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Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown says the NBA game is flawed in ways that transcend whether replacement referees are making the calls.
Brown will be relieved when this labor dispute is resolved and the veteran officials return. But he's seen a pattern the past few years - too many whistles, too many contrived rules - that rob basketball of its natural flow.
"Until we figure out a way to get more shots and have more of a flow up-and-down the court - which is the beauty of the game - it's gonna be tough" to entertain fans, Brown said.
So if Brown were basketball czar, what would he do?
-- Standardize rules worldwide for the NBA, college and international games.
-- Move the NBA 3-point line in slightly.
-- Permit teams to play any defense they choose without violating some anti-zone rule.
Brown believes those changes would both allow and compel teams to run more and shoot more, and that's what the game needs.
"If you allow any defense, then (offenses) are going to rush the ball up the court because you're going to be afraid of zones," Brown said.
Brown harkened back to his American Basketball Association days, when teams ran more even with an additional six seconds available per possession.
"The ABA had a 30-second clock, and the shots were still twice as many" per game, Brown said. "If you didn't get 100-120 shots per game, it was a lost weekend."
Brown says the complexity of current rules - defensive 3-seconds and the restricted area under the basket, for instance - make it hard on fans.
"A normal fan cannot explain to you what is illegal defense," Brown said.
So Brown would do away with defensive 3-seconds, the last remnant of the NBA's zone restrictions. To Brown, there's no parallel to those measures in other sports.
"They walk Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols" in baseball, Brown compared. "They double-teamed Jerry Rice" in football.
Brown's point: Those strategies have their own consequences, so why restrict a coach's choices?
HERE AND THERE: Brown declined to comment on his ejection from Monday's exhibition against the Atlanta Hawks, other than to say he probably deserved to be tossed. ..
The coach was disappointed by his team's lack of energy in a 17-point loss, particularly the centers and power forwards.
"I'm so disappointed in our big guys defensively and running the floor and rebounding the ball," Brown said. "It's just got to get better."
Nazr Mohammed put up decent numbers versus the Hawks (eight points and nine rebounds), but Gana Diop had no points and one rebound and Alexis Ajinca fouled out with seven points and two rebounds.
The two big men most equipped to help -- projected starters Boris Diaw and Tyson Chandler -- are recovering from ankle injuries and are being held out of games.
Brown said Diaw might play in the weekend games in Los Angeles but they'll still likely hold out Chandler while he continues to recover from off-season surgery.
