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Audio By Carbonatix
The NBA is constantly tinkering with its rulebook as the game of basketball continues to evolve, and while it’s hard to imagine it will be instituting a couple of proposals Joe Mazzulla recently floated, it’s also hard not to be intrigued by the two changes the head coach wants to see.
Joe Mazzulla is only a few games into his third season as the head coach of the Boston Celtics, but the 36-year-old has already proven he’s a guy who knows a thing or two about basketball after leading the team to the Eastern Conference Finals in his first year before securing a championship in his second.
He also hasn’t wasted any time cementing himself as the Jim Harbaugh of the NBA thanks to a personality rooted in his no-nonsense demeanor and a mentality defined by the various quirks and quotes we’ve been treated to on a regular basis since he took the helm in Boston.
You never know what you’re going to get when Mazzulla conducts an interview or steps up the microphone at a press conference, but it’s usually going to be something much more entertaining than the canned answers and cliché responses far too many guys in his line of work tend to gravitate towards.
On Tuesday, Mazzulla did a radio hit with Zolak & Bertrand on 98.5 The Sports Hub and was asked about a proposal that’s making the rounds that would involve the NBA eliminating the corner three-pointer due to concerns the statistically efficient shot has contributed to a more boring product on the court.
According to NBC Sports Boston, Mazzulla used that topic as a jumping-off point to propose a couple of changes of his own, including the introduction of the basketball equivalent of a power play, saying:
“On a technical, you have to play five-on-four for five seconds or three passes…Instead of taking the ball out on the side, if you commit a foul, the guy goes to the other side of halfcourt, and he can’t leave the halfcourt circle until like three seconds,”
That’s not the only hockey-inspired adjustment he threw his support behind, and I think most fans would agree he’s onto something with the second:
“The biggest thing that we rob people of from an entertainment standpoint is you can’t fight anymore. We should bring back fighting.
I mean, if you want to talk about robbing the league of entertainment, what’s more entertaining than a little scuffle? How come in baseball they’re allowed to clear the benches? How come in hockey they’re allowed to?”
I can’t argue with that.