I would think there would be some empathy for Shaq here since what he complains about is what Yao will experience for the rest of his career.
As much as he has benefitted from the bs that masquerades as officiating in the NBA throughout his career, guess what? He's right.
if you are on a losing team, or arent kobe, lebron or AI, prepare to get screwed by the refs regularly. this years officiating is terrible.
http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=111231 But in response, for all those that say Shaq get away with murder, well he does. But he also gets punished big time every time he gets the ball. It's incredibly hard to officiate some one his size since everything is so magnified. Every other player lean on the defender, they are leaning on the defender. Shaq leans on the defender, he knocks the guy over. Players can't defend some one with Shaq's strength so they basically attack him physically the whole night till he's "contained" It's the same with Yao, every other player who cheats a little when the use a their left hand on a hook after a baseline spin gets with away with it a lot because it looks like a smooth motion and most ref don't see it. For Yao, his hook will be at some one's chest or throat, it's so apparent that the refs have to call it. Players can't defend Yao so that attack physically the whole night till he's "contained". And as much as we complain about Yao's lack of foul calls against him, watch some of Shaq's games from early on, he didn't even have people play basketball against him.
My issue with the current NBA officiating is that they treat the post players like gangsters and the perimeter players like a group of sissies. You get away with murder inside, but if you dare to touch a hair of AI or Wade, it's an automatic foul. For Yao and Shaq, it's getting even worse. Lots of defenders (Kwame Brown, for example) use both arms behind Yao's back all the time and it's never (rarely) called a foul. That's why so many used to be NBA fans quit and call the league a flower and sissy guard's league.
He's right about the flopping -- I can't believe the refs are actually fooled by the spastic dives some players take to get the call.
These were the same type of comments that cost JVG $100,000 last year. I don't understand why people are dissing Shaq. He has replaced Yao as the 2nd best center in the league and now he's going through some of the same crap that Yao has gone through...stuff that we already knew when everybody else was dissing Yao as being soft. Apparently in this league if you're not a 300lb behemoth with superhuman strength and stupendous mental willpower, you cannot be effective at the center position. And that means something *is* wrong with the officiating. I've seen some games (like the last Indiana game) where Yao could have easily exploded for 50, if not for the ridiculous lynching he was receiving down low.
The officiating of Yao and Shaq seems backwards. When Yao is on defense, the smallest touches gets a whistle. But when Yao and Shaq is on offense, they normally let them bowl over guys to get to the rim. They occasionally call them for offensive fouls but not often. If they would let Yao play defense honestly without ticky tack calls but they should also call MORE fouls when he makes offenses moves. When posting up, guys shouldn't be able to mug Yao. When Yao makes his move, he shouldn't be able to run over guys either. Everything about officiating these two guys just seems to be a little off.
I don't think it's just a little off. It's way off. I always feel for Shaq, because he's getting murdered every position down low. The only difference between him and Yao is that Shaq also murders defenders with his elbows. However, the league might think that Shaq has an unfair advantage in strength, and Yao has unfair advantage in height. If they call fouls on them fouls, not just only call those blatant murders, opposing team has no chance at all. Well, they shouldn't level play field like that. Same argument could be made by unfair advantage of those wing players' speed and skills. They should not be protected as crying babies. Before the rules change, the NBA was exciting, and it didn't prevent great players prevailing. Great players shouldn't be pampered, nor should they be stopped intentionally by changing rules. Just call the game as a game, a foul as a foul. I guess people have to fight for equal opportunity everywhere. Nowadays, centers are third class citizens. That's what's wrong about NBA now - they try too hard to attract new customers, and end up turning old loyal customers away.
Re: my signature ============= The NBA stopped being a sports league the day Stern took over. It's the worst entertainment business this side of WWF.
I blame the all small, all offense, and no defense Suns. They are what the league is trying to do to all the teams. This game is becoming a joke. Hell, it might not be too far of a stretch to say that if these trends continue we will stop having basketball games and just have Harlem Globetrotter version of basketball out there.
Oh, so does it mean Shaq is getting even less respect from the refs than Yao these days? Interesting.
this is an example of why the nba is the hardest game to officiate, and I wish people would lay off officials. there is a simple reason why shaq and yao are treated differently, they're bigger than everyone. and its not purposeful. technically you are never supposed to toch anyone with your hands. the problem is, the game moves so fast that the only time refs call fouls is when they see a touch affect the player being touch. therefore an allen iverson gets all the calls because he's so little, when he gets touched by an average sized player he goes flying, the ref can't miss that. but when shaq and yao get touched by an average sized player, they just keep going, and it looks like nothing happened. its like when refs judge a close out of bounds play by the way the ball bounced. the play has usually gone to fast for the ref to have seen so he or she judges the trajectory of the ball. its the same thing when judging fouls, especially inside the lane. unfortunately yao and shaq look like they aren't getting touched when they are, and when they touch another player, the player goes flying. and therefore a discrepency in calls.
I dont whole-heartedly agree that big men are simpily more difficult to officate. Apparently it hasnt been much of a problem in international plays.
well I don't know, but if it hasn't been, the international game is certaintly different in many ways including defense. this is just a guess but I would say that there are a lot less fouls in international play.
