NBA considering MBA’s ‘Free Three?’ - THE GAME OF MY LIFE by Bill Velasco

The National Basketball Association has been implementing various rules and making changes in defensive restrictions in an effort to boost its scoring. One of the rule changes supposedly being studied is the addition of the "Free Three" originally used by the Metropolitan Basketball Association.

This all emerged while MBA Commissioner Ogie Narvasa had been corresponding with NBA head referee Darell Garretson regarding changes in the rules for this year’s MBA season, particularly the Blitz Three, which dominated their e-mails to each other.

"As you will see, it has to do with offensive teams pushing the ball upcourt, defenders having to pressure them if they do not want this rule to affect them, increase scoring and who knows what else," Garretson wrote. "That cannot be found out until it is tried with players in the game involved."

Last Wednesday, the MBA implemented the Blitz Three in a tune-up match between the San Juan Knights and Socsargen Marlins. The Knights won, 120-100, scoring 36 points off the Blitz Three. This means that they earned an extra 12 points by scoring within four seconds of a change of possession.

The "Free Three," meanwhile, originated in the MBA as part of an overall plan to speed up the game and increase scoring. Pop Cola head coach Chot Reyes, then a league official, was among those who thought up the new rule as a way of keeping leading teams on their toes in the last few minutes of a game. Essentially, any player who is fouled in the act of shooting or by a team in full penalty has the option of taking two shots from the foul line or an unmolested 3-point attempt. There were at least half a dozen instances in 1998 when teams like the Manila Metrostars would come back from ten or twelve points down in the last two minutes by taking a free three instead of two free throws.

For the NBA’s part, the search continues for a means to increase the rate of scoring. The "Free Three" is one option.

"To be real honest, all the NBA would have had to do was UNDO all the defensive restrictions (hand-checks, changes in the illegal defense guidelines," etc.) and everything would have been fine," Garretson continues. Players must be allowed to use their athletic skills, which just happen to be superior to when Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, etc., were around."

The search for means to jack up scoring was a direct result of modifications made in illegal defense calls and hand-checking. Over the span of a decade, from the mid-1980’s onwards, scoring gradually went down until breaking 100 in a game became a rarity.

"The NBA really only reverted to the pre-1981 era with the Defensive Restrictions," Garretson elaborates. "It never should have been changed in the first place. Back then, the NBA was afraid that they were becoming a "jump shooting" league, then they became afraid that they couldn’t hit the jump shot."

The NBA is also supposedly in the very early stages of mulling modifications in the MBA rule. First, they may put in a designated shooter for each team from among the five players on the court. Secondly, they may limit the use of the "Free Three" option to the last two minutes of a game. In any event, Garretson will present any and all proposals for rule changes to the NBA’s Competition Committee, headed by Vice-President for Operations Stu Jackson. The Competition Committee is in charge of league rules and enhancements.

If the NBA does decide to use the free three, it will be the first time a Filipino basketball league influenced the rules of the most influential basketball league on earth.