Michael Malone, Tom Thibodeau speak out against Adam Silver’s latest idea

Michael Malone, Tom Thibodeau speak out against Adam Silver’s latest idea

NBA commissioner Adam Silver was on The Dan Patrick Show earlier this week and floated a new idea to the public: Shortening the quarters for NBA games from 12 minutes to 10 minutes.

The reception didn’t go over well with the public, myself included. Plus a pair of coaches–New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau and Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone–spoke out against the idea on Wednesday ahead of their matchup.

“I’m probably more traditional, so I’d hate to see that,” Thibodeau said. “I haven’t really thought about it just because of the records and things of that nature. I think we have a great game. I think what people want to see is competition. And when you study what’s transpired over time, there’s always been different styles of play. … But what goes into winning is the same, and what the fans enjoy is great competition. So I think if we focus on the competition aspect of it, everything else will fall into place.”

“I hope we don’t go to 10-minute quarters. I hope we don’t go to the four-point line,” Malone said, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “I hope we don’t become Barnum and Bailey where we’re just having to do whatever we have to do to keep viewership. Because there is a history and greatness to this game, and a purity to this game, and I hope we can find a way to stay true to that.”

While player safety is important, there’s no guarantee that it will be helped by shortening the quarters. It would affect records tenfold because each game would be eight minutes shorter, which is a lot of time.

Silver mentioned that the league is shifting more to an international scale. While the NBA is the only league that plays 82 games with 48-minute games, if we’re going to shift any scale similar to how it’s played internationally: Let the players be more physical. Allow hand-checking, for christ sake!

The casual fan is sick of how often teams shoot 3s. While I say that not all 3s are created equally, it’s harder to defend in the NBA than ever. Allowing teams to be more physical at the point-of-attack will lead to creating more shot variance. NBA offenses should work harder for their shots than they oftentimes do, even though today’s brand of basketball is still underrated relative to the previous generations.

Oh, and allow teams to hit the ball when it’s on the rim … that FIBA rule is fun! That would be my first legitimate rule change, but that’s neither here nor there.

***

Click Here for more NBA Content

Subscribe to Vendetta’s Twitch

Subscribe to Vendetta’s YouTube

Check out the Vendetta Shop

Check out Vendetta Fantasy Contests