Is the problem that these guys never played the game themselves and thus have no feel for how to officiate ?
The modern NBA refs look much more fit than their counterparts from 40-50 years ago.
But those counterparts, working in 2-man crews btw, knew how to officiate pro basketball.
They also had a rapport with the players that is no longer there. I realize the game was played differently and all that though it was a much more physical game back then which meant a lot more contact to manage.
It is amazing to watch a game from the 70's or 80's, even finals games, and the players barely say a word to the officials outside of the occasional argument once or twice a game and that was often done by the head coach, not the players. I have read that there were words, but they were stated discreetly and often during play - and the officials back then would give as good as they got.
Earl Strom, Mendy Rudolph, Darell Garretson, Richie Powers are just a few names that come to mind.
I think that's a part of it. These days basketball has become a lot more like soccer, where players try and flop to get calls, they try to hoodwink the referees, and do other things to influence getting calls in their favor. Just look at how many of them talk to the referee, complain about calls, etc. And so the refs are on the lookout for it and the players whose behavior they consider egregious get a bad rap end up getting Td a lot more often. Look at how much more likely people like Draymond, Tatum and GWill get Td up, no surprise they're some of the biggest complainers.
I'm sure back in the day players tried to influence the referees as well, but it was a lot more discreet, and I would suggest was probably a lot more effective. I feel like being reasonable to a ref and trying not to publicly show him up or argue with him tends to go further than waving your arms and screaming and acting like you did nothing wrong on one play where you fouled someone, then you try and flop on another play to get a call for you on the other. That's not really going to improve your credibility with them when you do argue.
And these days the game is a lot faster, it's a lot harder to catch things. But on the other back in the day there were only two referees and the game was a lot more physical.
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