In theory everything you say would be how they should guard them. Problem is you can't pack the paint against KD
Does the complaining after a shot work or not work? (not an actual question) Inconclusive. 2nd most drawn fouls by a center in the nba. And in FIBA ball where they allow you to be more physical, he is going to the line 10x . Moreover, You can't have big aspirations in the league, if you don't develop a "How did you not call that face and gesture"
I actually don't think it helps in the NBA, but I think players also are baited into it by the biased whistle in favour of "stars" or "vets." Imagine being a kid as good as Alpi coming in and all the no-calls you get your first 2 years whilst you breathe on a star and get whistled up? I think most of us would do the same **** as Alpi tbh, I bet that's one of the worst parts of being a rookie.
Does he not have a lot more mismatches at the 4 also? I actually think there's a strong argument to start him and Steve-O together and look for a big body Center to come in behind him as he ages out. I've felt since last season that Alpi might get truly unlocked playing against the 4's of the league rather than the 5's. He's an undersized 5 even in the modern game, he's actually huge for a PF though in modern NBA terms. Considering his strongest offensive strategy is attacking the basket and bully ball it just seems like a natural move. I actually think they might have wanted to do it earlier when they went for Lopez.
It is the worst thing about the NBA. All the got to earn the refs whistle is blatant BS and extremely frustrating. A foul should be a foul and the goal should be consistency throughout the season and playoffs. Baseball seems to be the only major league at least trying from a ump/ref perspective to get rid of favoritism, but NBA is corrupt to its core.
i don’t know about other American sports but nba refs are not good at their job even if there is no favoritism. Top level soccer refs are much better imo nba refs in the finals.
I think most of us Europeans can see in stark contrast the difference between the NBA and our domestic sports. You may get shitty refs, but I've never seen that same clear bias in football/soccer, rugby etc. I don't think I've even seen it in other US sports to the same level either to be fair, but it's maybe harder to tell with so many more players? I feel like the NBA star whistle thing is actually fairly unique, and it's really weird how it's just accepted by the pundits/media/teams etc as the status quo.
To be fair, soccer us easier to officiate than basketball. For one, soccer has much simpler rules. And most foul calls other than the penalty kicks don't affect the scores that much. But I agree that soccer refs handle the players much better than the NBA refs. Refs of American sports like football, baseball, and hockey don't have blatant biases like the NBA's. And they don't have big egos like some NBA refs do.
I didn't think I'd seen it as much in the other US sports tbh. It's ridiculous that it's so normalised that superstars get better whistles and refs can just show blatant cheating on live national tv and nobody gives a **** lol.
I don’t think soccer is easier than basketball though. At least it is not straightforward to say that. It requires much better conditioning and the ref has to cover a much larger area with more players, observe things from greater distance and positioning yourself is harder. Decisions like to let the play go on when a foul is made are very difficult, needs observation of the whole situation and needs to be made very quickly . With the new technology they are reviewed but that is recent. The fouls are less important but a foul in the penalty area is extremely important. A foul where you can take a direct shot is also important. Not being able to call a foul can result in a goal, which is very different than letting 2 points slip. There are also more refs in basketball, the side refs responsibility is minimal compared to basketball refs. basically it is very different and hard to compare in terms of their difficulty. Soccer has less but bigger decisions typically. my point was for soccer I know many great refs, they are both qualified and unbiased. I am almost certain sure that they will perform well so if they make a mistake I know that it is something natural that will happen every now and then. one last thing, not soccer vs basketball but us vs Europe. The pressure on nba refs is next to 0. Soccer refs in Europe, as well as basketball, perform in way more hostile environments, especially in southern Europe and the balkans.
Rockets should spell his name like it is on the Turkish jerseys: ŞENGÜN They'd sell a lot more jerseys, I think.
