The NBA revealed the new "Hack-A-Shaq" foul violations in their updated rule book on Tuesday and hopefully the NBA referees will be able to get it right next season. The fact that Shaq still affects the NBA rulebook almost 10 years later is somewhat alarming in and of itself.
The league still allows intentional fouls to some degree but altered the rule to prevent fight situations like the one that took place when Brad Miller once saw his life flash in front of his eyes after he fouled the hell out of Shaquille O'Neal and was then attacked by Shaq as a result. Here's a breakdown of what the new rules are concerning flagrant fouls in relation to the "Hack-A-Shaq":
- The original rule for away-from-the-play fouls committed during the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime resulting in free throws will now be expanded to the last two minutes of all four quarters.
- For inbound plays, intentional fouls by the defensive team before an inbounder passes the ball will be the same as any away-from-the-play foul.
- Blatant fouling strategies by a team to send a player to the free throw line, such as jumping on an opposing player's back, will be called flagrant fouls. Prior to this rule change, such foul plays were not automatically considered flagrant fouls.
Teams who plan on intentionally stopping the clock to make horrible free-throw shooters on opposing teams shoot foul shots will now have to be concerned about this rule change. Even though this may speed up the game and change teams' strategies to prevent the change of accruing flagrant fouls, the DeAndre Jordans and Andre Drummonds of the NBA world should still work on their free throws.
