What’s Wrong With NBA Basketball? This Ref Says Fouling Out Is All Fouled Up

With the back-and-forth NBA Finals going into a truly exciting sixth game, one fan is hoping that victory will come from great play, not from bad calls…or worse, from one of the stars collecting a few quick fouls and having to take a seat.

Boston’s Mike Healy has devoted his life to basketball refereeing, and it breaks his heart when he sees a game decided by the refs. The biggest problem, in his view: the rule that if you commit six fouls, you’ve fouled out of the game.

Strategically, if a key player racks up two or three fouls early in the contest, his coach is likely to sit him down in the second or third periods. By limiting his minutes in the first three quarters, the coach is more likely to have that vital player available for the final quarter.

But two points scored in the second period count just as much as two points scored in the last 12 minutes. And building a sizable lead early can put a game out of reach. By consigning a superstar to the bench early on, you’re radically limiting a team’s ability to capitalize on his abilities. Even if he never racks up six fouls, he’s already out of the game for a long and often meaningful stretch.

To Healy, that makes no sense. His simple and elegant solution: eliminate the six-fouls-and-you’re-out rule.

“How can the best athletes foul out,” Healy asks, “just because they always have the ball trying to score against the opponent — who succeeds by throwing himself into the path of the most skilled participant? It should be basketball, not basketbody.”

In other words, he’s outraged by the idea that a defender can stand in the way of a player heading to the basket, hoping that the ref calls a charging foul on the shooter.

“’Strategic fouling’ is disgraceful and unsportsmanlike,” says Healy. “Players have to be able to drive to the basket without worrying that their number of fouls will send them to the bench.”

“If players didn’t have to worry about collecting six fouls,” Healy reasons, “coaches wouldn’t have to sit them down early on. They could play long and hard and the outcome of the games would be fairer. The games would be decided by the best players, who could rack up maximum minutes, rather than turning superstars into super spectators, as is the case today.”

Healy points out that there’s nothing new about damage inflicted by the fouling out rule. All the way back in 1965, he says, Princeton’s Bill Bradley, one of the finest (and most principled) players in the history of the game, was leading the #1 rated Michigan Wolverines by 12 points when he fouled out with over 4 minutes to go in the Madison Square Garden Holiday Festival, the most prestigious mid-season tournament of its time. They then lost, with the Michigan coach admitting that the key to their win was Bradley fouling out.

Let’s say Klay Thompson racks up a couple of early fouls tonight, grabs a seat on the bench, and watches the next two quarters with a towel over his head, so Steve Kerr can save him for the final quarter. Then ask yourself if the game is better or worse for the fouling out rule.

Healy would make a few other changes, while he’s at it.

“The game as it stands today is impossible to officiate fairly,” he claims. “The court is too small for these incredibly big, fast and quick athletes for any referee to do the job correctly. We need a longer, wider court, with a 12-foot hoop, since today’s athletes can play so easily above the rim. Let them earn their baskets. The most violent and dangerous plays like dunking and collisions at the basket with “Rim Defenders” would be eliminated by the 12' hoop. The game would be every bit as entertaining, require more skill & and be far less physically dangerous.”

Healy is a passionate fan.

“While we’re at it,” continues Healy, “If we want to restore the lost mid-range game, overall fairness, and stop offensive flopping, eliminate free throws — entirely. When the best offensive players in the world continually flop to get an easy 2 or 3 points at the free throw line, it is time to eliminate free throws.”

“We also need simplified rules so the players have the best chance to decide the outcome. It would be both much more entertaining for the true basketball fans and a better example to the kids learning the game. Why not use soccer’s Yellow and Red Cards to penalize intentional and flagrant fouls. Without foul shots, drivers will stop & pop like they used to. Again, this would increase the skill requirement and reduce the unnecessary violence that plagues the great game of basketball.”

“Basketball is simply too important to leave to the refs to decide,” he argues. “Nobody pays good money to watch a guy in a black and white striped shirt blow a whistle.”