NBA Season in Jeopardy (Part 2): How Can the Game Be Saved

The NBA season has been in a flux and, as you've read in several articles like mine from yesterday (NBA Season in Jeopardy...) or have heard by now, the players union is no more. 

They've decided to de-certify and file two anti-trust lawsuits. One in Minnesota and the other in California and, in return, David Stern has canceled every game up until December 15th. It's a classic game of chess where the players and owners are playing against the clock and the moment one group blinks the wrong way, the other will take advantage.

The details have basically remained the same so nothing has changed—for the better at least, it's only gotten worse. While we are planning to find other things to do with our time, allow me to be solutions-orientated and feel free to join me.

If you had the chance to save the game, how would you? 

The first thing that I would do is stop this foolishness with the lockout. I think that's an obvious one, but the tricky part will be rebuilding faith in the game and it begins and ends with the owners being apologetic about the lockout.

This could happen in earnest, simply by putting out ads in the local newspapers thanking the fans for their patience and apologizing for the the delay of the season. A little good will can go a long way in the minds of the fans. 

Here in Chicago, I would love to see Jerry Reinsdorf reach out to me and fellow Bulls fans. I would forgive everything about this messy situation that the NBA is in. Remember, the fan comes first.

Secondly, the players need to be media-friendly.

I know that it is difficult to reach out to the overzealous fans but without us, there is no them. This goes beyond the usual obligations of NBA Cares, the players, especially the stars, must be present to do some of the little things, such as hold autograph sessions for the kids. Build a rapport and generate a new fanbase would be a given.

Now that we have the easy things out of the way, what about eliminating the ugliness in the game. As a lifelong fan, I am in love with the beauty of the mid-range game and crisp passing, not slowly walking the ball up the floor but real movement.  

If you are on offense, you cannot stay in the paint for more than three seconds. Why not expand that range a bit so the players are forced to move around? Something like this sounds petty, but imagine the Boston Celtics having to navigate from one side to the other, looking for the better shot instead of going "one-on-one" all the time. A small tweak that could create more offense the way the NBA was in the late-80s and early-90s. 

To those of you who are too young to remember, teams used to score 108 points a game on a regular basis.

Time to eliminate the referee bias also.  They are human, but no one can tell me that there isn't something interesting about LeBron James screaming while falling out of bounds after shooting a bad shot getting the foul he was looking for. It's LeBron and he's good, but c'mon—he wasn't touched.

Stop giving the stars players the benefit of the doubt more times than not. You can't act as if he would've made the shot when he's shooting 35 percent from the field. He's ice cold and clearly acting, but instead, the referee calls the shooting foul which effectively eliminates the flow of the game and slows it down unnecessarily.

Swallow the whistles and while you're at it, stop laughing with the stars. It looks bad.

Raise the age limit to 20 years old and/or two years removed from high school. People hate this rule saying that, if the player is good enough, let him go pro, but I say no—absolutely not.

For every Kobe, there are 15 Leon Smiths and Eddy Currys. Let their games mature in college because the NBA is lacking on fundamentals severely.

Players come in and can't shoot, dribble, pass or play defense but have "raw talent" that never reaches its potential. If you wonder why, then consider this; you've dunked your way into the pros and you have a guaranteed contract, why would you work on your game when all you wanted to do in the first place is get paid?

Get rid of the one-and-done college players and watch the league become a bit more fluid. 

On a side note, the teams that draft foreign players only to stash them overseas, penalize them for it with a luxury tax of some sort. Teams are supposed to improve through the draft, not purposely draft players who may never play for them.

Also, prohibit players overseas from entering the draft if they cannot play in the NBA due to a buyout clause that doesn't allow them to leave their teams. Waiting a year is one thing, but two and three years should not be allowed. Those players are under contract and if the college kids are allowed to do it, neither should the players overseas.

The last thing I would do is limit the amount of timeouts used with under three minutes left in the game to two. Basketball is unbearable to watch when the last five minutes take 20 minutes because of constant timeouts and breaks in the action. We lose interest fast, even with the nail-biters. These guys are pros for a reason.

This rule, I would call the "Phil Jackson Rule." Let the players work that out themselves.  That's what they get paid to do.

That's how I would save the game, by improving the fluidity of the game. How would you save it?