Canada - Time of the essence

From: thechronicleherald.ca
View source article here.
By CHAD LUCAS

Will FIBA rule changes make a difference in the game?

A lot can happen on a basketball court in six seconds.

Take that much time off the clock and it might even change the way people play the game — for better or for worse, depending on whom you ask.

Many basketball teams across the province will have six fewer seconds to shoot the ball next season as leagues from minor to university comply with Canada Basketball’s push to adopt FIBA international rules throughout the country.

The biggest change among those rules is the shift to a 24-second shot clock instead of the traditional 30, along with eight seconds to bring the ball across halfcourt instead of 10.

The Canadian university (CIS) women’s league and the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association adopted the FIBA rules this season. The CIS men, Basketball Nova Scotia and provincial high school leagues will follow suit next year, though Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation executive director Tom Fahie says his group’s board of governors might hold on to a few exceptions.

"We’re going to take the next few months and see what modifications, if any, we want to make," Fahie says.

Canada Basketball is pushing to bring Canada in line with the rest of the basketball-playing world. Of the 212 nations that belong to FIBA, the sport’s international body, only Canada and the United States don’t play by FIBA rules at all levels.

But many coaches oppose the change — especially at the university level, where men’s coaches voted handily against adopting the shorter clock.

"I don’t like the 24-second clock," says Saint Mary’s coach Ross Quackenbush. "I think it’s just going to induce more guys to hoist up bad shots."

In theory, less time to shoot means a faster and potentially more entertaining game. But Quackenbush, like many coaches, feels it means more bad decisions as teams rush up the floor to set up their offences.

"I think it leads to a sloppier brand of ball," he says. "What’s so necessary about crazy end-to-end action? Sometimes chaos is not more entertaining. And sometimes that’s what it will amount to."

In the AUS women’s basketball conference, the results of the new rules have been mixed. Scoring is up: through the first month of the season, the league’s eight teams are averaging 67 points per game each, almost six more than in the 2005-2006 season when teams averaged 61.2 points per game. Three teams — Memorial, Dalhousie and UNB — are scoring at least 70 points a game, while not one team averaged more than 65.4 points last year.

The shorter clock has led to an average of six extra shots per game for each team (60.3, compared to 54.3). And if teams are taking more bad shots they seem to be making them, as field-goal shooting percentages have dropped only half a point to 40.7 per cent, down from 41.2 per cent last season.

But turnovers have also increased, to 18.6 per game (per team) from to 16.4. Teams are also shooting an extra three free throws (21.7 to 18.5), thanks in part to a change in when teams go into bonus situations.

The result of the extra stoppages in play, coupled with two extra breaks as teams play four 10-minute quarters instead of two 20-minute halves, is that those faster-paced games ironically take longer to play.

"The FIBA rules suck for the most part," laments Cape Breton Capers women’s coach Fabian McKenzie. "You’ve got 19 minutes of dead time. Those 10-minute quarters, any momentum you build or the other team builds, it stops the game.

"It makes for ugly basketball a lot of the time."

Players are still adjusting to the new game. Some aren’t sure if it’s better or worse.

"It’s been a pretty big change — I was used to the 30-second shot clock for my whole life of playing basketball," said Saint Mary’s Huskies point guard Alise Brown. "You have to be a lot quicker in your decision-making. But there are good points and bad points… I guess we’ll see how it goes."

The FIBA rules have their supporters. High school coaches Kathy Spurr and Paul Mansfield have used both sets of rules after coaching Nova Scotia teams at national championships, and they say the quicker-paced game requires players to develop better skills.

"The thing I like about the FIBA game is you have to be able to play basketball," says Mansfield, who coaches the C.P. Allen boys team and also works with the Atlantic Centre for Performance. "You can’t have the traditional point guard who only passes the ball, wing guys who slash, post guys who only play with their backs to the basket.

"They all need to be able to dribble, pass and shoot. It’s a much more fun game to watch, and for the players it’s a much more fun game to play."

In the faster FIBA game, coaches have to spend more time preparing their players in practice, and that will pay off in the long run, Mansfield says.

"It’s more about teaching kids how to play and work together, (rather) than just running plays," he says. "You have to do a really good job as a coach to make sure your kids know the fundamentals, and that’s where I think it will improve the game."

Spurr, the girls’ coach at Halifax Grammar School, shares Mansfield’s opinion. She led the provincial under-15 girls’ team to a bronze medal at nationals under FIBA rules last summer, and she prefers that style of play.

"I found it a real learning experience, and now I find it hard to go back," she says. "I think it develops a more complete player. … I’m in favour of just having one set of rules. And if that’s the set that most of the world is using, then let’s go for it."

Basketball Nova Scotia, which oversees the sport at the minor level, will switch to FIBA next fall. Executive director Donnie Ehler believes it’s a good move but isn’t sure what at age players should have to use the 24-second clock. FIBA doesn’t enforce the clock at the mini (age 11 and under) level.

"We agree that we need to support it, as other provinces are," he says. "But kids at a younger age may need a little bit more time to make their decisions."

Ehler says the biggest advantage to the new rules is eliminating the variations between different leagues and age levels.

"Our officials continually remind us that they walk into a gym and they’re not sure which rules are being used," he says. "I think everyone’s in agreement that we do need to have consistency. … Sometimes we spend so much time debating the rules, let’s spend our time developing coaches and players."

For university coaches, part of their objection is they feel Canada Basketball and the CIS have forced the new rules upon them despite their protests.

"When people ask you to vote on something and you tell them basically 100 per cent that you don’t want it and they say, ‘Too bad,’ I think they have the right to be criticized," says Rob Smart, the men’s coach at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and one of the most vocal opponents of the FIBA rules.

But in the long run, Quackenbush says, the changes aren’t the end of the world. After all, the game is still the same.

"Having said all that… I don’t think it really amounts to a hill of beans," he says. "I don’t think it’s a necessary change, but I can live with it. We’re still going to be playing basketball."