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9. Forward Thinking
Shortly after his hire, Barnes went on Memphis radio and discussed a variety of issues. One thing stood out – he made multiple comments about what he’d do to change the game to increase the quality of play and to make it more entertaining.
“I don’t think there’s any question that there’s a lot of things that we can do to make our game better,” Barnes said. “I think it should be a universal game. You look at the NBA – they are in the basketball business. So you know they’re thinking daily about how they can make things better. As you know they went through a period like what you’re talking about. Low scores. This and that. So I do think we should be playing with some of the rules that they play with.
“I do think the clock will come down to 30 seconds. I don’t think amateurs can play with a 24 second clock but I do think the NBA has the right lane. We should be playing with the NBA lane line. I think we should be playing with the NBA restricted area. I think in late game situations we should be able to move the ball to half court like they do.”
If you followed hoops news at all this offseason, you know the shot clock appears to be headed to 30 seconds, right where Barnes wants it. Critics of the Barnes hire painted him as a washed up, out of touch coach. His comments and views on fixing basketball certainly don’t mesh with that. He’s a forward thinker striving to make a struggling product better. Read the full transcript of his interview here if you haven’t.
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