Yep, for some reason he gets away with way too much shit. If I was reffing him, I'd hit him up with one T early to let him know I'm not going to put up with his shit. Either knock it off, or get a second T and an early shower. Same with Doc Rivers. Give him one the first time he deserves it so you don't have to listen to him croaking in your ear all game long. I've never seen another coach ride the officials from opening tip off to final buzzer the way Doc does. BNM
That's been conventional wisdom, especially with dudes like Shaq. But now you've got guys like Kawhi, and super coordinated bigs like Durant, turning that thinking on its head. I think hand size and coordination were just excuses for spending less time developing shooting skills. Even now, as guards develop their halfcourt game and bigs develop their perimeter game, we're seeing the former lose their mid-range game and the latter lose their post game. I guess there's only so much practice time that can be devoted to developing skills at a high enough level for the NBA game. But, the same thing is happening at lower levels... So, maybe it's mental, pigeon-holing issue more than a practice time constraint?
Bingo! I never bought Shaq's big hands excuse for his poor FT shooting. Plenty of guys with huge hands have been good FT shooters (Sabas and Clyde to name two). It was a lack if work ethic. He simply chose not to spend his summers working on the most obvious weakness in his game. It had nothing to do with the size of his hands. He had terrible shooting form and a ridiculously inconsistent stroke - two things that can be corrected through proper training and repetition. But that takes work and its much easier t blame your poor performance on something that no amount of practice can "fix". Not my fault, my hands are just too damn big. Nothing I can do about it. Total cop out. BNM
Bron didn't care he got tossed cause they were crushing those guys. If it had been a tight game, I'm quite sure you would have seen a different reaction from him. And as far as the play itself, he got fouled 3 times! I don't care what dviss said.
Shaq said once he's actually has played with a fucked up wrist his whole career....it's not his size...according to what I heard him say...it affected his shot
I haven't heard that one, but I do recall Shaw saying he coasted for much of his career, only playing at about 75% of his ability. He was a great player, but didn't have the drive to be the greatest of all time. Put Jordan's motivation in Shaq' body and you'd have to rewrite the record books. BNM
As I recall Shaq always came into the season out of shape, then used the regular season as preseason and gradually got into shape in time for the playoffs.
Ben Gordon is crashing and burning! Sad..... http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...yer-ben-gordon-arrested-felony-robbery-charge
You can't argue with the playoff success or career longevity that approach yielded. There have been plenty of crazy talented bigs that didn't milk it as long as Shaq did. San Antonio, Miami, Cleveland, Golden State... They've largely followed that formula once reaching the top and having to keep their stars healthy.
Understood, but since they're not robots, you can't expect each official to react identically to subjective situations. Each individual ref needs to be consistent with the way they handle things, but players always need to adjust from one ref to the next.
Bro, in our meetings we have what are called "points of emphasis". We have these every year. It's why you see traveling called A LOT more this year. There needs to be a point of emphasis on idiotic behavior.
It would be nice though if the Age Of Refs As Personalities ended... we're getting there; no Dick Bavetta or Baldy McTechnical or Kenny The Hairdo anymore...
Totally. It's too late though. Philly knows what they have and signed him to a long term deal. It's a pretty damned good contact too.
