The NBA needs to end the "foul out" rule
I have lots of good ideas about sports. Life, really.
One, in basketball, is to end fouling out. Why are we taking the NBA’s best players off the court at the most important time in a game?
OK, I know why, but we need to change that. The solution is simple: Once a player gets their sixth foul, each foul is two shots and the ball for the opposing team.
Ta da! Now, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Kyle Lowry and Norman Powell are in the game in crunch time Sunday night.
Antetokounmpo makes $24.2 million this season and Lowry makes $31 million. People are paying hundreds to thousands of dollars to watch these guys.
STOP FOULING THEM OUT! Not to mention, Antetokounmpo’s foul was pretty questionable.
Imagine, in the NFL, if Aaron Rodgers was ejected for too many illegal forward passes or intentional grounding penalties. Bring in DeShone Kizer!
OK, it’s a tough comparison because fouls in the NBA are a basic part of the game and happen frequently — and all at the referees’ discretion — as opposed to some NFL penalties.
How about baseball?
New MLB rule: If a player looks at four strikes, he’s ejected.
Like the NBA refs, an umpire decides what’s a ball and a strike, when a batter doesn’t swing.
Game 7 of the National League Championship. The Brewers are down 2-1 to the LA Dodgers to get to the World Series.
It’s the ninth inning. There are two outs and a runner on second.
Christian Yelich comes up to bat. He hasn’t struck out this game, but he’s looked at a couple of strikes.
First pitch, strike. Questionable call by the ump. Second pitch, ball.
Third pitch, strike, again, and Yelich is ejected for looking at his fourth strike this game.
The Brewers will have to bring in someone off the bench with a 1-2 count and the World Series on the line. Oh my!
Who will it be? Craig Counsell looks down his bench and signals in … wait, who? Backup catcher Jacob Nottingham is headed to the batter’s box.
That’s basically what happened Sunday night. Only it was Game 3, not Game 7. Not yet.
Why is the NBA eliminating its best product at the most important time of the game, of the season?
And, if you invoke my “two shots and the ball” penalty for each foul after the fifth, you could argue it would be better for the other team.
It would also challenge the opponent to go at the player that now has six foul. An added nuance. Does the team abandon its offense and go after that player?
Not to mention $55.2 million worth of salaries would still be on the court in double overtime of an Eastern Conference Finals playoff game.
ABOVE PHOTO: Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) fouls out of the game as Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam (43) drives to the net during the second overtime period of Game 3 of the NBA basketball playoffs Eastern Conference finals in Toronto on Sunday, May 19, 2019. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)