NBA competition committee meets in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — The NBA’s competition committee met Monday in Las Vegas to review several potential rule changes, including playoff seeding, “Hack-a-Shaq,” the free-agency moratorium period and the replay review center.
Sources at the meeting said no concrete decisions were made in the room, but a full summary of the discussion will be presented to the NBA’s Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
The conversation surrounding playoff seedings addressed whether division winners should be given an advantage in tie-breaker scenarios and a top-four conference seeding despite record.
By coincidence, Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan was an inspiration for two of the other agenda items — Hack-a-Shaq and the league’s nine-day moratorium period. During the postseason, opponents frequently targeted Jordan, whose career free throw percentage is 41.7, with intentional fouls.
This past week, Jordan was at the center of a firestorm when he reneged on a commitment he made to join the Dallas Mavericks to instead return to the Clippers.
Jordan reached his agreement in principle with Dallas during the league’s moratorium period, which runs from July 1 to July 9, when the NBA audits its finances to determine salary-cap figures.
Over that period, teams are permitted to negotiate with free agents. While those players can then commit to a team, they’re not officially allowed to sign a contract.
Several league executives attending Las Vegas Summer League this week have told ESPN.com that they’d like for the league to discuss the possibility of shortening the moratorium window in order to avoid future episodes like Jordan’s.
On Saturday, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who was spurned by Jordan, said he regarded the moratorium as a nonissue.
“I don’t give a f—,” Cuban said. “It isn’t relevant to anything.”
The competition committee also reviewed rules implemented by the D-League during the 2014-15 season.
The D-League serves as a laboratory, of sorts, for the NBA to experiment with more radical rule changes.
Last season, D-League coaches were given “challenges” to contest questionable calls, similar to the NFL. In an effort to reduce delays at the end of the games, another rule change in the D-League enabled teams to advance the ball to halfcourt without having to call timeout.
Current competition committee members include Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, Clippers coach Doc Rivers, San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak (who was not present on Monday), Oklahoma City Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti, Toronto Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri, Miami Heat CEO Nick Arison and Golden State Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob.
National Basketball Players Association director of player relations Roger Mason Jr. represetened the players’ union and was accompanied by NBPA general counsel Gary Kohlman.
There is a vacancy on the committee following the dismissal of former New Orleans Pelicans coach Monty Williams.
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