Author: Monojit Mandal
The NBA has announced a set of “points of emphasis” for the coming season in an effort to improve the purity of the game and protect the integrity of basketball. Among these changes is a significant alteration to the refereeing of Kevin Durant’s infamous move, which has long confused opponents and resulted in lucrative free throws for the star.
Each season, NBA officials are given a set of rules known as “points of emphasis” or “points of instruction”. These guidelines seek to improve current standards or establish new ones that will be severely enforced during the season. The league’s main goal in recent years has been to reduce non-basketball-related behavior, in which players try to trick officials into committing fouls instead of actually participating in the game.
This anti-deception initiative was successful for the most part, with cases where ball handlers stopped abruptly in front of defenders or kicked their legs out on jump shots now being quickly labeled as offensive fouls or no-calls. This change resulted in a smoother flow of play, fewer unnecessary free throws and an overall better experience for spectators.
An incredible change made a decade ago included the “rip through” maneuver, which was popularized by players like Kevin Durant. In 2011, the NBA ruled that fouls resulting from the “rip through” maneuver would no longer receive two free throws, but would be classified as non-shooting fouls.
Despite this change, Durant and other elite NBA scorers have kept the “rip through” as an important component of their offensive arsenal. However, as the 2023 season approaches, the league has refocused on this move. According to the latest rule, a “rip through” that does not represent a legitimate attempt to shoot will be classified as a foul.
Monty McCutchen, the NBA’s director of referee development and training, explained the increased focus, saying: “A new addition to the non-basketball plays this season is the rip through”. In particular, the attacking player must move the ball upwards while his back is to the basket or move the ball upwards in a direction away from the basket.“
The NBA even released an explanatory video featuring one of Durant’s manoeuvres that resulted in a foul last season. However, these activities will be greeted with a “no” in the future.