Help Wanted: NBA Officials in Desperate Need

Is it me, or has the NBA just gone soft? Throughout this post season, seemingly every game has at least one flagrant foul, one technical and probably an

Is it me, or has the NBA just gone soft?

Throughout this post season, seemingly every game has at least one flagrant foul, one technical and probably an ejection. And if all else fails, the NBA’s officials who review the game most likely hand out a secondary flagrant foul post game.

Now before I rant I want to acknowledge that I understand what the league is trying to avoid. After the public relations nightmare that was the Ron Artest debacle, they don’t want to go down that road again. Their intentions seem to be keep the league at a standard that distinguishes itself from the And 1 Street Ball Tour. I get it.

But you’re ruining the game. 

I’ll be the first advocate that a foul is a foul, whether it’s game 1 or game 93 of the season. There is no such thing in my book as a “Playoff Foul” or saying “in the regular season that would be called but in the Playoffs you let it slide.” 

But not even that school of thought pertains this post season. The officiating staffs are calling fouls they would never have dreamed about in the regular season. 

I’m not sure if the NBA brass as informed the crews to call it tight, really tight, but their goal of having 124-119 games is happening. Individual players are shooting 15-20 free throws a night and some the leagues premier players are on the bench in foul trouble or fouled out at the end of games where it matters most. 

By allowing the rule changes they set in place a few seasons ago, the NBA created a monster. They have made a concerted effort to call every tick-tac contact they can see. They wanted their premier players to score, and score in bunches. There have been less charges and more blocking fouls that I can count. 

If I was coaching a playoff team, my message would be clear: “Take it to the hole every time. Get fouled. Make your 80 free throw shots a game, and we’ll win 130-115.”

Like always, I’m not just complaining. I bring a warm basket of change. Change the NBA should enact if they travel down this road and don’t change it soon. 

Basketball, at its purest of forms. At the gyms and playgrounds around America and now the world has been played without officiating. Players given the opportunity to police themselves and call fouls where they agree is necessary. And guess what, this solution would even eliminate the crying you see after the fouls. If there’s no refs, there’s no one to cry to. You either except it, or not, and you keep playing, waiting for you next opportunity to put your team ahead.

Drastic, I know. But it has got to be better than what we are seeing on the court currently. 

While it might not appear likely at this time to see a Kobe-LeBron match-up in the Championship this year, it probably is better for the league that one of them doesn’t make it. After all, can you imagine, a Kobe-LeBron dream series where Kobe is sitting out a game for receiving his 7th technical of the playoffs and Lebron is sitting on bench with 6 fouls because Luke Walton tried posting him up?

So maybe instead of Kobe-LeBron maybe the NBA would much rather see a Vujacic-Redick go head to head in a 3 point shooting contest.

 

Click Here and tell me what you think? Has the NBA gone soft?