Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat says NBA players should be allowed to settle their differences the way NHLers do — with their fists.
Gortat said Monday in a lengthy Q&A with ESPN.com’s TrueHoop that one NBA rule he would change would be to allow in-game fights, which are almost always met with a very hefty fine and/or suspension under the current rules.
“I would say I would loosen up a little bit the rules about the fighting fines,” Gortat said. “That’s what I would loosen up. Because today you go to an ice hockey game, and the one thing they’re waiting for is a fight, you know what I’m saying? So if they could set it up something like that in the NBA. That if there are two guys and they have a problem, if they could just separate everybody, and these two people that have problem, if they could fight …
“During the game. Quick, 15-20 seconds, throw few punches, then referees jump in and break this thing up. I think the game … these two guys, they resolved their problem. They’re both suspended, and they’re leaving. But end of the day, they fix the problem between each other, fans are super excited, and I think that would be a pretty cool idea.”
Unfortunately for Gortat, there is almost zero chance of the NBA even considering such a proposal. And, even if it did, finding willing sparring partners would likely be a little bit difficult for a guy who stands 6-foot-11 and looks like this:
