Welcome to the Brew Hoop Night Shift. Every evening at 9:00pm (central time), this all-purpose thread goes up, and the comments section is where it’s going down. What Bucks news did we not cover? What topics do you want to break down further? Or is there something non-Bucks that you want to bounce off of one another? Even something non-basketball? This is the place.
Tonight’s (on) topic: Challenge Flag?
Just spoke with Kiki Vandeweghe... He said the NBA will experiment with a challenge flag during Summer League.
— Justin Termine (@TermineRadio) June 3, 2018
I like the idea of coaches being able to challenge plays and the imagery of someone like Tom Thibodeau angrily hurling a flag to mid-court is hilarious. My only hesitation with challenging plays comes from when baseball implement a challenge system. Bear with me as I clunkily explain my hesitation here.
My fear is that the challenge will take away from the “spirit” of a ruling by going with the “letter” of rule more. A baseball example is a player sliding feet first into second base, beating the throw and tag, popping up onto the base and barely breaking contact with the base, but the tag from the fielder is still being applied as the runner barely breaks contact with the base. In real time, the runner looks safe, but in replay time the runner is clearly out since the tag was on the runner when the runner broke contact with the base for half a second. Seems dumb.
A similar-ish play in basketball would be like the overturned charge/block call from Game One last Thursday night. Subjective, bang-bang plays will be looked at closer (which is not always a bad thing), but the human-error element that makes everything fun and frustrating will be gone.
Also, while we are at it. If defensive players can no longer impede on a shooter’s ability to land on the court cleanly, then a shooting player should not be able to jump into an already jumping defender (thus impeding the defender’s ability to land cleanly onto the court) after a shot fake in order to draw a foul.
Tonight’s (off) topic: National Cheese Day
Shout out to my lactose intolerant homies as we look back fondly on a time we could eat cheese curds and dip grilled cheese sandwiches into soup. I am surprised the state of Wisconsin does not institute a state-wide holiday for today. As someone in the dairy industry, I suggest y’all go out and buy enough cheese to make our second quarter numbers look good, just don’t buy those flimsy American cheese singles. Treat yourself, it is a holiday after all.
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As a general rule, non-basketball topics are permitted in an open thread, provided that they follow the SB Nation Community Guidelines.