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The NBA has evolved a lot over the years. There has been a progression through several eras, from the Big centered era to a guard centered era.
Even the Big Men in today's NBA are expected to be versatile and have a decent outside jumper. The NBA is constantly evolving.
Having said that, here are some of the NBA players that lead to a change in the NBA rulebooks.
#1 Wilt Chamberlain
Wilt the Stilt as they called him is said to be the most dominant player the NBA has ever seen. They say that he even scored a hundred, yes you heard that right! One hundred points in an NBA game against the New York Knicks in the 1962 NBA Season.
This guy was a whopping 7-foot 1-inch center with a 7-foot 7-inch wingspan. Teams struggled to guard him and he dominated every team. The Wilt Chamberlain-Bill Russell rivalry is said to be among the best rivalries in NBA history.
Now the only thing Wilt couldn't do was shoot free throws. He even tried Rick Barry's famous underhand free throws sometimes. But nothing worked. Now here's how he created an advantage for himself.
He would throw the ball off the backboard and later dunk it over everybody on his last free throw. This was not fair at all in the eyes of the NBA. Consequently, this led to the first NBA rule change.
Rule Change 1: The player who is shooting the free throw cannot go forward in front of the free throw line during the course of the free throw.
Rule Change 2: The free throw shot by the player has to touch the rim for it to be a valid free throw.
Wilt was also known to dunk the ball over defenders when players who took the inbound throw would fight the ball over the backboard for him to finish his dunk. This was the preferred inbound play for every team he was in until the NBA stepped to make a rule change –
Rule Change 3: The player taking the inbound throw cannot throw the ball over the backboard in an inbound play.
Yes! This man ignited three changes in the NBA Rule Book. No wonder they called him the Most Dominant Player the NBA has ever seen.
#2 Reggie Miller
Reggie Miller aka The Knick Killer is said to be one of the best shooters the NBA has ever seen. He played for the Indiana Pacers and carried his team to the Eastern Conference Finals twice and even an NBA Final.
He shot 40% from outside the arc throughout his career which is a truly remarkable feat. He was termed the "Knick Killer" as he always annihilated Spike Lee's beloved New York Knicks. He was also well-known for his trash talk to get into the heads of his opponents.
There's no denying Miller's shooting and his accuracy, but he used to draw many fouls on his three-point attempts. The way he drew fouls was pretty smart and dirty. He used to kick his legs out when he released the ball on his three-point attempts to engage contact with his opponent.
Eventually, NBA players like Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade also drew fouls in a similar way. This ignited the NBA to make a change in the rulebook.
Rule Change 4: A player shooting cannot extend his leg out after releasing the ball or during the course of the shot. If done, the shooter will be charged with an Offensive foul
Miller also confessed to doing this intentionally to draw fouls in his days on the latest edition of Open Court.
#3 Charles Barkley
Sir Charles Barkley aka The Round Mound Of Rebound is up there when we talk about the best Power Forwards in NBA history.
He was an undersized Power Forward but he simply dominated on rebounds and on the Low Post.
This guy was known for being an extrovert and an aggressive person. He was also known to have a pre-game meal consisting of a Big Mac with some diet coke and large fries. Despite this, he was just unstoppable in the game. He was a freak. He was also part of the best team in history, "The Dream Team"
Barkley dominated on the Low Post by backing up his defender all the way to the basket for a long time and scoring on him. This was unfair in the eyes of the NBA, which lead them to make a rule change
Rule Change 5: The Player on the Low Post cannot back up and hold the ball for more than 5 seconds
#4 Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille O'Neal or Shaq as he's called was one of the most entertaining NBA players on and off the court.
He was a celebrity in his time and even acted in many movies. He had many nicknames like The Big Aristotle, The Diesel and many more.
He might have been a comedian off the court, but when he was on it, he was all business. He was just unstoppable.
He would dunk on every player that guarded him. Some say he's up there with Wilt for the title of The Most Dominant Player. He was a 7 foot 1 inch 325 lbs specimen who dominated on the low block. He averaged 25 points and 15 rebounds. He was just crazy and could flip that switch on whenever he wanted.
One person wasn't enough to guard Shaq and obviously, the NBA thought this was unfair for the other teams which meant that the had to bring back Zone Defense which was said to be illegal at the time.
Rule Change 6: Zone Defense was made legal
Shaq was really angry about this decision and went on to say that basketball is a man's game and the defense was called Man-to-Man for a reason.
This Rule Change was not needed and was wrong on NBA's part to do this.
#5 Big Men Of The NBA
Big Men of the NBA like Shaq, Andre Drummond, Jamaal McGloire and many more were said to be dominant on the inside but were the worst when it came to shooting free throws.
When teams realized this they would intentionally foul these big men, so that they could get ball possession without giving up a basket. This rule was well known as the "Hack A Shaq" rule.
This was boring for the fans and didn't fall under good-sportsmanship. So the NBA intervened and made a change in the Rule Books
Rule Change 7: When the team fouls intentionally in the closing two minutes of the quarter, the fouled team is awarded one free throw and possession of the ball.
Some Honorable Mentions
Darryl Dawkins
Darryl Dawkins is known to be one of the most powerful dunkers in NBA history. He was known to break several backboards with his powerful dunks. This made the NBA change the material of the backboards to ones that don't shatter.
Derrick Harper
Derrick Harper was a really good defender and contained All-Stars all his life. He had this smart way of defending. He would hand check the player with the ball to anticipate his movements.
The NBA eventually intervened and made a Rule Change
Rule Change 8: Hand Checking is illegal and the defender should be away from the offensive player when he's guarding him.
Did you know about these rule changes? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!
