The 10 fouls rule is one of the worst rules that the Summer League has. I mean this is street ball, not NBA basketball. I understand that the NBA wants to allow the players to play. If so, increase it to 7. Here are reasons why I don’t like it.
1. Street Ball
The fouls you can commit, the defense you can play makes it so it isn’t real basketball. In a recent summer league game, Kenny Smith said that no one would score on him if he had 10 fouls. I agree with this statement 100%. A center can defend against anyone, throwing their bodies at the person. A player during Summer League is probably thinking, “One foul, it is ok. I still have 9 to go.” You can see how this can cause problems in Summer League basketball. And this also brings me to my next point.
2. Injuries
The injuries can be such a concern in the Summer League. When you have the 10 foul rule, as I said before you can throw your body at the player. If someone is going up for a dunk and you run in to them to stop it, they can get severely injured. The thing is, with 10 fouls it seems like it is ok to injure someone. But Summer League is supposed to be a time where the young players learn. If anything, it should be 5 fouls or maybe even 4! A prime example of this is number 1 overall pick Markelle Fultz. This rookie with an amazing amount of potential got injured during a recent game for the 76ers. For the opposing player, it isn’t a problem to give up that foul because they have 9 more to give. Anyways, lets move on to the points on players learning the NBA game.
3. Players Learning
Summer League is nothing like the NBA. With 10 fouls, you do not care about conserving your fouls. After all, college games are 40 minutes long, Summer League games are 40 minutes long, but NBA games are 48 minutes! So teams have to play the game 8 extra minutes while an NBA game has 6 fouls per player and the Summer League is 10! How are the players supposed to learn how to transition to the NBA. Let me give one more point on this issue of Game Time!
4. Game Time
As pointed at in the players learning segment, College and Summer League games are 40 minutes long however the NBA game is 48 minutes. With this foul rule, players are playing the same minutes they play in college but they have more fouls. Your telling me the Summer League which is owned by the NBA is less like the NBA then college basketball. It is kind of really annoying how this rule was made in the 1st place.
All in all, the league wanted players to play more so they implemented the 10 foul rule. This is only creating a problem as players are playing less minutes because they are getting injured. This needs to be addressed as I love Summer League basketball. In the NBA, players aren’t fighting for their jobs. In the Summer League, if a player doesn’t perform they won’t have a well paying job. It really is the difference between working 2 jobs and getting 2 Mil a year. What do I mean by 2 jobs? D-League players don’t make a lot of money so they have to work at another job. This could be as bad as a job as a fast food restaurant. This is the future of a players career, so the 10 foul rule needs to be fixed.
Four Foot Nuttin 