if someone gets their first tech. shouldnt they be on eggshells rest of the game? I dont understand the explanation that "well they got first tech so should do whatever they want because refs dont want to eject him."
For all the chatter around the referees being an undue influence on the outcome of the game, there are few things that an NBA referee can do to more directly influence a game than throw a player out with a technical foul.
So this creates the dissonance you're talking about -- players have to play soft to avoid 'actual' fouls, but in terms of behaviour they know that they'll really have to go beyond the pale to get the second tech.
once again. thats on Draymond to not act like a goon and get a 2nd tech. just like it was on Jaylen to play soft the rest of the game on defense because he didnt want to foul out. The rule shouldnt be "i got my first tech so now i can go all out"
agree, but it has been that way for a very long time. Sam Mitchell on his radio show was talking about a game years ago when he was player playing against Karl Malone. Malone picked up a tech and Sam said for the next 2 or 3 possessions Karl was just berating the ref and saying things like "are you going to kick me out, when all these fans are here to see me" and things of that nature. Sam says he asked the ref if was going to take that and Sam got the T. On the radio show, Sam then went on and on about how cowardly the refs are and how he can't stand most of them because of things like that.
So this is not new and players know it. They know once they get a T, they basically have to fight someone to get ejected. That shouldn't be the way it is, but that is the way it has been for years.
That is a hell of an interesting story, especially the part about the refs being so cowardly.
What are they afraid of ? It's not as if they are going to be meeting the player in back of the arena for a post-game fistfight.
Another interesting question to me is, how do these modern Stepford-Refs measure up to their predecessors from the 60's-70's-80's ? Guys like Earl Strom, Richie Powers, Darrell Garretson, Hugh Evans, Mendy Rudolph, Jess Kersey, etc. Unlike today's GQ-models calling games in groups of 3, these former officials didn't exactly look like former athletes who played the game.
But in contrast to the current group, these past officials sure seemed to have a better feel for the game. They had a much better sense of the effect of contact and differentiating a foul from a no-call. They also looked much more in charge of the game. The players hardly said a word to them other than extremely controversial incidents. That was also part of the culture of basketball back then, but it's amazing to watch a Celts-Lakers finals game from the 80's where the players say nothing at all on most routine foul calls. All the arguing and arm gestures these days on almost every play is another element that has deteriorated the quality of the game.