Recular is wise, and here the NBA has picked up the baton and retraced its own steps to amend a rule that had been distorted and forced to the point of being grotesque. For there was nothing orthodox about that «jump shot» that would lead to believe that there was a “real” shooting intention behind it, and therefore the regulations will cease to designate it as an offense by the defender from this season, seeing his first examples of it in the preseason.
There are not a few players used to getting oil from this action who will have to change the chip, and surely more than one gives in to the old impulse during the season and will be surprised when they do not hear the echo of the whistle. But that is over.
So, the story will be this way from now on: if a defender jumps to hit a shot but does not invade the natural zone of the thrower during his fall (that is, his influence of vertical elevation), there will be no room for a foul. , no matter how much the attacker jumps forward in a completely unnatural execution and where it is only deduced, effectively, that he seeks to generate contact with the defender.
Or as the new standard indicates in its literal tenor and at three levels:
- «Shooter launches/leans into defender at abnormal angle» (The shooter leans toward the defender at an abnormal angle)
- «Shooter kicks leg at abnormal angle» (The shooter sticks his leg out at an abnormal angle)
- «Offensive player abruptly veers off path (sideways/ backwards) into defend»(Offensive player abruptly veers off path (sideways / backward) in pursuit of defender)
NOT THIS YEAR. goodbye jumping into the defender fouls. pic.twitter.com/FW47gdk0rl
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) October 5, 2021
Sorry for your VIP affiliates (we all know they know who they are); this train has already left. One less buckle on the fender belt. I already played. That the pants were beginning to tighten.
(Cover photo Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
