DJ’s Three Point Take: Officiating in the NBA

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DJ’s Three Point Take: Officiating in the NBA

Officiating in the NBA is not an easy task at all and I have much respect for the men and women that go out there and get the job done. However, there have been a few instances over the past few seasons that haven’t sat well with me. The league has been doing whatever they can to make improvements to the game, and even though things have been pretty good, there’s always room for improvement. So this may sound like a “Kanye Rant” to some but this is just an opinion on things that I’ve seen and not liked.

tech

TECH!

As officials, they must uphold a certain level of arrogance to be taken seriously out there on the court, but I believe over the past few years they’ve raised it a notch too high. Some of the technical fouls that are being handed out now are in my opinion, ridiculous. If referees hear or see any type of disagreement then the whistle is being blown. In the past, players were able to walk away and express their feelings but with the League’s Point of Emphasis on respect for the game being introduced, they aren’t putting up with anything anymore.

 

Totals

 2013-2014*2014-2015

Technical Fouls

15941030
   Flagrant Fouls9580
Ejections56

39

 *With these stats, keep in mind we still have a lot left of this season to go.

Its not just technicals being called for complaining. Players are also being whistled for trash talking/showboating. Remember the good old days when M.J. would come down and dunk on Patrick Ewing and point at him; or when Kobe Bryant would trash talk any opponent he went up against because they simply couldn’t guard him…. Yeah, I miss those days to. Not that I’m saying you should be able to taunt excessively and be egregious about it, but if you dunk on someone or make a great play, you should have the right to express some form of emotion. The game of basketball is a form of expression itself and there’s no better feeling than dunking the ball, hitting a big three or crossing up your defender.

I’m sure everyone remembers Lebron James dunking over Jason Terry a few years back. He was given a technical foul for standing over him. Kind of absurd, you agree?

 That’s a walk sir!

Andre Igoudala’s Reaction to a missed travel call on a layup by Mike Conley. He did receive a technical for this. Well deserved. 

Another Point of Emphasis for the League before this season started was travels.  With some of the travels that I’ve seen this season, they might want to look a little closer at some of the steps that are being taken to get to the basket. Every one travels every now and then, it’s apart of the game, but one of my biggest pet peeves are when players blatantly travel and nothing is called. Referees are human to and we all miss things but with some of the uncalled travels I’ve seen this year, we need to make sure that glasses and contacts are in the NBA budget for next season.

There were plenty of uncalled travels this year but this might’ve been the worst/best one ever! Lance Thomas broke almost every basketball rule in the book.

It’s Not All Bad

With all this being said, let me put into perspective that everything is not all bad in the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver has done a good job making changes and being open to new things. The new implementation of video replay is assisting referees to get calls right and the flopping fine has certainly decreased the number of flops we’ve seen this season. So far this year, I think all fans have been very satisfied unless you’re a Knicks or Lakers fan like me. However, we have witnessed a great season so far and are in store for one of the best playoffs that we’ve seen in a while. Especially in the Western Conference.

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