Teaching FIBA Rules

[azirish]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=sheridan_chris&id=2975657

Scrimmage squad set to be Team USA's 'guinea pigs'

You must be registered for see images attach

By Chris Sheridan
ESPN.com
(Archive)

LAS VEGAS -- Andre Iguodala knows that when LeBron James drives left he tends to pull up and shoot a jumper, and when James goes to his right he likes to take the ball to the hole.

When defending Paul Pierce, he knows Pierce's favorite move is to jab right, go left and then pull up for a jumper. With Vince Carter, Iguodala likes to get up and get physical. And with Kobe Bryant, he knows which way Bryant prefers to go, but he's not giving that little secret away.

"If I tell you, everybody will know," Iguodala said.

But one defensive nugget that Iguodala was willing to dispense Tuesday at a high school gymnasium a couple miles off the Strip was his practice of tapping an opposing player on the nose when that player is elevating for a jump shot -- a trick of the trade that referees rarely spot.

"It knocks guys' whole balance off," said Iguodala, whose arsenal of defensive tactics is being put to the test -- and getting enhanced -- this week as he dons a Team USA practice jersey. He is one of eight young NBA players (the others are Channing Frye, David Lee, Devin Harris, Jason Kapono, Al Jefferson, Aaron Brooks and Jeff Green) who have been selected to scrimmage against the U.S. senior men's national team in preparation for the Tournament of the Americas.

But despite all of Iguodala's capabilities as a man-to-man defender, he'll often find himself in the unfamiliar position of being asked to back off his opponent over the next several days. That's because the Americans expect to see a steady diet of zone defenses when the Olympic qualifying tournament begins next week, and the job of Iguodala and the rest of the scrimmage squad is to mimic what Brazil, Argentina and Puerto Rico are going to do.

"We're the guinea pigs," said U.S. assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo, who will be guiding the scrimmage squad over the next several days beginning Wednesday, when the senior team resumes training camp. "We're going to be getting guys comfortable with the nuances of the international game. We try to simulate what they're going to see.

"The obvious difference is there's no (defensive) 3 seconds, so they're going to play against guys packed in the lane more than they're accustomed to seeing in the NBA. In general, teams will pack it in and make us beat them from outside, because they know they can't match up one-on-one."

Assisting Carlesimo and teaching Igoudala and the other youngsters a few tricks of the international basketball trade is the newest member of the Americans' coaching staff, a guy few people outside of Canada have ever heard of. He's Jay Triano, an assistant for the Toronto Raptors and the former head coach of Canada's national team (who, by the way, took it well Tuesday when this reporter, who has been granted honorary Canadian citizenship by the Raptors' media contingent, heckled him with a chant of "traitor"). He's a sideline veteran who has seen what has worked against and what has frustrated American teams in the past.
One of his tips: When a player cuts through the lane without the ball, grab him and hold him, because the FIBA referees never call that foul, and the Americans always get particularly frustrated by it.

Another Triano tip: Temporarily forget everything you've learned about avoiding a hand check. Yes, it's illegal under international rules, but no, the refs won't call that one, either. And if you doubt Triano on that one, he'll point to the tape of Canada's quarterfinal loss to France in the 2000 Sydney Olympics when French guard Makan Dioumassi manhandled Steve Nash for 40 minutes, forcing him into nine turnovers.

And this one: "On a screen-and-roll, in the NBA if I roll early and run into a defender, that's called a foul. Internationally, if I roll early and run into the defender, it's called a good screen," Triano said.

The inability to defend the moving screen-and-roll was a big part of the Americans' downfall last summer in their semifinal loss to Greece at the World Championship, and coach Mike Krzyzewski and team director Jerry Colangelo have highlighted that one shortcoming as the key thing that needs to be improved.

So that will be one area the team focuses on in its scrimmages. Another will be end-game clock management, which is a whole different ballgame under international rules because only coaches, not players, are allowed to call timeouts, and a timeout will be granted only in a dead-ball situation.

"There ain't a timeout to advance the ball. There ain't 'take a 20 and let's talk about what we're going to do.' They've got to go play," Carlesimo said.

The timeout rule was something Bryant forgot about in the final seconds of the Americans' intrasquad scrimmage last month, highlighting the need for the American coaches to do a better job of communicating the international rules differences to the players.

Traditionally, one of the trickiest differences for the American players to get accustomed to is the basket interference rule, whereby a ball can be tipped off the rim by a defender or dunked through the net by an offensive rebounder. (In the NBA, the ball cannot be touched until it comes off the rim on its own.) After spending their entire lives leaving the ball alone when it's on the rim, American players always have found it difficult to reprogram their minds and bodies to go after those balls, so Carlesimo ran a drill Tuesday trying to get players acclimated to the rule, challenging them to knock a free-throw attempt off the cylinder after the ball had already hit the rim.

According to Carlesimo, no one was able to execute the move successfully.

Still, however, it's early, and chances are an American will pull off the "legal goaltending" move before the Tournament of the Americas ends. Four years ago, it took eight games for someone to do it, Elton Brand finally pulling the move off by knocking Daniel Santiago's shot off the rim in a 36-point victory over Puerto Rico.
Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider. To e-mail Chris, click here.

 

[dodie53]

can't the NBA just implement the FIBA rules?

here in our country,
the PBA are thinking of doing just that,
using FIBA rules..

 

[azirish]

can't the NBA just implement the FIBA rules?

here in our country,
the PBA are thinking of doing just that,
using FIBA rules..

Probably not. Much of what the NBA is about is "show biz" and the FIBA rules are designed to offset the value of athleticism and generally benefit the defense. This is why USA teams struggle under FIBA, but also why international teams get destroyed when playing under NBA rules.

I would like to see some changes on both sides.

NBA Changes:

Trapazoid lane - This greatly reduces the value of getting into the low post position and all the fighting for position that goes on.

No defensive three second calls - Let NBA teams play real zones. The current rules mean NBA players have no idea how to attack zones and there is still too much emphasis on isolation plays.

Tighten up on traveling calls - NBA players cannot play FIBA because they all palm the ball and carry in the lane too much.

Timeouts only at dead ball situations - I actually like the FIBA rule on this.

Get Rid of the Basket Circle - This circle has led refs to focus totally on where the defender is and not whether he's there in time.


FIBA Changes:

End the hand checking and grabbing (this is not rules but how they are called)

End the moving screens

Change the goal tending rules

FIBA rules tend to force teams to play "team basketball", but the lack of calls on hand checking, grabbing, etc. go too far.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Also I think players cannot call time outs, only coaches.

 

[azirish]

Also I think players cannot call time outs, only coaches.

I'm not sure it matters. The issue with players calling timeouts is due to them being called in course of play. Coaches cannot really call them during the course of play because the refs are not, or should not, be looking at them. In a dead ball situation, the player can simply hang onto the ball until the ref recognizes the coach making the call.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

it certainly does matter

last 3 seconds of the game and you get a rebound
flying out of bounds to save a ball
grabbing a lose ball with seconds to go
blocking a clutch shot needing to re-evaluate the situation
full court press and you cant get it past halfcourt in 8 seconds
trying to throw an inbound pass and cant get it in

much more pressure on the coach, much more instincts that have to be blocked by players.

 

[Errntknght]

I think the the combination of adding the trapezoidal lane and removing the D 3 sec rule is too much in favor of the defense - thats too much vital area where the defenders can camp out and offensive players can only flit through.

Theoretically, a trapezoidal lane makes sense but FIBA's trapezoid is too wide. If you kept the same total area as the NBA lane - narrowing it at the top so it was the width of the FT line (unextended) and making the bottom the same amount wider - you'd have a good shape and, also, a nice 'political' compromise.

One thing I like about this is that if gives a little more space to operate a high post offense - which is an exciting brand of basketball, IMO.

Another intriguing change would be to simply cut off the bottom 2 feet of the lane - yes, a 2 foot wide track along the baseline that is not part of the restricted area. The idea is to increase the area of the floor where there's action. It will give offensive players an area that's near the basket where they can operate so they have to be well defended - but it won't be trivial to get them the ball so it will reward sharp passing. With that, you could do away with the three second rule and it wouldn't favor the defense too much. Then a team could zone all it wanted and it wouldn't make the game nearly as dull as it does now.

I think the FIBA goaltending rules are much better - its based on the action of the ball, which is visible, rather than a theoretical cylinder, which isn't. Not really a big deal, of course, since it affects so few plays per game. Still, simpler is better.

I completely agree with George about the small circle demarking the 'no charge' zone and for the reason he gave.

I favor the NBA rules on time outs but its not a big deal, IMO. Maybe there would be good compromise somewhere on that.

One thing I would like to see is the refs not having to handle the ball on simple changes of possession - it makes the action faster and it rewards alertness on the players part. (I'm not sure this is still a FIBA rule, but it used to be.)

An issue George didn't mention is the three point line... I'm definitely in favor the NBA distance - cheap threes just don't cut it. I guess with zones you need to give the offense some sort of a break but I'd much rather have a 'free' path along the baseline which would add to playmaking rather than detract from it as cheap threes do.

 

[dodie53]

i agree with the,

remove the defensive 3 seconds rule
and
tighten the calling of travelling

 

[azirish]

I forgot about the three point line because Sheridan didn't mention it, but I agree with Errntknght on that. The FIBA line is too close.

 

[Errntknght]

I agree with Errntknght on that. The FIBA line is too close.

But I don't agree with you - if you have that huge FIBA trapezoid and no D-3 rule you have to give the offense something. My point was that, shortening the 3pt distance is not the way to go by way of compensation because it dumbs the game down.

Personally, I'm not at all a fan of the FIBA game - I don't care for all the wrestling in the paint but I prefer that to the static game you get in the halfcourt under FIBA rules.
I don't think that would sit well with the American fans, who like action and high scoring affairs.

You could think of it in terms of what would happen to Nash's game. The pick and roll would still be there but all those exciting sorties he makes deep into the lane wouldn't be nearly as exciting - first of all he'd have to be much more concerned about clearing out of the lane before his 3 seconds were up plus all his cutters would have to start from further away, giving the defense more time to react. On top of that he'd usually be dribbling into a zone defense so he'd have trouble just getting started and then he'd have defenders slapping at him from all sides.

Lesser guards would have even more trouble with dribble penetration - Barbosa, for example.

 

[azirish]

To me, the big reason FIBA is so static is all the grabbing and hand checking. Having a big right under the basket might reduce some driving the basket, but it does not solve the problem all opponents of the Suns have with five shooters on the floor at the same time.

 

[Errntknght]

I wasn't talking about the Suns per se, just the overall style of play you get with the FIBA rules. True the hand checking and body checking contribute but the game is not structured to promote action. I don't care for a game that is all about shooting - I like to see creative playmaking and passing and I don't mean just whipping the ball around the perimeter until someone has a sliver of space to shoot.

The reason I mentioned Nash was that I think he represents the most exciting basketball being played under any set of rules - and I would not like to see the NBA make any rule changes that make that kind of play more difficult. The smart thing to do is just the opposite - make rule changes that promote it. At a theoretical level I think nearly everyone that follows the Suns is in favor of that. I also think its smart to unify the NBA and FIBA rules but wholesale adaptation of the FIBA rules (including lane configuration) as you favor, is a huge mistake. Getting rid of too much physical play is good but you are not getting closer to Suns style if you adopt the FIBA rules to accomplish that end.

 

[azirish]

I agree that wholesale FIBA would be a mistake.

BTW, I think that D'Antoni's 7 seconds or less was a result of playing against zones. A key to his approach is to get into an early offense before the defense can get set - something he learned in Italy.