NBA D-League Reveals Rule Changes for 2015-16 Season: Details, Reaction

The NBA Development League announced on Thursday that it will be making rule changes entering the 2015-16 season, per CBSSports.com's Matt Moore.    

In a release made available by Moore, the D-League stated that it "serves as a research and development lab for the NBA, testing rules, equipment and technological advancements." That basically means it gives new ideas a test run in its league to give the NBA a good idea on whether they could work.

Of the changes, the D-League has dropped the international goaltending rule that allows the ball to be live upon hitting the rim. It will go to the NBA rule that states the ball needs to be clear of the cylinder in order for a player to touch it. 

The international rule is something that had interested former NBA Commissioner David Stern, who made public as early as 2011 that he wanted to see a change to the goaltending rule, per 790 The Ticket in Miami (h/t Sports Radio Interviews):

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I think that it’s too hard to call. I think that we don’t want to stop the game every time to see if it’s the right call, but the camera that looks down on the basket can tell the story if the refs have gotten it right. And it’s just impossible to call to make whether the ball’s touching the rim, on the rim, off the rim or the like. And I think that would make the game faster, better, and less controversial. 

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With the D-League ditching that rule, it doesn't seem likely the NBA will be changing its goaltending rules anytime soon. 

Another rule the D-League is tweaking for this season is the coach's challenge rule. Per Moore, this allows coaches to challenge the rulings of "called personal fouls charged to their own team or any play that is currently an NBA D-League replay trigger, other than flopping." 

The tweak is that coaches will only be permitted to use this challenge once in the fourth quarter and each overtime period.

Other rules that have been changed include a new number of timeouts per team. Four full timeouts, which last two minutes, and three 30-second timeouts will be allotted to teams during regulation.

Basketball fans might want to keep an eye out on how these rules are working in the D-League. If they are a success and improve the pace of the game, then these tweaks could make their way up to the NBA.