Here is what I saw: When it came to calling the techs on the role players, they were pretty even. They did call techs for the same reason on varous role players for both the Clippers and Blazers last night. But the flip side. I have seen Brandon Roy, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, all stars, do the exact same thing and not get called for it. Which means in the end, that the refs will fuck the teams without the big stars. Same story. Just more tools for them to do it with.
I actually believe this new rule will result in more fights this season. Players need to vent during the heat of battle. You get a little pissed, you vent then you move on. All this rule is going to do is make them keep it bottled up until the cork finally pops.
I like the rule if they'd apply it to the stars as well. And there's really no reason why they shouldn't. After all, a tech doesn't get counted against the six fouls it takes to get tossed out of a game, which is the whole (absurd IMO) justification for "superstar treatment." (Who wants to pay to see a Magic game where Howard gets ejected in the third quarter?) The net effect of calling a tech on Roy or Cunningham is the same. A free throw, and the game goes on. I suppose if a star is dumb enough to accrue a second tech, then he'd get thrown out. But most of the stars are pretty smart people, and are smart enough not to put themselves in that position. To those who say the players should be allowed to express themselves in tense situations, I say, "Tough." Lots of people have jobs that have tense situations where if shit goes wrong they have to keep things bottled up. If a nurse hands a surgeon the wrong scalpel, is it ok for him to jump back and yell, "What the fuck?" at the nurse? If an actor fucks up his line in the middle of a major performance, should an actress shout, "You dumbass!"? Dealing with the real world often means letting shit that pisses you off go, because you'll only make it worse by reacting. I've got no problem with that reality being enforced on the basketball court. I want the players to focus on the game, not the refs.
Damn, with this new rule, it's a good thing we traded Bayless when we did. He's never met a call he didn't complain about.
I think the rule should be reapplied to allow for an initial reaction. Stopping a "come on!" or "he hacked me!" is awfully difficult and in some cases impossible. It's when you continue beyond the initial reaction (a second or less) I think the tech is warranted.
I don't really have a problem with the new rule provided that it is called consistently, that home court isn't a factor in its application, and that stars don't get special consideration. In other words, I think the new rule stinks and will likely impact the outcome of a lot of close games.
Totally disagree. This is professional sports. Anyone who's ever played sports knows the amount of emotion that goes into competing hard, and that is greatly multiplied when you're playing in front of 20,000 people in the playoffs. Comparing that to a nurse handing a doctor the wrong scalpel is ridiculous... I'm all for decreasing the amount of complaining, but the techs I saw last night were a joke. When you're caught up in the game and a bad call goes against you it's just natural to have a small reaction. It's called human nature. Armon raised his hands and immediately put one down as if to say 'it's on me'. To T a guy up for that is bullshit. He was letting it go, he didn't make a big scene, it was the ref who made it a bigger deal that it was.
I don't have a problem with this, either. It's a good compromise. The real point of this rule is to not allow tantrums to impact the nature of the game. It's really hard for a 1 second reaction to impact anything, other than to let the ref know you hated his call.
Welcome to David Stern's NBA; Players looking too "ghetto" for your sensitive honkey eyes? Embrace the culture and diversity? Play up on the hipness of the latest youth fashion? Nope: Pass a rule requiring players to dress white(r). Players complain too much about calls, especially non-(annointed)-stars? Improve the reffing core? Increase training? Decrease fraud and corruption? Nope: Pass a rule punishing players for not meekly accepting whatever good and bad is offerered up by the now discredited, post Donaghy, zebras. The NBA - it's FANtastic!
Technical fouls There are going to be A LOT of T's in the NBA this season based on how tight they are with player reactions. You can't raise your arms after fouls? If Rasheed was still playing he'd blow the record out the water this year. sorry didn't see the other thread. go ahead and delete.
Re: Technical fouls Isn't it amazing how the new technical rules coincide with the fines increasing? If I was the players union, I would be bringing up that conflict of interest.
That was my reaction as well. Talking to ER nurses over the years, every single one has mentioned that there are always Docs who hold little back. No filters.
