URBONUS crew Donatas Urbonas, Rytis Vysniauskas and Gytis Blazevicius discuss the changes they'd like to see in the EuroLeague game rules.
Over the past few years – and especially this season – several EuroLeague games tend to last a lot longer than they used to because of the constant video reviewing.
At the same time, coaches choose to challenge calls that are almost impossible to overturn, players try to elicit fouls in the act of shooting despite having no intention of actually shooting the ball, and referees are obligated to implement rules that seem to contravene the logic of the sport itself.
In the Q&A podcast for BN+ subscribers, URBONUS crew Donatas Urbonas, Rytis Vysniauskas, and Gytis Blazevicius discussed the changes they'd like to see in the EuroLeague, which could make games shorter, fairer, more attractive, and viewable.
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1. Fouls in the act of shooting
Fouls in the act of shooting from over the other half of the court seem like an easy loophole to fix.
"It's not the first time we've talked about this. But this season, it's happening way too often," Vysniauskas said.
"I'm not blaming players because they want to do what's best for their team. Now that the referees have made those calls for Elijah Bryant and Mike James when this happens again, they have to follow the line and give free throws consistently. And that's just bad," he pointed out.
"It has to stop," Urbonas stressed. "It's not about players outsmarting the rules. Now it's Round 4, and someone can't watch a EuroLeague game because it takes three hours to finish. It's not too late to fix it. Referees are just sticking to the rulebook, and it makes them look like fools."
2. Alternative fouls for stopping fast breaks
Vysniauskas suggested an alternative way to punish players for intentional fouling and for stopping fast breaks.
"If you stop a fast-break with a foul, even if you're not in the bonus, you get punished. The player goes to shoot one free throw, and his team has the ball in possession. And then, you don't pay any attention to the fake shots. You just use your common sense," he argued.
3. Coach's challenge rule change
Urbonas suggested fewer coach challenges, and Vysniauskas added that those should only be available in the fourth quarter.
"Challenging an out-of-bounds play in the first quarter doesn't make sense," Vysniauskas stressed.
"I would stick to the factual rules in the video review. It's only a tool where it's clear and obvious that the player was late to shoot the ball, or the shot clock expired, or the player stepped on the line. And then, the calls for unsportsmanlike fouls and everything that requires interpretation, you always hear the referees disagree with each other. So, [you should] review only what's factual."
4. 4th official in the referees' crew
Urbonas proposed that the 4th referee stand behind the officials' table in case the video review was repeatedly used before crunch time.
"I don't want situations like in Madrid [Real Madrid-Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens], where the referee comes and gets the screen of the current situation and not the actual play that happened. In this way, we wouldn't have to wait for 2-3 minutes for the play to appear on the screen," Urbonas underlined.
"You can hear players and fans getting irritated. There's a lot of pressure because people want to make a decision as quickly as possible. So, there's a high chance you won't be making a high-quality video review."
Vysniauskas said that most of the time, referees don't get the perfect angles.
"In the NBA, there's a separate review center with many screens, and the quality is so much better," he said. "Here, referees are focusing on the ball rotation and don't have the best technology available."
5. Technical fouls should be separated from personal
Finally, Vysniauskas thinks technical fouls shouldn't be included in the personal fouls.
"It should be like a yellow card in football – two technical fouls, and you're out," he opined and mentioned a recent example.
"In the Monaco-Barcelona game, Alpha Diallo was called a personal foul, and he clapped his hands a couple of times – not to the ref in a sarcastic way, but to himself. And then, he gets a technical for that, which is silly, in my opinion. It's a double punishment because he gets his second and third personal fouls. Fans want to see the best players on the court."
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