Sixers

Proposed NBA Rule Change: 14 Second Shot Clock After Offensive Rebound

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 23rd, 2018 · 12:59 PM EDT

---

Shams and Woj were basically 15 seconds apart in reporting this, so I’ll just share Shams’ tweet for this one:

Sources: NBA Board of Governors will vote on Sept. 20-21 on 3 potential rule changes beginning in 2018-19: Shot clock re-sets to 14 seconds (instead of 24) after offensive rebound; simplification of clear path foul rule; expanded definition of “hostile act” for instant replay.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 23, 2018

No issues with the latter two items there, but the first thing is very interesting.

Current rule:

You miss a three point shot, Dario Saric grabs the offensive rebound, and the shot clock instantly resets to 24. This gives you a chance to restart the offense, run your set again, and get another decent look.

Changing that would really speed up the pace of play.

Say you grab the board and secure it, then kick it out to the perimeter – by now you’re probably already down to 10-12 seconds. That’s likely not long enough to get into position for another pick and roll or horns set or brush cut, so it might lead to teams just cycling it around or chucking up some contested iso shot instead.

The interesting wrinkle here is that a lot of teams simply punt the offensive rebound in the first place because they want to get back on transition defense. This rule change might encourage more of that, since the value of an OREB goes down with a shorter shot clock window. Why would I commit bodies on the offensive glass when I know Ben Simmons is a threat to run the floor and gash me in transition? It’s risk vs reward, and maybe more teams counter the Sixers by playing a conservative game.

Otherwise, I could see the rule helping the Sixers, since the pace of game would theoretically increase, allowing them to stay in rhythm and tempo and get up and down the floor with more total possessions. A slower team like the Wolves or Rockets wouldn’t be able to limit your offensive possessions by grabbing their own offensive boards and kicking it back out, chewing up the clock with another full 24 seconds to shoot. Instead of gobbling up 40-48 seconds on an opening possession and offensive rebound, that number decreases to 26-34 instead.

For what it’s worth, the Sixers were third-best in the NBA last season with 10.9 offensive boards per game. They were fifth in the league with 13.7 second chance points per game.

It’s something to think about. I’m not sure it’s a necessary change, and I wonder what brought this forth in the first place, but you would be looking at more pace next season if they do approve it.

Completely unrelated, I thought this was one of the team’s best OREBs from last season –