NBA's new rule paves way for two steps

"Maybe the rule book has been wrong all these years," Woodson said, rubbing his chin while staring into space. "I know this: I've been playing basketball from elementary to college and all the way up to the pros, and every step of the way you were allowed two steps. It's always been that way."

Now the letter and the intent of the written rule match. The NBA has altered its rule book, mandating that "a player who receives the ball while he is progressing or upon completion of a dribble, may take two steps in coming to a stop, passing or shooting the ball."

In a league where the star players have always had a perceived (and sometimes real) extra-step advantage, this change spells it out for everyone to see. It's widely believed to be the first time a basketball governing body of any kind has written a rule allowing players to literally walk with the ball.

Despite the new wording, the league denies that anything will change in how the rule is enforced.

“We have not changed the traveling rule, nor how we enforce the rule,” Stu Jackson, the NBA's executive director of basketball operations, said Friday during the league’s annual preseason conference call. “What we did change was some antiquated language in our existing rule as it related to steps.”

Former New York Knicks great Walt Frazier, who grew up in Atlanta, insists that if the NBA had allowed two steps back in the 1960s, Wilt Chamberlain would have averaged 100 points a game. A pioneering NBA referee from that era agrees.

"Oh yeah, Wilt would have terrorized the league even worse than he did," Ken Hudson said. "It's just like the hand checking stuff. It makes a difference. Can you imagine how many points guys would have averaged if there was no hand checking? Tiny [Archibald] might have averaged 50 points a game."

Hudson officiated in the league from 1968-72 and was one of the league's earliest African-American game officials. He was a co-recipient of the Mannie Jackson Human Spirit Award during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony last month. More recently the former Coca-Cola executive has served as an observer of officials for the league. So he has been on the inside as the rules of the game have evolved and been altered and tweaked over the years to accommodate players who have become bigger, stronger and faster.

The key now, just as it was in the past, he said, is how the rules are interpreted by not only the men playing but the men blowing the whistles. For years officials were instructed to allow two steps, despite the rule clearly stating that players were allowed only one.

"Every official calls things differently," Hudson said. "The key is getting the referees to be consistent. If they are consistent with [this new rule], everything will be fine, but if they call it on this guy and don't call it on that guy, that's where the problems will arise. You have to make sure everyone is on the same page."

If an extra step results in an extra advantage, Hawks captain Joe Johnson said you won't hear any complaining from the league's elite offensive players.

"It benefits me," said Johnson, one of three players (Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford are the others) on the Hawks' roster who have averaged 20 or more points in a season. "It definitely changes the game because it gives every guy that extra step. I used to have some moves in my game in college that I stopped using when I got into the league because of the way they called you traveling. I just had to adjust. So it's definitely going to help that they're emphasizing this change."

Crawford said the new rule won't even be on his mind when he hits the floor in the Hawks' season opener Wednesday against Indiana at Philips Arena. Well, not really.

"You think about it a little bit when you first get out there," he said. "The game is moving so fast most of the time, though, that you're just reacting out there anyway. It is going to be interesting to see when someone is actually called for traveling. I know guys are going to be asking about it."

There are some who see this change as a direct response to the "crab dribble" controversy that erupted last season when Cleveland superstar LeBron James was called for traveling late in a game when making a jump-stop move that he had used since high school. "It is kind of funny that this rule comes up the summer that whole deal," Hawks forward Josh Smith said. "I'm not saying they did this for LeBron, but I could see where people would connect those dots."

James, however, is far from alone in his use of the jump-stop move. Crawford said he uses a similar side-step move; he calls it the "Euro-hop." Johnson said he has a jump stop that he has incorporated into his game, too, sans the catchy name.

He pointed to the hand-checking rule the league implemented five years ago as proof that any significant tweak to the rules changes the game. That rule prevented defenders from placing their hands on players when they're driving from the perimeter.

"If we could hand check now, the game would be totally different," Johnson said. "If they couldn't hand check back in the day, there are some guys that would have been even better than they were. It would have been nuts for some of the big-time scorers and perimeter players from the 1980s and 1990s. Can you imagine what [Michael] Jordan would have done in a league where you couldn't hand check."

Sure, imagine Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade with an extra step, or two.

"Hey, I don't know how many points Wilt would have averaged or Jordan could have averaged," Woodson said. "All I know is you have to play the way the officials call it that night. That's the bottom line. Some nights you get away with a little more hitting and some nights you don't. Whatever the case, you just have to adjust."

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.