is this a cure for the nba?

[cornbreadsmart]

  nobody knows what a foul is anymore. refs have no idea. i sure as heck would'nt wanna be an nba ref.now we have all these suspensions all the time. we have debates as to what should be a suspension and what shuld'nt be. we have guys NOT getting suspended when the written rules say they should. it's such a mess.
  how about this? ref it like a college game. this would mean wayyyy less physical play. much less contact all over the court. in my opinion if this happened we'd have games going into the 200's if this was the case. wilt's record would be broken. all kinds of records would be completely shattered.(not that i care but many fans do).
  sounds crazy but what alternative do we have? i'm sick of myself for whining aboutb the refs for crying out loud. it's easy to say that the calls just need to be consistent but i think that's a lot easier said than done.

[cornbreadsmart]

just to be clear i like physical play in hoops. in a perfect world it adds so much drama but the league has lost so much credibility. it's one big confused league.

[Edgar]

just for the record
inmho
this is how playoffs usually are played
very very very physical
this time we dont have the tall ultra
nasty 7 footer madman
so all of the other teams seems like theyre
in advantage against us
and that may be trues


sad but we will have to learn to live with it

Refs are as good or bad as always

Dirty physical teams have an advantage during playoffs
hey even the fakers are playing physical this days
theres not enough gap comparing talent in this NBA
contrary to MJ times for example.

This is the bad boys kind of NBA
physicality wins
even if its from the superfreak brom brom and his sequito point of wiew.

[wiley]

  nobody knows what a foul is anymore. refs have no idea. i sure as heck would'nt wanna be an nba ref.now we have all these suspensions all the time. we have debates as to what should be a suspension and what shuld'nt be. we have guys NOT getting suspended when the written rules say they should. it's such a mess.
  how about this? ref it like a college game. this would mean wayyyy less physical play. much less contact all over the court. in my opinion if this happened we'd have games going into the 200's if this was the case. wilt's record would be broken. all kinds of records would be completely shattered.(not that i care but many fans do).
  sounds crazy but what alternative do we have? i'm sick of myself for whining aboutb the refs for crying out loud. it's easy to say that the calls just need to be consistent but i think that's a lot easier said than done.

Or go with Doc's approach, which is to stop suspending players during the playoffs.  Have them serve their suspensions next year, only make it 5 games next year, not 1.  Suspensions are going to continue to ruin series like they ruined Phoenix San Antonio a few years back.  A 1 game suspension next year is not even a blip on the screen.  But 5 games without pay might make a player think twice.  I'm not saying let people get away with murder.  Toss people out of the game they're playing in, as Fischer was tossed, but make Stu's review process be about next year, not these games....

Doc said it best.  They've fought all year to get here and emotions run high.  Let 'em play. 

Imo the current system actually encourages more hard fouls because players know they won't be retaliated against.  There has to be that line that, if a player crosses it, he pays, like in baseball.  You've removed that element from the game and the result is a stultifying sterility

[BrickJames]

The cure is called accountability.

But by whom?  One could say our governmental agencies - but they are only brought in to cause a distraction.  3 years removed from the Donaghy 'scandal' - has anything really changed?

Ultimately, accountability needs to come from us, the consumer.  With all the negative commentary about the officiating, it's clear that the majority of hardcore fans think that the business of the NBA game has corrupted the game itself.  I am personally of that persuasion as well.

So what can we really do about it?  We have the only cure as the paying fan - our dollar.  Until we stop going to games, watching games, buying jerseys, Air Jordans and NBA headbands, stop going to ESPN on our iPhones to check the scores, and stop pretending we are basketball experts on online forums, not a [dang]ed thing will change.

And we all know none of the above will be happening anytime soon.

[PosImpos]

  nobody knows what a foul is anymore. refs have no idea. i sure as heck would'nt wanna be an nba ref.now we have all these suspensions all the time. we have debates as to what should be a suspension and what shuld'nt be. we have guys NOT getting suspended when the written rules say they should. it's such a mess.
  how about this? ref it like a college game. this would mean wayyyy less physical play. much less contact all over the court. in my opinion if this happened we'd have games going into the 200's if this was the case. wilt's record would be broken. all kinds of records would be completely shattered.(not that i care but many fans do).
  sounds crazy but what alternative do we have? i'm sick of myself for whining aboutb the refs for crying out loud. it's easy to say that the calls just need to be consistent but i think that's a lot easier said than done.

Or go with Doc's approach, which is to stop suspending players during the playoffs.  Have them serve their suspensions next year, only make it 5 games next year, not 1.  Suspensions are going to continue to ruin series like they ruined Phoenix San Antonio a few years back.  A 1 game suspension next year is not even a blip on the screen.  But 5 games without pay might make a player think twice.  I'm not saying let people get away with murder.  Toss people out of the game they're playing in, as Fischer was tossed, but make Stu's review process be about next year, not these games....

Doc said it best.  They've fought all year to get here and emotions run high.  Let 'em play. 

Imo the current system actually encourages more hard fouls because players know they won't be retaliated against.  There has to be that line that, if a player crosses it, he pays, like in baseball.  You've removed that element from the game and the result is a stultifying sterility

I like this idea.  It's really lame when a series is tainted by a player having to sit out a game.

[cordobes]

I'd love to see Stern announcing, one of this days, something in these lines:

"All right, folks, everybody is angry with our officiating. People say refs are incompetent and rig games. So, we've adopted radical measures: next season, none of our current referees will step on the floor. We're hiring the top refs from the NCAA and FIBA basketball, and they'll be officiating the next NBA season".

I'm pretty sure this would work...











... by the All-Star weekend, everybody would be begging Stern to bring back NBA officials.

[wdleehi]

Consistency would be nice. 


They can call the same foul on the worst freshman as they do the best senior.   They can do that in the NBA. 

[wiley]

All you have to do to realize just how much things have changed is think about some of the hard fouls given this postseason:  Kobe's elbow to the chest, Derek Fischer's smack down, Howard's elbow and even Alston's slap.  Now, imagine Larry Bird on the receiving end of those fouls and imagine his reaction.  Major scrum with punches thrown.  Then everyone calms down and they play on....

[keepthefaith]

  nobody knows what a foul is anymore. refs have no idea. i sure as heck would'nt wanna be an nba ref.now we have all these suspensions all the time. we have debates as to what should be a suspension and what shuld'nt be. we have guys NOT getting suspended when the written rules say they should. it's such a mess.
  how about this? ref it like a college game. this would mean wayyyy less physical play. much less contact all over the court. in my opinion if this happened we'd have games going into the 200's if this was the case. wilt's record would be broken. all kinds of records would be completely shattered.(not that i care but many fans do).
  sounds crazy but what alternative do we have? i'm sick of myself for whining aboutb the refs for crying out loud. it's easy to say that the calls just need to be consistent but i think that's a lot easier said than done.

i actually think it would be better if less calls were made. make the game simpler. when naismith invented the game i think there were only 12 rules, now the rule book is thousands of pages. just let them play. obviously certain fouls whould have to be called but how much better would the game be if there were no ticky tack fouls. when a ref is in doubt they should opt not to make the call rather than make it.

[cordobes]

Consistency would be nice. 


They can call the same foul on the worst freshman as they do the best senior.   They can do that in the NBA.

Really? Don't NCAA refs absolutely love Tyler Hansborough? Do they call the same way a Duke senior and a Bradley freshman? Aren't college refs biased towards Coach K and Duke? Don't big colleges with star coaches work the refs? Are you saying teams coached by guys like Pitino, Calipari, Izzo or Howland don't get more favourable calls than a mid-major coached by a nobody?

The same is true for the FIBA game. Fans are always Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.ing about the refs and how they favour the big teams and bla bla bla.

It's just the way basketball is.