Adam Silver: Youth coaches don't want Hack-a-Shaq eliminated
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said youth coaches have emailed him with requests not to eliminate the Hack-a-Shaq strategy because they want kids to learn to shoot free throws, according to Ethan Skolnick of Bleacher Report.
Silver recently told ESPN.com that he expects the NBA to engage in "full-throated" discussions about the possibility of creating rules barring the practice of intentionally fouling bad free-throw shooters.
The strategy was popularized when opponents would frequently "hack" 15-time All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal. This season it has been used on DeAndre Jordan— "Hack-a-DJ"—as well as other players.
• ROUNDTABLE: What should the NBA do about Hack-a-Shaq?
"It's something that I'm on the fence about," Silver told ESPN.com in April. "My thought used to be that we should definitely change the rule, and then having sat through several general managers meetings, competition meetings and having heard from some of the game's very best, the view is the players should hit their free throws. That's changed my view a little bit.
"Having said that, when I watch some of these games on television, frankly, it's not great entertainment for our fans, and that's important as well. What I've said is we have another general managers meeting coming up in May, we have a competition committee meeting in June, and I'm sure it's going to be a hot topic of discussion. Then, we have an owners meeting in July, so I think at all three of those meetings we're going to be having full-throated conversations about what the right rules should be going forward."
Eliminating Hack-a-Shaq could reduce the incentive for players, such as Jordan, to hone their free-throw shooting.
The Clippers center shot 39.7 percent from the line this season.
