The NBA has instructed its referees to crack down on offensive players who use their arms to push off against defensive players during the upcoming season, one of several new points of emphasis for officials, the league announced on a conference call Tuesday.
James Jones, the NBA's executive vice president of basketball operations, said the league has issued new guidance on four types of "high-volume and highly impactful" calls, including push-offs. The NBA's goal, James said, is to ensure that "the way our game is played, and the way our game presents, continues to track favorably" for players and fans.
A push-off most commonly occurs when an offensive player uses his non-dribbling arm to contact a defensive player so that he can create space to attempt a shot from the perimeter. While some level of jockeying between offensive players and defensive players is legal and to be expected, the NBA's referees will now use the "Four F's" framework to determine if they should call an offensive foul on a push off:
The "Four F's" are feeling, firming, force and full extension.
Referees have been instructed that a ball handler is allowed to use his off arm to "feel" his opponent or to "firm up" by gathering himself in front of a defensive player. However, referees should assess an offensive foul if the ball handler's off arm contacts the defender with "force" or is "fully extended" to create an advantage.
"We've got to make sure the defensive side of the ball does not get penalized by allowing illegal acts by the offensive player," said Monty McCutchen, the NBA's senior vice president of referee development and training. "I think we can do a better job."
The new guidance on push-offs comes during the middle of an ongoing scoring boom: NBA teams averaged 115.6 points last season, the highest mark since the 1969-70 season. In recent years, the NBA has sought to cut down on other illegal actions by offensive players, such as stopping short to create collisions, splaying legs during shot attempts and jumping sideways into defenders to draw free throws.
Michael Jordan authored perhaps the most famous push-off in NBA history when he freed himself from Utah Jazz guard Bryon Russell for a mid-range jumper in the closing seconds of Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals. No offensive foul was called, Jordan made the shot, and the Bulls won their sixth championship of the 1990s.
By the NBA's new "Four F's" standard, Jordan wouldn't be whistled for an offensive foul against Russell because he didn't contact Russell's body with noticeable "force" or fully extend his left arm.
The NBA released a video Tuesday featuring several push-offs that it would deem to be offensive fouls under its new framework. In one clip, then-Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown raised his right forearm and shoved into the chest of Philadelphia 76ers forward Kelly Oubre to set up a jumper near the free throw line.
But illegal push-offs aren't limited to plays on the perimeter. In another clip provided by the NBA, Toronto Raptors wing RJ Barrett used his right arm to distance himself from Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley while driving in the paint. Because Barrett's action was "forceful" enough to cause Mobley to stumble backward near the basket, the league's guidelines view it as an offensive foul.
McCutchen acknowledged that distinguishing between "firm" contact and "force" will be the officials' greatest challenge when assessing push-off calls.
"There's going to be some [contact] that you would consider 'firming up' and I would consider 'with force' and illegal," he said. "We will meet with the Competition Committee more frequently at the beginning of the season so that we can get their feedback on these plays that live right along the demarcation line."
This year, the NBA's referees have also been instructed to carefully monitor illegal contact by offensive players while they are setting screens, such as shoving, as well as illegal contact by defensive players that impedes movement, such as grabbing and holding off the ball.
Finally, the NBA highlighted "straight-line pathway plays" in which offensive and defensive players are both moving towards the basket. Offensive and defensive players will both have the right to remain on a direct path to the basket, and both will be at risk of getting called for a foul if they go out of their way to bump the other player off his direct path.