New D-League Rules: Breaking Down “Advance”

Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week, the D-League announced rule changes that have been implemented for this season. On Wednesday, Upside and Motor published a brief overview of said changes and explained one of the new rules, Coaches Challenges, in greater detail.

Today, we’ll look at the “Advance” Rule.

The Advance Rule allows the team with possession to stop play, substitute and advance the ball to the 28-foot mark in the frontcourt without using a timeout. Each team is granted one advance that can be used only in the last two minutes of the fourth period, and one to be used in the last two minutes of each overtime period.

This rule definitely is in favor of the offense.

The offense will begin the possession closer to an opponent’s hoop. As you can see, albeit a much better location to perform an inbound play, the 28-foot line isn’t the best place to initiate the offense. That said, it’s better than starting under the basket would be.

Coaches calling for an advancement are also granted an additional opportunity to perform an offensive-defensive substitution. After either allowing a basket or creating a turnover, teams without a timeout can call for an advance and are then closer to the opponents basket and able to substitute optimal personnel onto the floor.

Advance Rule: Good or Bad?

In the NBA and D-League, timeouts are frequently used to advance the ball in late game situations. An advance is, essentially, another timeout, only teams must quickly substitute players and perform an inbound play – it’s unlikely officials will allow teams to huddle during the brief stoppages.

Thus far, Upside and Motor has reviewed two of the D-League’s rule changes. And, thus far, the D-League has only made changes that, when they occur, are added stoppages of play. Don’t worry, because sometime during the next few days we’ll take a look at how a different change could potentially shorten the duration of D-League games.