They should get rid of the idea of the "personal foul" altogether and just highly penalize team fouls. It hurts the game that an effective strategy is to go after the best player and get him in foul trouble so he has to leave the game. An offensive tackle can hold play after play after play. They get to stay in the game, but their team gets penalized 10 yards outside of their own 20 every time. It should be the same in the NBA. Have it be five team fouls for the penalty, seven fouls for three to make two, ten fouls gets you three foul shots (or four if you were fouled on a three pointer), etc. Penalize the TEAM for fouling, not the individual.
I used to watch a lot of the NBA. I loved watching other teams, and not just the good ones. For some reason I loved watching the mid 90s Hawks. I used to watch every game I could get my hands on. Now I can hardly stand to watch a game for more than 10 minutes if it doesn't involve the Blazers. I watch highlights of basketball from the late 80s (before I was old enough to remember, this isn't about nostalgia) and early 90s and think, 'This is what basketball should be.'