The NBA is weighing several rules changes that are expected to be passed by the board of governors.  Below are some of the changes that are being discussed.

Shot Clock Rule Change

Currently when a team grabs an offensive rebound and the ball has touched the rim the shot clock resets back to 24 seconds.  The proposed change would have the shot clock reset to only 14 seconds.  The expected change because of this rule is more shot attempts at the end of close games.  Currently the only situation where the shot clock resets to 14 seconds is if the defense commits a kick-ball violation when the shot clock is under 14 seconds.

Clear Path Fouls

They also plan on further clarifying the clear path foul.  The clear path foul would be instituted in 3 situations.

  1. A defender fouls any offensive player during that teams transition scoring opportunity.
  2. The foul occurs when the ball is ahead of the tip of the circle in the backcourt and no defensive player is ahead of the offensive player with possession of the ball, or a pass has been released to an offensive player ahead of all defenders on the court.
  3. The foul deprives the offense of a transition scoring opportunity.

The team drawing the clear path foul will be given 2 foul shots and the ball at sideline closest to where the foul occurred.  This would eliminate the need for the referees to make a judgement call on these situations going forward.

Hostile Act Definition

This would redefine the limitation of the action occurring between another player and expand it to include referees, coaches, or fans.  Any altercation between those 4 would trigger a replay by the officials to determine the proper punishment, if any, for the actions of the player in question.

The votes for these proposed changes will take place in the meetings scheduled for September 20th and 21st.  They would need to garner a 2/3rds majority to pass and be implemented by the league.