the nature of the foul leading to the attempt, officials told ESPN.
It marks the latest move — in both the G League and the NBA — to improve game flow and reduce the length of games. Officials estimate that moving to a “one foul shot for all the points” model will shave between six and eight minutes off of each G League game, says Brad Walker, head of basketball operations for the G League.
The average G League game clocked in at about two hours and five minutes last season, Walker says. This move could take that average below the two-hour barrier, a clean broadcast window that has been in the minds of league officials for years.
The G League will revert back to traditional free throw rules for the last two minutes of regulation and overtime, officials say. Shooting fouls on made baskets — “And-Ones”– will proceed the same way, with the shooter attempting one free throw worth one point.
The NBA’s competition committee has discussed the concept in recent meetings, and league officials brought it up at to NBA head coaches at their annual preseason gathering in Chicago earlier this month, officials say.