Long time ago, rules in lots of sports events changed to emphasize fairplay and protect players. Soccer changed rules to make sure at least a yellow card is due when you attack opponent from behind, whether you touch the ball or not. They also make sure that a yellow card is due if you flop to fake a foul on the opponent. NHL had rules to call penalties against "diving" - same thing as flop. Yes, those are rules sometimes are not too easy to enforce and judge the incident at a fraction of a second. But there are rules to set the tone in the games. NBA is just special, you have the technique to "draw fouls" and 'initiate contact" and being rewarded. Sometimes, you have to wonder whether we are having a game or a show, at least I guess it's both. You have Reggie Miller throwing himself to you, kicking out his legs and throwing the ball direction end zone, he will be sent to the free throw lines. You have Karl Malone, who raises his legs, knees, elbows whatever his body part and throws them to you, get rewarded and praized as "Warrior", "Clever". In NBA, discrimination becomes standards, rookie vs. veteran treatments, star vs. no name player treatments. Everyone in the media, in the sport environment says out loud you should throw elbows to set a tone, to make other people think twice before they try to attack the paint or defend you again. Nobody ever even thinks which is wrong, which is right. It amazes so much that seems NBA becomes isolated to the real world, there, you don't even need to pretend to be politically correct.
Only real problems I really have with the current culture of officiating: 1. Home Cooking. Games are called differently for teams when they're home versus on the road. The artifical home-court advantage needs to end. 2. Star treatment. It's one thing to give the benefit of the doubt to a veteran versus a rookie for certain things (traveling, etc), but another to permit fouls when they are committed by a star player over and over again (Jordan's push-offs, Malone's elbows, Shaq's shoulder blows, Artest's grabbing, etc). 3. Taking a charge inside/at the dotted line = blocking foul. I'm alright with not allowing charges if the defender is inside the defensive arc, but calling a foul on the defender for standing straight up with his arms down? Ridiculous. Evan
real_egal, I'm with you on every point. I think the things that the NBA allows to happen in games are just atrocious to the sport. They reward cheaters, thugs, and bullies, and punish honesty, skills, and sacrifices.
Thanks, I believe most of the sports fans want to see sports and skills, not those manipulations. On the other hand, I know this is not a world where honesty is rewarded or valued a lot. But in the so called civilized society, maybe we all should play by the rules, at least pretend to value honesty. But in NBA, cheating is officially categorized as technique.
A couple of years ago, I was arguing with some Lakers fans that Shaq committed offensive foul almost every time he made a move to the basket. In fact, I argued that the so-called "backing down" technique used by almost every strong post player was actually blatant charging. They said, "That's legal. Deal with it." Well, that's legal only because the league allows it. The rule is that if the defender has establish position, you are not allow to push him. Just because you are using your back rather than your front or hands (and doing it slowly) makes it legal?
They should change the rules and allow more physical contact. I hate those "veteran" moves when they pump fake, draw the defender into the air, and hurl the ball up towards the basket while flailing their arms. It's a foul every time. I'm sick and tired of flopping. Offensive fouls are called far too inconsistently. One game you'll have 100 flops and 100 offensive fouls. The other you'll have 100 flops and 2 offensive fouls. Such crap. Let the players play.
I think the whole zone needs to be taken out. I hated it when they decided to put it in a few years ago and hate it more now. The NBA has always been about great athletes doing amazing things on the court. The league was at its most popular when you had guys like Magic, Jordan, Dominique, and so on amaze us with the feats they could pull off. There is no one-on-one matchups anymore either. In today's day in age there would be no Chamberlain vs. Russell, it would just be two guys completely taken out of the offense by sagging defenses and zones. I know the NBA is not happy with the lack of scoring but hey, they put in college defenses so what did they expect? College scores! I know the reason they put it in is because of the lack of ball movement in the league but there has to be something else, c'mon!
I also dont understand why the refs cant just call a foul a foul. Thats it! The whole politics behind it and how inconsistent the rules change is ridiculous. It shouldn't matter how much of a star you are, or how many years you've been in the league, or even how big or small you are. A foul is a foul, period! My example of the inconsistency is Yao's 6th foul in OT of game 5. All I've ever heard is the refs will not foul out an all-star in a crucial part of a game, or really at any part of a game, unless it is VERY blatant. The league does not want the refs to decide a game by taking out a key player. Yet, there is Yao in a big playoff OT backing away from contact with Malone and gets the call.
