Jeff Van Gundy Would Like the NBA to Do Away With Players Fouling Out

Filed under: Celtics, Lakers, NBA Coaches, The Bonus, NBA Finals

LOS ANGELES -- Jeff Van Gundy isn't a fan of players being forced to sit with foul trouble during games, and in fact, he'd like to see the league get rid of the "fouling out" rule altogether.



On Saturday, in response to a question about whether or not he thinks Ray Allen will continue to face problems with early fouls as he did in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, Van Gundy responded by detailing the reasons why he thinks the whole concept of players fouling out of games isn't a good one for the NBA.







Share "Let's hope not," Van Gundy said. "I've been against fouling out, the rule. I don't like the idea. If you say the NBA won't change to a "no-foul-out" rule, well, let's at least give them an extra foul. Because no one came here to watch who's in foul trouble. They'd like to see the Lakers' best, the Celtics' best, and ... I think it's one of the problems with basketball in general.



"In football they don't say three holding calls and you're out, in baseball they don't say two errors and you're out. I just think it's bizarre that we would want our best players to be sitting out. Especially because I think it would take a lot of burden off of the officials, too. Because if they make a poor call now it can really have an impact on the game, but if there were more fouls, at least that one foul wouldn't dramatically change things ... Ray Allen's two [early] fouls dramatically altered the course of that game. I'm not saying the outcome of that game, but the course of the game.



"I think the NBA should really lean more heavily on the expertise of the coaches who coach right now than they do. Right now they're looked at almost as like the enemy. You know, because they're always getting fined, it's like they're the 'enemy of the state', instead of like the guys who really know what would be right for the NBA -- the game. Coaches have no idea about the business of the NBA, but I would say the league has limited knowledge of what's good for the game.



"I think there are some tweaks we could have to make the game better. A lot better."

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/06/05/jeff-van-gundy-would-like-the-nba-to-do-away-with-players-foulin/