MANILA, Philippines — PBA grand slam coach Norman Black believes that teams and particularly, coaches will be on top of the situation as far as using the four-shot, a new innovation which the PBA will be introducing in time for Season 49.
The 66-year-old Black said unlike the PBA All-Star game where players play for fun to entertain the fans as they shoot from the 27-point distance, he expects teams to use this new innovation only in situations that deem necessary.
"I don't think it (four-point shot) will be used the way it was used in the All-Star where guys just go yanking up four-point shots, trying to excite the crowd and trying to get up as many points as possible," Black said in a guest appearance at former PBA commissioner Noli Eala's sports program Power and Play last Saturday.
"I think the coaches will be very disciplined on how to implement it. It may come down to the team down by four (points), you have a chance to tie the game. Because you have a four-point shot, a last-second shot, you have no other choice, because you're out there anyway," he explained.
The 66-year-old former Meralco mentor also noted that three-point specialists like Paul Lee of Magnolia, Bolts gunner Allein Maliksi, NLEX's Robert Bolick among others, won't just indiscriminately fire from the new long-range arc.
In fact, Black stressed that these players will also have to make their own shooting adjustments in practice when these three-point specialists try to shoot from the four-point arc.
"I really think it will come down to percentages. You have guys in the PBA who shoot over 40 percent in threes, those guys will have the green light to shoot further distance out to try to attempt that four-point shot. But you also have to understand there are some guys shooting over 40 percent from the PBA, but that's their distance. Their distance is not to move out four more feet," he explained.
"You can imagine guys shooting in the PBA will practice a lot more to try to improve their three-point shooting."
The four-point shot was an innovation that the PBA board approved during its recent annual meeting in Osaka, Japan.
The intention was to try to bring the crowd back into the playing venues.
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