The first episode of our “Off The Dome Lacrosse Podcast/Blog” series. This format will be geared towards those of you with shitty attention spans (you know who you are). We give you two options, either listen in for five minutes, or read for five minutes, and if you’re feeling crazy, do both! Without further ado….
THE SHOT CLOCK
It was discussed at the December meeting, and the takeaway is that IT’S HAPPENING. Whether you like it or not, word is that the coaches all seem to think that the shot clock will definitely be in place at the start of the 2019 season.
HOW LONG SHOULD IT BE?
They are throwing around 75 to 90 seconds as the timings. Personally, I’m all for 90 seconds, but hate the idea of any type of “box touch” being involved (see next point). I think 90 seconds is better than 75 partly because almost every possession currently ends inside 90 seconds, with no rules requiring it anyway. Meaning 90 seconds is less likely to impact offensive effeciency. When you start getting down towards 75 seconds, you may see a few more rushed possessions here and there. That may not be all bad, as that “rush” could create more transition opportunities off bad shots, strips and so on, but teams could also go all MLL on us and just roll the ball into the corner. We don’t want that.
WHEN SHOULD IT START?
I’m with Patrick McEwen and think it should start as soon as you gain possession. Starting it after a box touch, or after crossing midfield will result in teams milking the time they have to cross that line. If they really just have to start it after crossing a line, that line should be midfield. The box gives them too much space to stall. If a team is going to stall, make midfield the mark and we’d see some more turnovers in the clearing game. HOWEVER, I’m 100% totally for a “no touch” type rule. Just 90 seconds after you pick it up. Easy peasy.
2 POINT LINE?
A big fear is that with a max time limit per possession, some teams may pack it in and play zone. The thought is if you add a 2 point shot, it would lower the incentive to play zone. NO WAY. Stupid. I hate it in the MLL. I’d hate it here.
THE SOLUTION TO THE ZONE DEFENSE WORRY
Bring back the dive. Teams will no longer be able to place two defenders at GLE leaving the crease man behind. Allowing for the dive will make playing zones far more difficult as it makes the offensive players behind the cage potential threats again. I scored a handful dive goals, inside roll dives across the crease and from behind the cage when in high school, mostly my freshmen year on JV where slide packages were soft. Moral of the story, soft defense at X can very easily be negated by allowing players to dive into the crease. it’s also just a fun shot.
In the gif below, you can see how dangerous a guy can be from behind the cage when being played soft, or once beat…..
In this gif below, you can see an example of a team packing it in and playing zone, and it slows down play badly. HOWEVER, at the 3:10 mark, you can see that as often happens in zone, the offensive player get’s his pole hung up on the front of the crease. This is an advantage to the offense already, but if you brought back the dive, getting stuck out top as a defensive player with your man at X is a far more dangerous situation. If the player was given the ability to dive from behind, or from the side to the front to get off a shot the zone = busted.
