http://www.sportsline.com/nba/stats/teamsort/regularseason/yearly/NBA/SCORING?&_1:col_1=9 We are 26th in the NBA as far as fta are concerned. Second to last in the West with <b>1473 ft's</b>. Guess who is leading this category in the NBA? The lakers with <b> over 2000 ft's</b>. thats more than <b>500 ft's</b> there or more than 7ft's a game on average. The irony is that we are a pretty good ft% shooting team (8th in the nba, lakers are second to last here btw). Are we really a team that can't draw fouls with 2 all-stars in yao and francis or are the refs biased somehow or having grudges against certain players or does the zone have sumthing to do with it as well (although the stats don't agree with the zone theory for the non houston star players who tops this years nba fta list if you look at the ft/min stats below unless the refs are compensating somehow for those starplayers)? Let's have a look at the 3 players on our team with the most fta's and compare it with last year : this year yao with 384 , francis 354, mobley 194. if you extrapolate this for the the same amount of time played like last year you get Yao: 404 fta in 2382 min, last year he got 371 with the same min. francis: 424 fta in 3318 min, last year 595 mobley: 212 fta in 3044 min. last year 282 so you get yao +33, francis -171,mobley -70 netto: <b>208</b> less fta's for our big 3 vs last year. Francis took the biggest hit with 171 less ft's so i can imagine why he is whining/protesting so much. Too bad i can't watch the games over here in europe so i have no idea if the protesting is legit or its just that he's taking less drives this year to the basket in order to draw the fouls. some more stats (fta's per min) --------- 2003/4 -- 2002/3 -- 2001/2 : yao ----- 0.170 ---- 0.156 francis - 0.128 ---- <b> 0.144 </b> ---- <b>0.180</b> mobley - 0.067 ---- 0.093 ---- 0.101 shaq --- 0.303 ---- 0.286 ---- 0.296 kobe --- 0.212 ---- 0.210 ---- 0.192 duncan - 0.232 ---- 0.199 ---- 0.211 kg ----- 0.137 ---- 0.151 ---- 0.141 pierce -- 0.200 ---- 0.243 ---- 0.195 ai ------ 0.223 ---- 0.211 ----- 0.223 tmac --- 0.189 ---- 0.245 ---- 0.190 magette - 0.233 ---- 0.201 ---- 0.155 lebron --- 0.139 carmelo - 0.172 - francis fta got a massive decline going from season 2001-2002 to 2002-03 (this was when the zone was implemented wasn't it? coincidence or not?) and declined more this year. So could the zone be an explanation for francis getting less and less ft's or are the refs having a grudge against francis (and mobley). if you look at the stats though you see that about every other player that's listed above in fact got more ft's when the zone was implemented, not less. The criteria to be on the list is the top 7 in this years NBA fta list and with kg,lebron and kobe thrown in. also worth noting is that duncan,kobe and shaq (the 3 with the biggest reputation) all got more ft's per min this year than last year. - note that a small difference in this ft/min is quite a few fts if you slice it over a whole game. a 0.025 difference is already 1 ft's over a game if that player averages 40 min a game i
Well, the Lakers offense has much more motion on it. Francis doesn't go to the rim as much anymore, and neither does Mobley. Mobley and JJ are taking 5 3-pointers per game. We don't have the best slashers.. Boki's pretty good at slashing, Posey was good.... But right now, we're not too great at it, and at this point in the season, I feel the time is beginning to SETTLE for some shots as well rather than outwork their man for an easy cut to the basket.
I bet if you took a poll of the league's officials, the Rockets would get voted as the whiniest team in the league.
Francis is also not getting the calls he use to, he draws contact almost everytime he drives in and rarely gets calls. I do want to see Mobley driving in a little more. He's very good at finishing plays and has shown he can drop it to Yao when defenders come to help out.
WE HAVE A WINNER! on almost every play, either Steve, Cat or Mo are complaining to the officials. I agree with Bill last night. I think the officiating last night was a message to Steve. SHUT THE F UP! This season has been ridiculous as far as officiating goes, but crybabies don't get rewarded for their bad behavior. Just play ball girls
Yep. The Lakers don't complain that much -- they just do their business like professionals. The Rockets complain after almost EVERY call (or non-call). They've even got Yao doing it now, whereas he used to be more selective about it, and accordingly, got better treatment from the refs. This is such a talented team, but they all need to just go about their business and STFU. They do get jobbed by the refs night in and night out, but it's because they're such friggin' babies. Seriously.
In my opinion, the message last night is the refs are not any better. They should call the game fair no matter what. That makes them just as immature as the players. If the refs would call the game with more fairness, I think they would see less whining. I would be whinning too with the way the games have been called this year. The refs hold all the cards, because the league does very little about anything. They only thing they do is fine players/coaches if they complain about them.
Agree 100%. The refs suddenly look like they don't have a leg to stand on. They made it BLATANTLY obvious that they call the game in favor of certain teams/players. Even the Portland fans in the stands recognized the refs were picking on us. I think they provided justification for Steve & Cat's complaining throughout the season. No way these guys are the world's best and brightest officials. Just power-hungry, self-righteous whistle carriers with an agenda.
I love blaming the victims IS IT Steve and Mobes complain because they not getting the calls or they not getting the calls because they complain or somewhere in the middle. If you get hacked. . . YOU GET HACKED Rocket River
QUICK QUESTION: You guys seem pretty ok with Refs punishing folx for critisizing them . . . Are You? If someone is doing something on your job . .. . that prohibits you from succeeding or even doing your job effectly . .. . do you just sit there and take it .. . . are you ok if they retaliate MORE if you report it? Rocket River
Rocket River, you just have to understand, as long as they can take someone's side besides francis and mobley, they will. i mean we all know kobe or duncan never complain and look, they are rewarded with ft's. those silent sufferers them.
point is, you have to look at the case as a whole. Are the rest of the players on the Kings constantly complaining to the Ref's? When Vlade complains how does he approach the subject? Does he plead his case and explain his point of view, or does he b**** to the ref that he made a wrong call? I have had the privelage to go to quite a few games this year and all were in great seats. Steve doesn't calmly argue his side, he just bithches. Same with Mo, same with Cat. Conversely, ( as brought up earlier) Yao can take the blame for the exact opposite offense. He doesn't plead his case at all, he just shrugs his shoulders and moves on.
Steve shouts "And 1" after every foul. Not just his, but Yao's & Cat's and Mo's ... Yao raises his arms up in the air and looks at the official like, "What the heck was that?" That's really the majority of the complaints. However, after Steve's shouted a couple of "And 1's" and Yao's raised his arms in frustration a few times, Steve tears into it a little bit more. Like, "And 1. Come on, ref!" or "And 1. Call the foul, ref!" Sometimes it goes downhill from there. Mobley actually has held his tongue in check for the most part, but he demonstrates his frustration with the refs a little too dramatically sometimes. They don't seem, to me, to go over the top too often. But yeah, they do come across as more whiney, rather than trying to work with the officials.
Please tell me you're being sarcastic. The Lakers especially Shaq and Payton are amongst the biggest complainers in the league. The Rockets do whine a lot but to say that the lakers don't complain much is absurd. Watch them play. Everyone including their coach are notorious babies.
I imagine the little things come into play as well: the slamming the ball against the basket , the hanging on the rim just long enough to point to your teammates, the shooting the ball every time after play has been stopped, the remaining on the ground for a few seconds every time you end up there. These are all things that the refs have to notice, because any one of them could require a call if they go just a *bit* too far -- delay of game, etc. I tell you, if I were a ref, those kinds of things would probably drive me nuts, and consequently weigh against me calling a good game, even if it's subconscious. These refs aren't machines -- they have personalities and are affected to some degree by this stuff, even if they're technically supposed to be neutral.
have to agree what was said earlier they all complain but not every play, but what annoys the hell out of me is payton. everytime a foul is called on him he gives this smug annoying glare like that was BS and that sorta shows up the refs, not surprised at all that he was tossed a few times (like the mavs game) and gotton some Ts when the lakers announcers we like how did GP get a T? he didnt even say anything to the refs. That sorta of thing is also in my eyes complaining god i really hate GP hope that fool never wins a ring ever even if its out of a 25 cent machine
Obviously, it's not ok. There are simply better and worse ways of addressing it. I'll even agree that it's ok to talk to the refs during the game. But a quiet word after an obviously bad call is the way to go about it. Our guys are slapping their wrists every time someone breathes on them while going in for a layup. It only hurts your credibility when you're complaining when, at best, a call would have been extremely ticky tack. They're getting screwed... and it's the refs fault... but there are better ways to go about it.
francis for perez and Rocket River: oh yeah... real life example time I think one of the first things you learn at some jobs at least is that you never blame the people who can hurt you, directly. I'm in a clinic at my UT Law... and the very first day, they tell you: "no matter how badly the court clerk screws up, never blame them. They're often half-incompetent minions with jobs a monkey could do better... but if you complain about their mistakes, they'll nail you. It's *always* your fault somehow. Or at worst, a mutual misunderstanding" The same thing goes for our players, I think. Instead of saying "how could you miss that, magoo" it needs to be "hey, could you clarify why that wasn't a foul? Just trying to play by your rules a little better." Even if they know what you're really up to, they don't lose any face... and they'll appreciate you being polite.
