Billy Donovan is annoyed that there haven’t been as many foul calls lately.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver made some remarks last month during the All-Star break in Indianapolis that seemed to imply the league would call fewer fouls coming forward. Nobody was certain whether or not there would be any modifications, let alone how obvious these possible alterations would be. About a month has passed since then, and coaches and players from all around the league have observed some changes. Head coach of the Chicago Bulls Billy Donovan is one of the coaches.
Billy Donovan is just one instance of an individual within the NBA who has taken notice, although many others have also recognized this trend. Here are the original remarks made by Adam Silver.
“I’m actually satisfied with the current state of the game,” Silver stated, as reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “However, I acknowledge that some coaches believe we have limited defensive players’ ability to defend, particularly in the manner it was done in the past in this league. To some extent, this change has been deliberate. There was a time when the game was considered overly physical, and it was believed that we had compromised the aesthetic appeal of the game. I shared those sentiments in the 1990s. Whether adjustments are necessary now is something we consider based on feedback from coaches and players. The competition committee will continue to deliberate on this matter.”
Billy Donovan has noticed the changes
The Bulls and Donovan have noted that there are fewer foul calls and that it is now harder for them to go to the line. For Chicago and perhaps a lot of other teams, the biggest problem with this is that everything changed suddenly, making it difficult to adjust to the new normal.
“It’s evident across the league that the number of fouls called prior to the All-Star break has decreased,” Donovan remarked, as reported by NBA.com. “Teams aren’t getting to the free-throw line as frequently as usual. When you’re accustomed to certain fouls being called and they’re not, it can be frustrating. There were probably some missed calls when DeMar went to the basket a couple of times. I think Vooch (Nikola Vučević poked in the eye on the jump ball to start the game) got hit too. That being said, they probably felt the same way on some of their drives.”
This represents a significant shift from the previous situation, and it’s evident that Donovan and the Bulls will need to adapt to this new reality.