NBA May Alter Traveling Rules, Officially Make Two-Steps Legal (LeBron Is Pleased)

TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott recently got Joe Borgia, the NBA’s head of officials, to admit that the league’s considering making changes in the league’s traveling rules. You can imagine that LeBron James, whose stretching of the current rules is the league biggest inside joke, would be excited about this possibility. ↵
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↵Brian Windhorst of The Plain Dealer caught up with LeBron, who predictably was all for the rules change—though not for the reasons you might expect. LeBron stoked that he can now “get [his] move back.” No, not the crab dribble, the jump-stop, which I never thought of as specifically “his” move. But whatever, dude is AWESOME, so let him speak: “They stole my move. I’ve gotten used to knowing that you have to land on two feet.” Now if only someone could explain to me how it is that Bron’s crab-dribble necessitates traveling, I’ll pay them back in fresh fish. ↵
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↵My two cents: Borgia’s main rationale is that the league rules should reflect the way the refs call it. That makes sense.↵But that explains the change—it doesn’t justify it. And any assertion that “the game has evolved” equates any change with progress, or evolution. You could apply the same shaky logic to, say, the hand-check rules. That’s a change in the style of play, but not an evolutionary leap like, say, the shot clock. On the other hand, if all you need is that no one be violating official policy—“I disagree with my government, but if it passes the law, I’l enforce it”—then this is great. We should expect those fallen fans to return to the sports in droves. Another marketing master stroke by David Stern.↵
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↵Note: The first version of this didn’t make it clear enough that Abbott talked to Borgia, Windhorst talked to Bron. This edit should straighten that out.↵