ABA Rules

[Shootmaster_44]

I was just reading the ABA site and noticed something. Is this new?

BACK-DOWN RULE

All FOUR of the following factors must be Present for a violation to occur:
Player must be dribbling
Player must be closely guarded
Player must have his back to the basket
Player must be below the free throw line extended
The covering official shall use a visible count.
The offensive player may NOT continue his dribble for more than Three seconds.
The Back-Down count ENDS when ONE of the four factors is Missing.
However...The 5-Second Closely Guarded Count Shall Continue
The penalty is a VIOLATION by the Dribbler and the team looses possession.


How does this work? Does this mean that you can't back in towards the basket? Sounds like a stupid rule to me. The ABA seems to want to favor the defence or something.

[Sam Hill]

Glad I'm not an official in the ABA with all the stuff you have to keep track of.

[hoopsjr]

that's right guys...the backdown rule was used last year...it basically came about watching guys like shaq, bird, etc. dribble with their back to the basket for 20 seconds during the possession.

basically, once an offensive player establishes possession below the free-throw line (with his back to the basket) and starts dribbling, he either has to shoot, pass, or pick up his dribble within 3 seconds. the only difference is there was no 5 second closely guarded rule last year...

[Shootmaster_44]

Well I guess you have to give credit to the ABA for being innovative with its rules. But I don't see the advantage to this really. All this does is make players make bad passes or shots. Was this rule called quite a bit during the season?

[hoopsjr]

the players and coaches knew the backdown rule...in addition, the lead (baseline official) would show a visible count. when they saw the visible count, everyone knew what it was...

there was a visible count maybe once/ game, an actual backdown call maybe every other game...

in addition, the usbl has a 5 second backdown, the ibl does not have a rule for backdown...

[Shootmaster_44]

I didn't realize the USBL used this rule too. When I played, I was taught to fight my way in. This sort of kills the advantage of the big man. I'm still not convinced its a good idea. The only league this may have been fair in was the old WBL, as they players were shorter there wasn't nearly the need for "Shaqing" your way in.

[hoopsjr]

many of the minor-league, pro leagues are looking to scoring for entertainment... if they take set plays out of the mix as much as possible, the players can freelance and create quicker...

the backdown rules, along with the 24 second clock (22 in the ibl) are very slowly eliminating the strong effect of the 'shaq'-type of player...