The NBA is going to have to decide whether the purity of the game is more important than keeping their fans interested and watching the game. The NBA is currently investigating a possible rule change when it comes to intentional fouls. The talks haven’t led to anything yet but fans are getting antsy these playoffs. Teams met with NBA officials in Chicago recently and no future change came out of the meeting. But this Hack-a-Shaq problem is under the spotlight and becoming a pressing issue. The NBA’s hand may be forced to make a change based on disgruntled fans.

Deandre Jordan is the case study in the 2015 playoffs. He is being hacked by every team he plays against and his team has paid for it. The Clippers barely got through San Antonio. He is currently shooting a ghastly 42% at the free throw line. And the Clipper’s second round opponent, The Rockets, have been merciless with their hack-a-Deandre strategy. Jordan had 28 attempts in one half breaking a record for most attempts at the line in a playoff game. The Clippers/Rockets series is bordering on the unwatchable side. Houston has its own problem of dealing with a hack-a-Howard. The games have been lasting over three hours and the fans have been tuning out. Shockingly, the Hawks/Wizards series is somehow getting less viewers than this free throw party! Star power goes a long way in the NBA.

This strategy has left Los Angeles with the tough decision of whether or not to leave Jordan in the game during crucial possessions. San Antonio exploited this strategy to its fullest and it nearly helped win the series for them. Deandre Jordan is one of the worst free throw shooters in the league despite being dominating on the defensive end and having some of the most devastating dunks in the league. San Antonio was undersized in this matchup and tried to expose any weakness Los Angeles had and one of the most glaring was an awful free throw shooter. This strategy of fouling Jordan off the ball has infuriated a lot of fans and has crushed the confidence of Jordan. This strategy has started a big debate of whether this should be allowed. People are split. Some hate it and others believe that a rule shouldn’t be added for 10 guys who can’t make their free throws.

There are only a few guys in the league who shoot below 60% at the free throw line and it’s hard to see the league catering to those few men but the fans are getting frustrated. Hack-a-Shaq has been widely used for a long time. It was a good way to stop dominating big men such as Shaq himself. Teams exposed and abused this one weakness the big man had. Shaq would approach the line and look dumbfounded breaking a sweat every time he had to shoot. I*t takes teams out of rhythm. Suddenly the high power offense of the Clippers can’t score. Also, it breaks a player’s confidence. A professional basketball player has to feel pretty bad about not being able to nail a few easy shots. And most of all it could turn teammates on each other. If other players can’t get the ball or can’t get their shots off while their teammate hurts them by consistently missing shots, a rift can develop. There are several accounts of Kobe losing his cool with Shaq regarding his terrible free throw shooting. Of course these two had several other problems.

The NBA may still be forced to come up with solutions despite this only affecting a few players. Games are stretching into the three hour territory and in today’s fast paced world, fans may just not have the time to sit through a free throw fest. Or it may lead to the NBA’s worst nightmare, having all those viewers switch channels.

One possible fix is to limit the amount of times a team can utilize this strategy. I believe a count of three would work great. Sure this would leave the league counting an additional thing during the games but teams would still be able to utilize this strategy without killing the crowd and viewers. Once a team uses their three opportunities to hack-a-whoever the player performing the hack would be issued a technical. Another suggestion after the strategy is used up would be to just send whoever has the ball in their hand to the line instead of the person being hacked. Forcing a terrible free throw shooter to the line is a great strategy but having someone at the line 28 times is just a horrible thing to watch. The fans paid for more than just a couple of big men shooting terribly. These three opportunities could be used at any time during the game so teams would have to be cautious about using their bad free throw shooters in close games at the end. This would bring in another element of strategy to the game.

A lot of the people who are against the hack-a-Shaq strategy state that fouling a bad shooter intentionally shouldn’t be allowed at all but how would this be governed? Would the person committing the foul be issued a technical? Or would the ball just be taken out of bounds to restart a play? Because teams would possibly abuse this scenario as well. Perhaps another idea would be to force the team to take the ball out of bounds and then a technical issued for any subsequent intentional fouls.

One caveat for any solutions to this growing problem is that teams could suddenly make it appear like it was a play on the ball or an accidental foul. There are a lot of things to iron out with any solution but I don’t think an entire rule should be abolished because a team doesn’t know how to get their player to shoot better free throws. This scenario calls for a compromise. Big men shouldn’t have their weakness taken away but the fans deserve better than the mockery we are seeing in the 2015 playoffs.