Basketball Manitoba announced today that it will be adopting the move made by FIBA to change the shot clock time used in games to 12 seconds, from the current 24 seconds. The move comes after years of study and analysis on the effects a change would have on the game. The shot clock was originally introduced in the 1950's in an effort to stop teams from stalling and essentially running out the clock while ahead in the game. The change to go to 12 seconds will be felt immediately. By cutting the time to shoot the ball in half, we will see scoring effectively double across all levels of the game. Teams which saw an average score of 80 points will now start averaging at least 160 points per game.
Basketball Manitoba Executive Director Adam Wedlake commented, "This is a tremendous move by FIBA! We have been lobbying for a shorter shot clock for years and this move will energize the game like it has never experienced before! It is a known fact that a rushed shot is a good shot." The other rule change that comes in hand with the clock adjustment is the new time allowance that a team has to advance the ball over the half court line has also been adjusted to 4 seconds, from the current 8 seconds.
The change will be introduced to all levels of basketball in Manitoba affective April 1, 2013 and came from consulting firm Yad, Sloof and Lirpa who lobbied FIBA on Basketball Manitoba's behalf.