Phil Jackson’s tenure as Knicks President has been at the very least tumultuous, if not also a bit old-fashioned. His insistence on sticking to the triangle offense hasn’t helped, especially when he gave former guard Derek Fisher his first coaching job and then replaced him with former assistant Kurt Rambis. He’s not exactly the most progressive figure in the NBA today, and he has some interesting ideas which he thinks will help progress the game forward.
Two of those include adding a four point line, as well as extending the shot clock from 24 to 30 seconds, which would match the college game.
“Why not have a four-point line about 35 feet out? It wouldn’t be long before players will get reasonably comfortable shooting from out there. And having a four-point line would certainly serve to enable teams to catch up in what are now blowout games,” he told Charley Rosen of Today’s Fastbreak. And as for the 30 second shot clock…
“This would give offenses more time to get low-post players involved, make defenses work harder, and encourage more passing and player movement.”
So he’s still a bit old-fashioned in that regard, but he’s certainly not the only one who believes a four point line would be beneficial for the NBA. Larry Bird had a measured take about a potential four point line back in May, and former Lakers coach Byron Scott is also in favor of it.
Now that’s it’s truly the NBA’s dead season, expect more stories like this to become the norm.
