Mark Cuban Comments on NBA Potentially Changing Hack-a-Shaq Rules
On Thursday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said a new rule could address the so-called Hack-a-Shaq strategy that targets poor free-throw shooters, and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was not a fan.
According to Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman, Cuban did not mince words when asked for his thoughts.
"If Adam wants to get rid of Hack-a-Shaq, he's wrong. Dead wrong. Absolutely 100 percent wrong," Cuban said. "If it's about speeding up the game, get rid of the dumb s--t like when the guy's rolling the ball on the floor, keep the five-second call going."
The strategy was named for NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, who averaged 23.7 points per game during his career but shot just 52.7 percent from the free-throw line. Teams would foul him on purpose and take their chances with him at the line.
Several teams still use it today, including the Portland Trail Blazers in their series against the Los Angeles Clippers. Portland has sent 43 percent free-throw shooter DeAndre Jordan to the foul line 24 times in two games, and he has made only nine.
Silver pointed out that he would like games to last only two-and-a-half hours, per DeAntae Prince of Sports Illustrated:
"It's not unanimous, but there is clearly an emerging consensus, both among the members of the competition committee and the owners, who we made a presentation to at last week's meetings, that we need to address the situation. I think, as [vice president of basketball operations] Kiki [VanDeWeghe] said, exactly what the new rule should be is still open for debate. At least I'm hoping that between now and when the owners next meet in July we can create and form a consensus as to what a change in the rule should be.
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Silver also said three Hack-a-Shaq fouls or more could add 11 minutes to a game, according to Prince. Cuban, however, seems to have a different perspective on the issue, per Slater:
"There's a thousand ways to speed up the game. ... Adam's right on a lot of things. But if that's his position, he's wrong. Anyone who thinks it's about saving time is wrong. Not maybe wrong. Not could be wrong. Not possibly wrong. Not-smart minds can take different viewpoints. It's just wrong. We had a guy throw up an air ball. We've been on the other side of Hack-a-Whoever before. You work on it. Basketball is a mental game. If you take that out of the game, you take a lot of the mental discipline out of the game. And that's wrong.
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While Silver appears to be ready to move forward, he'll need two-thirds of the league's owners to agree with him in order to implement a change, according to Prince. And it's a safe bet Cuban will be making rounds to try to convince his fellow owners to keep the rule as it is.
