Refs should've always officiated the behemoth known as Shaq like this. Shaq is grossly offensive fouling anyone when he makes his moves with those elbows ready to deliver KO's tyson would've been proud of.
It ain't his fault that he's ten times stronger than the next player in the league...I don't think Shaq should appologize for being a genetic freak.
the thing is shaq used to use his elbows to clear out defenders and refs would let him get away with that. not this season though. yao has never bullied his way to score. he's usually whistled playing defense.
When the refs start call all the hacks on Shaq as well as all the offensive fouls. . .then we can talk They will let someone RIDE SHAQ TO THE RIM on a slam then the next time down let some guy flop and call him for the offensive foul They even sometimes will call touch fouls on Shaq on the other end Rocket River
That's exactly what I am saying. Say what you may about Shaq 'bullying' his way to the basket, but no one in the entire history of the league has received more physical punishment than Shaq has, it's only fair that he dishes 'em out as well.
well if you call every touch foul on shaq..then the opposing team will foul out before half time. how can u stop shaq? u cant. atleast not legally. if all fouls were called..shaq would have 50 ft a night and points in the paint would be like 40 for him.
How is shaq supposed to be called fairly when guys are literally bouncing off him on every move he makes? You should be allowed to simply overpower your opponent if you've got the ability and play within the rules. We're seeing Yao do it now, using his size and strength to dominate. That's what Shaq's had since day one. If people weren't allowed to do that, they'd just put shooting guards on Yao and have him flop all day.
Now we get to the bottom of the problem with this league. Shaq came into this league as a superstar who was an offensive fouling machine. He trampled over defender after defender and got away with it year after year. Because he was a superstar, he was allowed preferential treatment. He would back right over the defender or use the elbow to hook the defender right around the kidney. The refs let him get away with all that bologna because they knew they could not foul him out on offensive fouls. He was the big thing, the Big Aristotle. The adjustment that the league made was to let all the hacks and slaps go and not call them defensively when Shaq was going for the bucket. That's why we've had total melee in the paint for the last 15 years or so and that is why today Yao gets butchered night in and night out and it is not called. That is the "Shaq effect". The "Shaq effect" is also a large contributor to the recent fad of flopitis that has invaded the league going back to the days of Vlade and Karla. The league flat out made a mistake in their handling of Shaq. Instead of turning a blind eye to all the elbow hooks and flattening of defenders, they should have simply called the offensive fouls by the book against him early in his career. Shaq was and is a talented enough player to make adjustments over time and be able to play and develop good post moves without all the bulldozer stuff he got away with. Anybody that knows pure basketball cannot put Shaq in the top 5 or so big men to play this game because when you read the rule book and then view his style of play his first 7 or 8 seasons, they see a player that should have been in consistent foul trouble and had trouble staying on the floor until he learned how to play. Combine Shaq's career coming along right behind Karla's career and you have what has developed into a league that let the physical contact get out of hand, which resulted in all the acting flops getting out of hand along with it. Now Shaq is in decline and the league is looking to a new generation of superstars, but not in the paint. They are looking at the super athletic types such as Kobe, Lebron, etc. and calling the game to maximize their impact on the game. So, now the league is penalizing Shaq and the other big men by calling every little touch against the perimeter guys coming into the paint. The ironic thing is over the last 4 or 5 years Shaq has actually developed a very decent post up skill set that doesn't rely on the bulldozer move or the elbow hook to the kidneys. Too bad, so sad, too late. The league has designated him as yesterday's news. Now, the problem they have is what to do with Yao. He represents the most populous nation on the planet and gazillions of dollars in revenues from the chinese fan base. But he's not American. Uh oh. What a conundrum! See how screwed up they make it. They keep making adjustments to cover up for the past wrong adjustments instead of just calling the game consistently, fairly, and by the book. Basketball is a great game. And basketball players are the best athletes in the world. The NBA is plenty competitive. All they have to do is call the game fairly and squarely instead of trying to create drama and thinking they have to prop up superstar players with bogus officiating to bring in the dollars. All that garbage is doing is hurting the game. Great players are great players. They WILL adjust to the game being called the RIGHT WAY. And all the rule changes, and changes of interpretation, and and overemphasis and underemphasis of certain rules and inconsistencies of officiating between different officials and even grudges and biased officiating by officials against certain players only serve to frustrate and anger the fan base. The league has so much more to offer than a polluted product that is ripe with all these inconsistencies. Just think how popular the league would be if they did away with all this junk.
so you are opposed to a player backing down his opponent? Which Shaq rarely does cause he doesn't dribble that much It is mainly one bounce and a strong move in a direction toward the basket usually like a Back and Left [NOT STRAIGHT BACK] The defender tries to beat him to the spot but rarely does . . .because they are not set . .they generally are sent flying [flopping] I think people over dramatize the 'bulldozer' effect generally speaking when he put his shoulder into someone they did nto beat him to the spot. [Hell look at Mark Agguire, adrian Dantley, etc. .the masters of the 3 pt play .. . put ya houlder into their chest to create space the fade away jumper] Rocket River
Well put, I agree with you 110%. Truth is, this will never ever happen. It's like trying to create a Utopia.
They should just call a foul a foul, and let the guys play. Shaq gets away with a LOT, and he gives as much as he gets. I am glad they are calling his bullying of people in the paint, it is about time. DD
Couldn't agree with you more and excellent posts. Shaq should've always been called consistently on the offensive and defensive end. What that means is that Shaq couldn't have used his elbows, shoulders and butt to run over people on O but at the same time defenders shouldn't be allowed to hang onto him. If that had been done consistently then maybe just maybe *GASP* both Shaq and his defenders might've played fundamental based basketball.
I think you guys got it backward. If Shaq was called offensive fouls the right way, defenders wouldn't need to hack him. Imagine you are a 7-fter defending Shaq. You stick your hands straight up without moving. He flattens you every time while going for a dunk. The ref calls foul on you every time. What do you do? You hack. And you find that the refs let you do it without calling foul. And even if they do, Shaq misses half of his fts anyway. So you hack and hack and hack.
I don't think its ever been said better. The true superstars will shine without the league catering to them.
Hell no! He played and dominated in a time where hand-checking was the norm- i can't imagine what he'd do to the netball defense in the league today. Can't argue he got away with some questionable walks in the park, and the shove on bryon russel in the finals. (Not that i mind, no rings for the Jazz ).
Jordan was catered to and is the reason for all the tightness on the handchecking on the perimeter today. Once again, Jordan got away with more hacks, slaps, and body contact defensively than any other perimeter player. He was the superstar of the league, bar none. And they knew they couldn't call all the hacks and defensive contact that he made. It would put him in foul trouble and negate his impact on the league. So, once again, what did they do? Instead of calling the game purely and letting Jordan make the adjustment, they adjusted how they called it and started letting all the handchecking and body checks go until we got to the point where guys were getting totally mugged on the perimeter. Now along comes Kobe and Lebron and all of a sudden the league is going to adjust the game back clear over to right field now by calling every touch out there. The spirit of the rule book is right in the middle. You don't call stuff unless it impedes the offensive player. But the spirit of the game has been lost in their attempts to once again cater to the new superstars. They go from one extreme to the other. Anybody watch the Dallas SA game the other night? Was there one possession where a foul was not called? That's ridiculous. Then at the same time, Bruce Bowen gets out there and kicks people in the head and nothing is called. Somebody recently suggested we should go to what the NHL has in place. When they review videotape, if a guy is flopping or exaggerating contact, they suspend him. If a guy is playing maliciously, they suspend him. They watch the tapes and dole out the punishment. Stuff Bruce Bowen has been doing is worthy of suspension. At the same time, floppers like Nowitzki should be suspended a time or two also. Remove all the play acting from the game, remove all the malicious contact that is designed to hurt, maim, and intimidate, call the game fairly, squarely, and consistently and just get out there and play ball.
