Are you saying anybody who has ever left his or her post to protest against unfair treatment by their employer is a quitter? Do you know the sacrifices that these people made to earn you the labor rights and freedoms you have today? This is as un-American as it gets.
Ummm, yeah ..it does give him carte-blance to make that call! Thats what refs do mostly, is judge contact fouls. "The offi-cials must decide whether the contact is negligible and/or incidental, judging each situation separately." The office decided the contact wasn't negligible or incidental, so he called a foul on Yao. Again, his judgement of the contact should be whats questioned here, not his interpretation of the rules. That has nothing to do with the restricted zone rule. Thats just for general defensive positioning with regards to blocks/charges. Yes he could. The rule states that he can. You can't keep ignoring that. One rule that overrides all rules, is contact fouls. The restricted zone rule is saying the offense player can't be called for a foul if the defender is inside the line. It says NOTHING about not being able to call a foul on the defender. In fact, it says they CAN. No he didnt because he was inside the restricted zone. Yao can stand in there for two weeks, perfectly still. If the offensive player makes a move into Yao and contact is made based on the ref's judgement, then a foul can be called on Yao based on the rule. Again, the rule is perfectly clear here: "The mere fact that contact occurs on these type of plays, or any other similar play, does not necessarily mean that a personal foul has been committed. The offi-cials must decide whether the contact is negligible and/or incidental, judging each situation separately." The restricted zone offers 100% to the offensive player and 0% protection to the defender. The defender has ZERO right to attempt to draw a charge while inside the restricted zone and the offensive player has every right to attempt a shot without non-ball contact.
It doesn't give him the right to ignore other rules, and the other rules absolve the defender with legal position from contact initiated by the offensive player. The rule states: There are no specific rules that address the defender inside the restricted zone, so Yao has every right to establish defensive position there as outlined in the rules regarding Contact Situations.
EXCEPT when he is inside the restricted zone. Yes there is rules that address that. Why do you keep ignoring this?: "The mere fact that contact occurs on these type of plays, or any other similar play, does not necessarily mean that a personal foul has been committed. The offi-cials must decide whether the contact is negligible and/or incidental, judging each situation separately."
He shouldn't have done that, but he sure should have yelled until he was thrown out of the game. Sometimes a coach has to take one for the team and get tossed from a game. He just sat there on the bench. I know its immature, but he should have gone ballistic, stuck up for his player, and been tossed.
It isn't "contact" as defined by the dictionary. It is contact as defined by the NBA rules. Incidental Contact is defined as: Everything in the definition implies that contact is related to a person who is making a movement. It uses the words "to an effort by a player", and to "perform movements". Yao had defensive position established, and was not moving. Therefore there was not contact due to defensive movements. O'neal's contact from offensive movements could be deemed incidental, but since there was no contact from Yao he couldn't be called for a foul. What lends more credibility to this interpretation is that it makes common sense. Why would anyone be accessed a foul for standing completely motionless? What would be the rational explanation for this being true? There is no benefit to the game play, safety, anything.
What's funny is I've been watching the Fakers/Bulls game tonight and a similar play occurred involving Odumb. Only Odumb was in even worse position than Yao. Whereas Yao was stationary and already set with his arms up, Odumb was still turning slightly and had not really established position. Odumb was also deep into the circle basically right under the basket. In the same fashion though, the Bulls player initiated all the contact while Odumb simply stood there. Odumb was so pissed at the blocking foul called on him that he ended up getting a tech. The Fakers announcers also cried that they've never seen a call made like that and that it should've been a "no-call." They obviously don't catch many Rocket games
Also, you can find the same clause in the rules for Contact Situations, which apply outside the restricted zone: If you interpret the rule the way you say, as applying to players who have position and are motionless, then any offensive player could run into any motionless defensive player and the defender would be called for the foul. And we definitely know that the refs don't use this rule to supercede the block-charge rules outside the restricted zone.
EXCEPT WHEN IN THE RESTRICTED ZONE. Think about the definition here. RESTRICTED means that a defender does not have the same protections inside the zone that he does outside. Outside the zone, he can draw an offensive foul by holding position. Inside, he can't and if he makes contact attempting to do so, then the ref can call him for a foul based on his judgement. If T-mac goes in for a layup, and Artest is standing inside the circle, perfectly still before T-mac picks up his dribble, and T-mac crashes into him and misses the shot because of it, then you don't think a foul has been committed by Artest? Because he contact was made that affected the offensive player's shot, based on the ref's judgement. Contact which the defender has no protection from being called for because he is in the "restricted zone". Because a defender, based on ref judgement, can't make contact with the offensive player that would be considered a foul. The defender has no rights to defensive positioning in the restricted zone. Overall, IMO, the restricted zone rule basically says its illegal for a defender to attempt to draw a charge while in that zone and that the ref has the right to call a foul on the defender if his attempt to draw that charge causes the type of contact which is defined as a "shooting foul".
EXCEPT WHEN THE DEFENDER IS IN THE RESTRICTED ZONE. Restricted Restricted Restricted Restricted The rules are different inside that area and thats why this zone is addressed seperately from the rest of the rules.
Special Rule 11) All the rules apply in any situation except situations involving players whose initials are Y.M. In these special situations, any call is at the referees discretion.
So basically - defenders should not be in the restricted zone at all because it is restricted. ANY contact at all can basically be judged a defensive foul. Biases against Houston centers are also allowed.
Actually, now that I look at it more closely, the incidental contact rule that you are citing is not related to the "restricted area" at all. Each rule is listed by itself and stands alone. Nothing indicates it is part of the "restricted area" rules (indentations, numbering, etc). The only rule applying specifically to the restricted area is for offensive charges. Go back and check for yourself. It is explicitly stated that the defender has a right to position ANYWHERE on the court. From the Contact Situation rules: In fact the exact rule for the restricted zone even has the words "established a defensive position" in it: The rules state what a foul is, and the ref is allowed to use his judgment to declare "incidental or neglible contact", which is not grounds for a foul. That rule doesn't say that the ref can use his judgement to declare contact non-incidental and call a foul outside the written rules (giving him total power outside of every rule).
seriously next game against dallas yao should play regardless of the number of fouls he has and see if he fouls out by the end of the first quarter. he should just elbow the guys and totally shove people out of the way. honestly he should do this every game to a point where the national media starts making a fuss over it, then the refs will start swallowing their whistles.
I've checked it dozens of times. The last paragraph is all encompassing with regards to blocks and charges, including the restricted zone. "these types of plays" addresses every play talked about prior to that sentence, no? You are missing the point of the restricted zone. The restriction is that a defender can not draw a charge from the offensive player in that zone. Restriction restriction restriction. The defender does not have the same positioning rights in that zone that he does on other areas of the court. Thats why its there. So the defender has no right to make contact there for defensive purposes, whether he is standing perfectly still or not. EXCEPT IN THE RESTRICTED ZONE .....which is why its addressed separately. Establishing a defensive position, doesn't mean its legal in that situation. You seem to imply that "anything goes" with regards to contact inside that dotted line. Thats just not the case. The defensive player has no right on defensive positioning inside that line and thats why blocks are always called in that situation. The isn't JUST called against YM or the Rockets. I watch enough NBA games to know its called in every game and has been since the rule was implemented. Do you seriously want to believe that all 30 or 40 NBA refs and have been wrongly calling "block" fouls inside the line for 2-4 years with no correction from the head of NBA officiating or the league? The written rules allows him to determine what is and is not incidental or neglible contact with regards to personal fouls, including block and charge calls. Thats why we don't always see contact plays whistled, including blocks and charges. There is no written rule, anywhere, that says the ref is not allowed to call a block on the defender inside the dotted line based on his judgement on the severity of contact. In fact, its done all the time. The defender has no rights to defensive positioning inside the restricted area and if he makes contact trying to do so, then he can be called for a foul based on the ref's judgement.
The officiating tonight sucked again. The Pacers get the respect of the 90's Bulls dynasty, especially ron artest who gets fouls called for him just for being breathed on, it's sad. *Yao went up for a shot on Harisson who had his arms straight up and hit yao and they called an offensive foul on Yao. *Luther Head drove the ball to the basket in the 3rd qtr, was bumped by Harisson who jumped in the air with his arms raised (the same thing Yao gets called for every SINGLE game) and NO foul is called. It is sad that a no name ****ty rookie like harisson gets more respect than Yao.
