NBA 2018-19: 5 Early Impressions from Preseason

#3 New rule changes don't speed up the game, they slow it down

Referees have been over-officiating this preseason

After shortening the amount and length of timeouts and restricting free-throw shooters from roaming around between shots in 2017, the NBA decided to adopt the European approach towards shot clock reset after an offensive rebound. The clock will reset to 14 rather than the previous 24, potentially creating more possessions, which will lead to more points.

However, this is not the most prominent rule change that has been affecting the game.

Officials were guided to focus on the obstruction of "Freedom of Movement"; more specifically, they were instructed to put an emphasis on the use of hands. Players are not allowed to place their hands on an opponent's midsection, regardless of whether or not they are attempting to move. This results in significantly more foul calls; teams are averaging around 27 fouls per game in this preseason, 5 fouls more than they did in the previous one.

The number of fouls should decrease as the regular season begins. However, if this trend continues, we should still expect around 20% more fouls called in this season compared to last season, contradicting the league's approach towards speeding up the game.