Mark Cuban opposes rule change to stop hack-a-player strategy

Count Mark Cuban among those who don’t want to see the league protect bad free throw shooters with new rules.

The Mavericks owner likes the strategy, saying it makes fans feel a part of the game and adds a strategic element.

“Will they leave him in or leave him out?” Cuban told ESPN.com’s Tom Haberstroh. “How do both teams feel about it? How will they foul? Is it a new creative way, or is it just chasing?”

Cuban also believes the strategy could allow parents to be “watching the shots and telling your kids why practice matters and how amazing it is that they can do something that an NBA player can’t.

“Will a 7-foot man try to run and escape a foul so he doesn’t have to do what so many 12-year-olds do in games every day?” Cuban said. “Does he make the free throws?” Cuban said. “If he makes one or two, will they do it again? Did the strategy work?”

Cuban thinks the league would be overreacting if they made a rule change to stop the strategy.

“We have to realize that the number of basketball purists that aren’t in the media is probably under 1,000 people globally,” Cuban said. “There is no special basketball beauty in walking the ball up the court and dribbling around the perimeter. Will we change that too?”

Cuban, it seems, would agree with Kevin Durant, who believes that if people don’t want to get hacked, they should make their free throws.