5 Issues with NBA Basketball

1. Amount and consistency of Fouls- Fouls need to be in the game, no question about it. There would be far more injuries, and far less shooters, without them. Im not saying that fouls need to be eliminated from the game altogether, but they need to be less of a factor and a nuisance to the entire game's flow, and rhythm. Refs need to let go of some of these fouls and play the game through different eyes. The term no harm no foul, is irrelevant when it comes to NBA basketball because even the slightest tap, could sound off the game stopping, quarrel creating, high-pitched squeel of the whistle. The ruling of fouls should be simple, if the call is close, swallow the whistle, if contact was made, but not seen clearly, swallow the whistle, if players continuously whine and complain, swallow the whistle. Sure, many say that this is the rule now, but it is obvious that this is not the case, and although I realize that many others agree with my idea, I wonder why nothing has been done to fix it.

2. Flopping- Another rule that is hard to regulate and keep in check, but flopping has become way to vital in some NBA players game. Take Allen Iverson for example. Great player, sure, but the foundation of his game today heavily relies on the flop to get the man guarding him in foul trouble or getting him to the line for those all important free-throws. If flopping became an automatic Technical (not an individual technical but a team tech) then players might think twice about throwing themselves 10ft away from the defender after the defender brushed against his jersey. Again, I realize this is easy to say, hard to do.

3. Official Timeouts- Why? I mean I understand that advertisers need their airtime or theyll suffocate but why? Teams have seemingly endless amounts of timeouts anyway so why add some more just for the heck of it? Waste of time, and disrupts the flow of the game. If need be, add another timeout to each teams total, but take away those annoying "Official timeouts", more like "Bud Light Timeouts".

4. Fastbreak Fouls- Oh man, I cant count the times Ive seen a team steal the ball and see a man wide open down the floor and just as the ball handler launches the pass to the wide open man for an automatic 2-points (and possibly a highlight reel dunk) a foul is called. No basket, just the ball. Advantage: fouler. I think that the breakaway rule should have an extra clause on it; if the player holding the ball is in the act of passing the ball to an open player down the court ahead of all of the defenders and the player down the court takes 1 or no dribbles and scores, the basket should count, plus a free-throw. Advantage: team that stole the ball and deserved to have the advantage downcourt. Makes the defense want to get back on D more often instead of waiting for a foul to be called so they can just get back into position.

5. Minor Stat Changes- Some things that should be recognized on the stat sheet but are not. If a defending player knocks the ball out of another players control and a teammate of the defender picks it up both players should be awarded with .5 a steal. It annoys me to see a guy do all of the work and get the ball loose only to have the ball stumble into a neaby player who had far less to do with the play and gets credit for a full steal. This way it rewards the guy who did the work, and the guy who cleaned up by picking up the loose ball. Obviously if a player knocks the ball loose and recovers it himself, he should be awarded with a full steal. Also, with assists, I would like the rule to change a bit. Often times I see a player make a beautiful pass to a post man or out to the perimeter for a nearly automatic shot, only to have that man fouled hard to send him to the line. This eliminates what most likely would have been an assist. I say if the pass leads to 2 or more points on the board, than its an assist. This means that if a player knocks down the 2 free-throws then the passer would get an assist. If he fails to knock down the free-throws, no assists will be awarded. Provides more accurate stat keeping.

Do you agree? Got something else in mind that is more annoying or needs more fixing? Comment! Im open to new ideas!