The Truth About Hack-A-Player Rules

A loophole in the rules which almost every coach in the NBA seems to be trying to exploit is the Hack-A-Player strategy. This allows players to intentionally foul each other outside of the last 2 minutes when they are over the foul limit which forces the ‘hacked’ player to shoot free-throws. Victims of this strategy contain all the usual suspects such as DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard and Andre Drummond. However, by taking a closer look, it seems to be getting out of hand. This past season there have been over 350 Hack-A-Player incidents which is over double that of last year and it’s occurring to more and more players such as Clint Capela, Rajon Rondo and Tristan Thompson in an attempt to disrupt the other team’s offence. Despite many coaches thinking, if we look at the facts, is it really the best tactic to adopt?

Most players who get hacked often shoot the ball at around 50% from the stripe, (it’s got to go in sometimes the amount of time they get to practice flinging the ball at the hoop) but with most teams offences averaging less than 1 point per possession anyway, surely that makes this strategy harmful to a team if these hacked players a often making 1 out of 2 as that is more points than they would be getting from their team offence anyway.

As much as this method may be criticized, it could be having an unintentionally positive effect on some players. A prime example of this would be in Hassan Whiteside. When the big man entered the league in 2010, he was shooting a dismal 41.7% from the line but was only averaging 0.7 attempts per game. However, due to his increased role with the Heat, his attempts and percentage has increased significantly, likely due to him being forced to take more foul shots after being hacked by opposing teams. This constant intentional fouling seems to have had a positive effect on Hassan as this past season he shot the ball at a respectable 65%, making him not worth hacking.

A main reason the fans hate this strategy is because of the way it slows the game down, stopping the clock and making the millions of viewers watch the ugly forms of the worst shooters in the league. Whether it’s a clank off the back rim or hitting nothing but net (not in the good way), fans don’t want to see this brutal exhibition. Despite this, some players disagree with this view, with LeBron James being quoted as saying “it’s just part of the game” and the man who started this trend of hacking, Shaquille O’Neal saying he felt it showed “respect” as he saw it as that the other team “can’t play me”.

Another aspect of this strategy which some coaches may not be taking into account would be the fact that they are allowing the opposing team valuable rest and a chance to set their defense, making transition points almost impossible, again harming their own offence. All of these factors just add more reason to outlaw this loophole and make the game an exhibition of overall talent, not who can shoot the ball at a higher percentage from one particular spot.