HOUSTON -- If you were hoping that the days of seeing teams intentionally foul Houston Rockets center Dwight Howard and Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan might be coming to a close, the NBA has some bad news for you.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday that rule changes are not likely to happen when it comes to the intentional fouling of poor free throw shooters like Howard and Jordan.
Both players have been the victims of the so-called "Hack-a-Shaq" gameplan. The plan involves intentionally fouling Jordan and Howard to send them to the free throw line because both are very poor free throw shooters. The gameplan is named after Hall of Fame center Shaquille O'Neal, who was fouled often because he shot around 50 percent on his free throws.
But Silver said the data he has looked at said 90 percent of the occurrences of "Hack-a-Shaq" happen to the Rockets and Clippers, and of that percentage, 75 percent involved Howard and Jordan. Silver said changing the rules for one player on two teams doesn't make sense.
In addition, Silver said changing the rules could hurt young basketball players.
"I'm also concerned sort of as a steward of the game what it means if we change the rules as well, and that's from literally the hundreds of emails I get from high school coaches, junior high coaches, AAU coaches saying you can't possibly change the rule to accommodate players who can't make free throws," Silver told the media at the NBA Finals Thursday.
