I don't particularly like this rule change. I realize that the intent behind the rule change is to reduce the often hard collisions that result when players take charges, but I think that concern is overstated. Most players who take charges are properly coached on how to do so and absorb the contact. Watching college basketball last year I did see an uptick in charging fouls being called, but the vast majority of them were correct calls on players who were totally out of control. Now if the totally out of control player gets his foot planted in front of the defender before the defender establishes defensive position, it's a blocking foul. I don't like it. There is still going to be hard contact except now you reward the out of control driver and penalize the defender who is trying to step in and get a call.
It's also very ironic (to say the least) that Rick Barnes is the spokesperson for the rules committee who is commenting on the rule change and the rationale behind it being to reduce collisions. His teams play as physical and thuggish a defense as any team in the country, and certainly his players have had many hard collisions with their opponents playing his style of defense.
Anyway we will see how this plays out but looks like it will be very hard to discourage out of control attacks on the rim, and those are the plays that lead to injuries.
