Stifle Complaints
Stop the Flop
Improve the Game
There are two things need to be done for NBA referees to allow them to better call games. Imagine what the Playoffs could be like with a little rules tweaking.
Problem
First, we need to minimize complaints about calls. Many refs take much more lip than they should in order to ensure star players stay in the game. So we see players and coaches running after refs with their arms widespread challenging calls.
Solution
The refs should be given a less severe technical foul, not unlike the defensive three-second rule. So if you complain, the ref can award the opposing team’s best shooter a single free throw. Save the old fashioned “T” for the worst and chronic offenders.
I would like to see one game where no coach or player complained about a call the whole game. Sweet thought, right? We want ballers, not bawlers.
Problem
Perhaps the worst development over time has been the “Flop.” Basketball is a transition game; you need to keep your feet. But if there is contact anywhere on the floor, someone hits the deck and acts as if he has been seriously hurt. My favorite is touching the face and checking the finger for blood.
Flops under the basket, where it is frequently very crowded, is not only poor acting but dangerous. How many injuries have been made because of someone’s blindly falling backwards into the legs of players.
Solutions
This cancer on the game needs to go and it will take an effort from the top down. Ownership and management should encourage the coaches and players to stop acting and start playing.
Coaches and players have the dignity to stop the silliness and stand their ground. It is no less a charging call if a guy launches into you and knocks himself out.
And if you do not get the call when you flop, you are taken out of the play. Too many times, the opposing team gets an easy bucket due to an unsuccessful flop.
Fans, boo the floppers off the court. Make some "stop the flop" signs and bring them to the game. "Sports Center is Next. Stop the Flop."
Difficult, but not impossible, would be a one-shot penalty for “exaggerating the effects of contact in order to influence the referee’s decision”.
Also...
If contact from the defender causes a missed shot, a turnover, an interruption to the offensive flow, or if any contact is flagrant, call the foul. Otherwise, play on!
If a foul in the backcourt stops a fast break, play on! We want to see action in the open court.
If a man is off the ball anytime during the game and is fouled, play on! Let’s get rid of the Hack-a-Shaq mentality altogether.
I know why the arc was put in the paint in first place, but I would like to see the game called the same way on 100 percent of the court. The player with the ball has been given a license to steal when he is inside the arc with the defender.
Scuttle the arc. There are way too many three-point plays or bail out free throws where the dribbler throws himself into the defender inside the arc. Shot blockers are at a huge disadvantage. Call the game the same way all over the court.
The NBA game is a great game, but it could be better with a few minor changes and it could be a game much less dependent upon the referees.
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4 months ago
Really enjoyed this article, it gave me things to comment on and you should get lots more. Wish I had that talent as that is what I enjoy when I write a article, get people to comment and make a rating.
It all sounds good but don't see it happening. Players are going to complain when a foul is called on them, well some of them. Spurs game I was watching for that as I read somebodies article about players whinning and seen that their are some that did whine about a call but most of it they went on playing. There could have been more but I may have taught myself to tune them out being I have seen so much of it. But tell me, if you were a coach and one of your players could get the attention of a ref by acting like he is hurt, he get's free shots because of it, are you going to pull him if he wins games? Acting it seems is what the players like, it gets attention not only from the refs but also the audience.
But that aside let's start with the first one. Refs taking lip from players. You said the solution would be, "The refs should be given a less severe technical foul, not unlike the defensive three-second rule. So if you complain, the ref can award the opposing team’s best shooter a single free throw. Save the old fashioned “T” for the worst and chronic offenders.
I don't know much about basketball, and never noticed the three second rule? A foul is a foul I thought, I don't see nothing wrong with the tec. foul. They have the power to listen to what the player or coach has to say and when to put a stop to it. They do run the game, just depends on how much they want to take, but when they had enough, "T" time! Coachs and players will learn.
Second one. The Flop. This like I said is what everyone does. I do it, I would bet you do it, my wife and family, and why do we do it? Attention, to get attention, how dangerous it can be well that all depends. I agree that it can be dangerous but who is going to be the one that says that it was a flop? How much time is it going to take out of the game to prove it was a flop? I'm sure if there were that many people getting seriously hurt because of it then they would do something about it, like football, put a wall around the court, lol. Then again think, your the coach, this player does really good on the court and you need one point to win the game, he acts like he is tripped, falls into the people on the side line, gets the foul, wins the game because of it, are you going to pull him?
Third. The Hack-a-shack. I loved that one, lol. I didn't understand it, lol, like you said, he didn't even have the ball, what's the deal? How was it called on him when he didn't even have the ball? This one I agree with you on. It should be the one with the ball that gets fouled, like at the end of the game, they foul the one with the ball. What I don't get is if the hack-a-shack worked then, why don't people use it at the end of the game, instead of fouling the person they inbound the ball to, being they are going to give it to the best foul throw shooter, do the hack-a-shack, foul who ever is on the court that is the worse foul throw shooter, he dosn't have to have the ball right?
from 4 months ago
Matthew, I cannot believe you took the time to write all that. I wish I could say when the flop began, but there was a time when the game was played where defenders were pillars not feathers in the wind. It is not too late to reverse the flop trend. Sometimes you are going to get knocked on your butt. I have had that happen without any effort on my part.
Is the best reason to continue with something is because everyone is doing it? Check out Marty's comment about grace and flow. And let's keep the fast break in play with advantage. The last two minutes have different rules for hack-a -shaq. Rules were changed because of what you asked in your last sentence.
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
4 months ago
Joe, the mini-technical is a good idea. I imagine it will take a decade of wrangling among the owners, playes, and referees but it's a start. The whining doesn't help the flow of the game and it sure distracts from the refs ability to stay focused on the immediate play.
I simply don't know what to say about finding a balance between the rough-housing physical style of play and the symptoms of the trouble it causes: flopping and all the contact subleties. The arc is just another layer of subtlety added to a game of complicated rules about what pummeling is legal and what isn't and where.
We don't want to turn basketball into a non-contact sport. But we don't want it to become football or rugby, either. I'd like to see a trend away from bump and hold and towards more speed and ball movement. The great games and teams have flow and grace and we should press for more, not less.
4 months ago
I agree, Marty. Flow of the game is really key. As you may know, soccer has something called advantage. If a player is fouled, but he is headed for goal with no one but the goalie there, they would not call that foul, but let the player have "advantage" . Official signals play on.
How many times have you seen a fast break develop and the dribbler is fouled in back court to stop the play. Play on. Same with a foul "on the floor" when a man is beaten. He fouls and stops play, and continuation has not yet been established. I say, play on. No call.
Mini-tech is a good name. There would have to be details worked out, and it would take time, but it would allow the ref to shut a whiner up without jeopardizing his being able to play. Thanks for your input.
Rule changes do not normally draw much interest, but those of us who love the game and would like to see improvements think about these things.
4 months ago
The cancer of the game is not the players complaining.
The cancer is the incredibly horrible officiating. It's not surprise to me that one of it's highest rated officials has been exposed as a cheat and criminal, and there are refs who's statistics appear even more lopsided than his did.
I won't even get into the pathetic example that is Joey Crawford.
I've watched more players get hurt because refs have let the games get out of hand than by players flopping.
Basketball also has what Big referred to as 'advantage'. If there is no advantage gained from a discretion there should be no foul called. This has been completely overlooked in the NBA, along with a host of other issues.
The NBA will continue to see a backlash in this country until David Stern is gone. He killed the NBA, CBA, NCAA, & is doing his best to even ruin AAU. What's next? Thank God he didn't get away with changing the ball itself.
NBARefsSuck.com
NBA Refs Suck dot Com
4 months ago
HACK-A-SHAQ
Whatever happened to fouls that weren't a play on the ball were flagrant? Two shots + ball ends the hack-a-shaq.
4 months ago
I liked the article but don't agree. The flop is a smart move! You should bash and critique the players that fall into this trap. Everyone is on Manu for the flop. Manu is tremendous and probably the smartest player in the league.
Technical fouls for the flop. Pfffffffffffff
4 months ago
Rodge, keep an open mind. I take it from your pffffffff you do not like the tech for an obvious flop. It would be difficult to discern intent. But if Tayshon Prince runs headlong into Shaq and Shaq flies out of bounds, well. . . . We will not agree that flopping is smart. It is ruining the game.
Karl, perhaps you will have the opportunity to tell me how you really feel about officiating and administration in the NBA. Smoking. And fouls that are not a play on the ball are like when they go for the head instead of the ball. The last two minutes is the exception to the hack-a-Shaq rule.
Thanks to you both.
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