It’s time for the NBA to make a rule change. Stop me if you have heard this before, where I have called for a rule change. But basketball, the NBA in particular needs to do something to help its officials. Basketball is, in these eyes, the toughest game to officiate. If there was more liberal use of video review, it would be used more often than any other sport and the games would drag on endlessly.
And put your hand up if you have heard this before from me when it comes to officiating, when I say the good teams and better players get more favourable calls. I wrote about one of the methods to “stop the flop” here last year about this time and now it’s time to end the “good player/good team gets the call” pattern.
I have talked about my “Circle Theory” regarding officiating for years. There is a good circle and a bad circle. If a team is on a good circle they get close calls going their way with a favourable whistle from officials. These teams win close games and are then perceived to be good teams. An accompanying perception becomes, as a good team they have earned the benefit of a close call in a critical situation. It follows that bad teams rarely get the whistle in their favour and lose games. The perception of being a bad team haunts them and suddenly as a bad team they are undeserving of “that” call in a close contest. And the circles continue with commensurate perceptions that are strengthened depending on the players on the roster. This explains why the “good teams” always seem to get the calls and “bad teams” seem to always find ways to lose close games.
From an individual player standpoint, the NBA is the only major professional sport where minor infractions within the game can have you ejected from that contest. Six fouls and you’re taking a seat on the bench and this rule creates a dilemma for the NBA and its officials. With fans paying big money, the entertainment factor sometimes over rules all else. Don’t tell me the name on the back of the jersey, let alone the front is not in the official’s mindset. Everybody has their explanation as to why some of the top stars don’t foul out and whatever your explanation happens to be, not wanting to banish a top name and marketable star is definitely a variable in the mix.
But it’s not just a fan’s perspective. Coaches, players and front office officials will not come out and espouse the theory even though they probably feel it is accurate. Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau was fined $35,000 for criticizing the officials after his team’s Game 3 slugfest against the Miami Heat. Essentially he was fined for saying that some players and teams get more favourable calls. So it’s time of the NBA to make a rule change.
The rule in the Summer League is no foul out. With entertainment being a key factor, the NBA should adapt this in the regular season with progressive severity. Instead of six fouls and you’re out, after the sixth foul, when the offending player commits a seventh foul, it would be one shot and the ball. Once the 10th foul occurs it could be two shots and the ball, or have it escalate on every foul after the sixth on that player to the point where the coach may have to think about taking that player out after a seventh or eighth foul, regardless of who he happens to be.
It would give an advantage to some of the journeyman- (six-fouls-in-a-uniform)-type player but at least you would avoid fans and opponents perpetuating the conspiracy theories around why some of the best players in the game never foul out. It might even allow an official to have a close call made the proper way against a top flight star without repercussions or protecting a marketable star.
Just imagine a charge, block or hack called the right way regardless of who commits the infraction or who the violation is committed against in a close game. But then again, that’s the way it should be called.