D-League to Adopt Rule Changes Similar to FIBA, NBA Could Follow Suit

Filed under: NBA D-League

The NBA Development League is a league that has been developing players, coaches, officials and even dance team members for the NBA since its beginnings in the 2001-2002 season, but the D-League's planned rule changes for this upcoming season could represent the largest impact it's had on the big league thus far.



The NBA Development League plans to alter its rules this season to incorporate the FIBA-like goaltending rules, meaning that once the ball strikes the rim, players will be allowed to either swat the ball off the rim or tip it in unlike the NBA's current rules that state that an imaginary cylinder exists that has the basket as its base and touching the ball while any part of it is in this cylinder -- and still has a chance to go in -- is a violation. The league will also institute a three-minute overtime as opposed to the current NBA-standard five-minute overtime, with the same rules being instituted that are currently used in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter.



These rule changes are rumored to have been a request from the NBA as an experiment, presumably similar to the D-League's testing of the new synthetic basketball prior to it's official introduction into the NBA for the 2006-2007 season. The new basketball didn't last for long in the NBA, however, as NBA commissioner David Stern brought back the original leather basketball less than halfway into the season.

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/09/28/d-league-to-adopt-rule-changes-similar-to-fiba-nba-could-follow/