Smart gets clobbered on a regular basis, and often doesn't get the call.
Compare that to Harden's flopping, and yet we haven't heard a peep about that from the league since November 2013.
Tim Donaghy explained this discrepancy pretty well:
Relationships between NBA players and referees were generally all over the board — love, hate, and everything in-between. Some players, even very good ones, were targeted by referees and the league because they were too talented for their own good. Raja Bell, formerly of the Phoenix Suns and now a member of the Charlotte Bobcats, was one of those players. A defensive specialist throughout his career, Bell had a reputation for being a "star stopper." His defensive skills were so razor sharp that he could shut down a superstar, or at least make him work for his points. Kobe Bryant was often frustrated by Bell's tenacity on defense. Let's face it, no one completely shuts down a player of Kobe's caliber, but Bell could frustrate Kobe, take him out of his game, and interrupt his rhythm.
You would think that the NBA would love a guy who plays such great defense. Think again! Star stoppers hurt the promotion of marquee players. Fans don't pay high prices to see players like Raja Bell — they pay to see superstars like Kobe Bryant score 40 points. Basketball purists like to see good defense, but the NBA wants the big names to score big points.
If a player of Kobe's stature collides with the likes of Raja Bell, the call will almost always go for Kobe and against Bell. As part of our ongoing training and game preparation, NBA referees regularly receive game-action video tape from the league office. Over the years, I have reviewed many recorded hours of video involving Raja Bell. The footage I analyzed usually illustrated fouls being called against Bell, rarely for him. The message was subtle but clear — call fouls against the star stopper because he's hurting the game.
TP a great article find - a possible correlation? That is interesting...
Conducting a study to find out how much foul bias still exists in the NBA might make for sizzling analysis.
Is there deliberate fraud going on? If so, such information could open the NBA up to a Federal investigation. They'd need to hire a good size crew (with lots of capital) to sift through 10,000 hours or more of tape or more to find out the whole truth. Or, maybe this wouldn't take that much manpower???
even if games were fixed (some absolutely are influenced heavily) is it straight up illegal?
Or is it the same situation as wwe?
Topic: Smart gets flop warning from NBA (Read 9508 times)