Starting October 1, the landscape of European basketball is set to change when it comes to officiating. Significant changes to FIBA regulations are expected, particularly regarding fouls and other aspects of the game.
The new rules will apply to both the ACB league and the EuroLeague, which means that a unified system of rules for officiating is now being established across all of European basketball.
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At the same time, however, there are those who do not view the upcoming changes positively. One of them is refereeing consultant Todd Wornick, who outlined his reasoning in Basket News, explaining that it’s a puzzle that confuses referees, players, and anyone trying to understand what’s going on.
The problem begins with the definition of a shot, which has always been very basic: when a player holds the ball and releases it toward the basket. This concept was clear, universal, and universally accepted across all major leagues. However, FIBA decided to introduce elements that were not part of basketball’s vocabulary and that now create uncertainty with every game.
One of the most striking changes is that a shot counts only if the player is in the offensive zone, except during the final seconds of the 24-second clock or at the end of a quarter.
“The problem arises when FIBA introduces the idea that the shot begins when the shoulders and the ball move upward. The issue is that the shoulders do not clearly rise on a normal shot. In a typical shot, the arms rise, but the shoulders merely change elevation. That’s why referees have never focused on the shoulders, but rather on the hands, forearms, and the ball. “This new anatomical reference is so imprecise that it does not provide a clear moment to determine whether a player is shooting or not,” as Wornick explains in his analysis.
Technical fouls have also changed. There are now two levels: Category 1 fouls, which include disrespectful protests, taunts, faking, or offensive gestures—and which result in ejection (previously, two technical fouls, two unsportsmanlike fouls, or one of the two would result in ejection) and Category 2 fouls, which cover minor infractions such as delaying the game or touching the rim in non-dangerous situations and which do not result in ejection due to accumulation.
This requires changes to referees’ signals, abbreviations, and the way fouls are recorded, adding more work and more room for error in games that are already difficult to manage.
Wornick concludes in his analysis that, overall, these changes appear to have been made without a clear goal of simplification. Instead of making referees’ jobs easier and improving the game experience, they introduce new concepts that don’t fit with the usual logic of basketball. For many, these changes are the perfect example of what happens when someone tinkers too much with a rule that worked and ends up creating more problems than it solves.
*photo source: KYPE
