Ending the Farce: 4 Simple Adjustments to Eliminate the Charge as We Know It

Of all the blights on the great game of basketball, “taking the charge” is by far the worst.  Many would consider my position the height of basketball heresy.  For those people, I offer this video: 

This was one of the absolute worst moments I’ve ever had as a basketball fan.  The tragedy wasn’t just that we saw the agonizing end of a great college career, but that it was so utterly preventable.  If Brian Zoubek didn’t try to take the charge, and if De’Sean Butler didn’t feel compelled to jump sideways at the last minute to avoid it, Butler wouldn’t have torn his ACL.*  But because he did, a career would be irrevocably changed.**

*I’m not saying Zoubek is a bad guy here.  His decision to take the charge was utterly rational, and utterly consistent with everything he’d no doubt been taught his entire career.

**Butler was in the midst of an amazing tournament run when he tore his ACL and might well have been a first round pick.  I haven’t seen him play since to know whether he’s made it all the way back physically, but one would imagine he has not since he put up only middling numbers in the D League this year.


Why do the rules of our sport reward Brian Zoubek for this play? Zoubek had all the advantages to stop Butler from scoring at the rim.  He is 7 feet tall and outweighs him by 50 lbs.  Yet Zoubek believed the proper play was to allow himself to be knocked over by a much smaller man rather than legitimately attempt to stop him from scoring by jumping to block his shot.  Zoubek’s decision to fall down, take himself out of the play, and eliminate any chance he had of getting the rebound* is about the dumbest thing he could do in that situation.  But somehow, the carrot of the referee’s whistle has transformed this idiotic play into a basketball coach’s grail.  For a moment, if you listen closely, Zoubek’s celebration of his offering to the Altar of the Holy Charge drowns out even the screams of Butler’s dying career.

*To say nothing of increasing the risk of injury to himself or others.

If you are a charge proponent, answer this question:  What are the advantages of the way the charge rule is called today?* The reason the offensive foul is on the books is to prevent an offensive player from gaining an advantage by dislodging a defensive player who is in good position to stop him.  At one time, such calls were rare, and restricted to times when an offensive player legitimately bowled over a defender.  A defensive player seeking out an offensive foul is anathema to any pickup player, as it would have been to professional players in the 50s and 60s.

*Sorry the refs aren’t going to bail you out. And no, "this is how we've always done it" or "it would be a really big change" are not good reasons.

But we’ve now strayed far from the rule’s original intent.  Over the last 30 years, coaches began to teach players to fall down and “take the charge” instead of stopping the offensive player.  When I entered my high school’s basketball program as a freshman in 1994, taking the charge and diving on the floor for loose balls were literally the first two things we were taught. The Holy Charge is so seductive because it allows coaches to prove what a difference they are making by getting their players to “play hard.”  Fans, especially college fans, love it when slow, plucky underdogs who wouldn’t have a prayer of actually affecting the shot take the charge against a taller, stronger, more athletic player.  Taking the charge, taking the hit, giving up your body, it’s perceived as the ultimate team sacrifice.  But all of this mythology obscures one key fact about the charge: It’s the coward’s way out.  Jumping in front of the offensive player, falling down, and hoping for a call is what you do when you can’t actually stop the guy.

Of course, there are some who enjoy the giant-killing aspect of taking the charge, David’s one defense against Goliath in the paint.*  But for each of those killjoy curmudgeons, there are 10 people who would rather see Goliath dunk on David.  The confrontation at the rim is the most exciting play in basketball, not the thud of a flopper’s backside against the floor.

*And of course, even this rather weak justification falls by the wayside when 7-foot centers like Brian Zoubek try to take the charge.

Changing the way the charge is officiated has a host of benefits.  It keeps the game action going, rather than resulting in boring free throws or a dead ball turnover.  It keeps good players, who are most likely to to drive to the rim, from amassing pointless fouls and rotting away on the bench.  It frees referees from the inscrutable block/charge determination of whether the defensive player was stationary before contact. And most importantly, it prevents players from being 1) undercut in the air* or 2) forced into unnatural and dangerous movements to avoid the charge.
*This is especially important at the lower levels, when it is common for players who aren’t even close to being in position to take the charge to slide underneath airborne players in an attempt to prove to their coaches how hard they are playing. 

I am by no means the first to publicly advocate the demise of the charge and the flop.  Bill Walton, Mark Cuban, Ryen Rusillo, Jeff Van Gundy, Kelly Dwyer, and many others have preceded me.  As Cuban put it back in 2004:

They see a guy coming down the lane, they will subject themselves and the other player to getting creamed in an attempt to get the charge. On some levels that’s admirable. Give up your body for the team. Get the turnover and the ball back even if you are going to be in pain the next day. Go team!
In reality however, it’s HORRIBLE for the NBA. Not only do you put both players involved at risk for injury, but it takes away some of the most exciting and watchable plays in basketball. Rather than going at the rim looking to make a spectacular, athletic play, guys are looking at the floor to see if someone is going to be there to undercut them. Rather than a tomahawk jam that gets the crowd in a frenzy, we get 2 guys laying on the floor taking an inventory of bodyparts to make sure they are ok, or we get a guy going to the rim trying to stop or avoid a guy who just stepped in the lane, resulting in an ugly shot or pass. How in the world does that help the NBA or make the game better for fans? It doesn’t.

There is a growing consensus that the charge needs to go.

Most fans would love it if this were a far less frequent sight at NBA areanas.

 The Fix

All of this sounds great in theory (humor me here), but how would this change actually be implemented? Three simple (though radical) adjustments can largely eliminate flopping and call-seeking while still protecting defensive players who are legitimately trying to stop their opponent from being dislodged.  The rule of thumb is that only plays with a legitimate basketball purpose should be rewarded; actions designed to get a call are not rewarded.*
*Another way of thinking about it: If you were playing defense without a referee there to call a charge, would you make this play?

1. A player cannot be called for a charge after he has left the ground.

This is the most important change.  Enforcing this simple rule will eliminate the two most insidious aspects of the charge.  The first downside of the charge is that it transforms exciting plays at the rim into a boring tweet of the referee’s whistle.  The second is the risk of injury from undercutting an airborne player. If there is no chance for a charge call after the offensive player has left the ground, defensive players will either jump and try to block the shot or go for the strip.  This one adjustment will eliminate at least 50% of terrible charges.

2. A player cannot be called for a charge after he has released the ball for a shot or pass.

Another incredibly maddening aspect of “taking the charge” is that it so rarely takes place in the course of a legitimate attempt to stop an offensive player from scoring. This reaches its most ridiculous when defensive players stand in front of a player who doesn’t even have the ball and fall down.  This serves no legitimate basketball purpose.  There is nothing more annoying than when a player drives the lane, passes to an open shooter, the camera has already panned away, and the whistle inexplicably tweets because someone took the charge on a player who had already made a pass.  There is absolutely no reason to stop the game to reward this behavior.  Rather than fall down, that defender should be rotating back to his man or the next open player when the pass is released.

3. A player cannot be called for a charge unless he has taken at least one dribble.

This eliminates another ridiculous kind of charge, where a player receives a pass on the move and then runs into a defensive player he can’t even see, let alone avoid.  There is absolutely no reason the rules should reward this play.  How about instead of encouraging players to stand in front of an opponent who can’t see them and fall down, we encourage them to go for the steal instead?

4. Any player who falls down without making a legitimate attempt to stay on his feet will not be rewarded with a call.  

The best basketball players in the world are not going to get knocked to the floor unless they allow themselves to, no matter how big the guy is who runs into him.  If they do fall down it’s acting, pure and simple.  While this rule may lead to flopping in the form of wild backpedaling after contact, at least it will eliminate falls to the ground.  And from a safety perspective, it’s a better alternative than a player dangerously falling to the floor in the middle of a crowded lane.

The grand effect of all these changes:  If a player tries to take the charge, he gets called for a block.  If he tries to play defense and stop the offensive player, he helps his team.

Now there are admittedly are a few loose ends here, so before you go all apoplectic consider these caveats:

1.  The rules above do not apply for plays originating in the lower defensive box (where, you’ll recall, the no-charge circle currently does not apply).  On those plays, the charge will still be called as it is now, with the exception that any player who falls down in an attempt to embellish contact will automatically be called for a block. (See Rule # 4.)  The lower defensive box is where the only legitimate dislodging of defensive players occurs, usually on postups.  On-ball defenders deserve to be protected from being steamrolled in this area.

2.  It’s still an offensive foul when a player illegally uses his arms or hands.  Using the off arm to ward off the defender, pushing off on the perimeter, or hooking the defender in the post are still offensive fouls.

3.  Intentionally running over a player is still an offensive foul.  This prevents offensive players from taking advantage of the fact that they will not be called for charges by deliberately pushing defenders out of the way after they release the ball for a pass or shot.*

*Or, as Cuban suggested, the league could just eliminate charges taken by help defenders.

Finally, one last suggestion which the league will never implement because it would kill jersey marketing and be way too embarrassing for everyone:   After each game, a designated official from the league office will review the game tape.  For each egregious flop, a player will be issued with a scarlet “F”, about 2 inches high, that will be sewn onto his jersey.  Eventually, chronic floppers will become the boy who cried wolf, as referees and players are visually reminded of his thespian skills and refuse to give him the calls.

If the league implemented these simple changes, it could increase the pace of the game, encourage more exciting plays, and reduce injuries in one swoop. But for some reason, likely the desires of obsessive, controlling coaches at all levels, the powers that be would like us to see flops instead of dunks.