How do you feel about "star treatment" in the NBA?

[turtlesnjoi]

Ruins the game.

Star calls + the fact that the NBA is corrupt and fixed makes me hate the NBA.

[andrewww]

instead of enforcing "respect the game" mantra just to give his own ref's more power, maybe stern should take some real feedback and actually get rid of something NO ONE here likes to see, which is "star treatment".

[Brenice]

I think Stern believes it makes for a better league. The NBA is based on faces, the NFL on team, and the MLB on tradition. I've always wanted the NBA to skew more to the NFL way of marketing.

So f-ck the non-stars and f-ck fans from Cleveland, Memphis, etc? It ain't about Stern thinking it makes a better league. It is about maximizing profit at the expense of the non-stars, and the fans of the small market teams.

Stern has said that if we don't like it, we (the fans) should watch something else. Stern doesn't give a f-ck about making it a better league. He wants to maximize profit.

Back in the day, the NBA couldn't compete with the NFL or MLB. That is not the case any more. Cheating doesn't have to happen. All I want is competition, fair competition.

[Teppler]

It sucks and I'm calling out the media in general for not making a bigger fuss about how awful NBA officiating is in general. And in fact there's just been a new rule implemented this season to take accountability away from the refs even further with the no arguing rule. I'm patiently waiting for the breaking point in which the public will become more vocal about it. IMO It really is the biggest thing holding the nba back atm.

[tidho]

I can't imagine anyone being in favor of it. If they're better than everyone esle then they don't need the ref's help. The game should be called straight up. James, Wade, and the like will still rise to the top because they're talented. Its a joke that the NBA just pretends it doesn't happen.

Curse you Michael Jordon for palming the ball on every other drive!, lol.

[cool007]

Always been against it.

I think the far and away the biggest problem in the NBA is FLOPPING. I hate when Refs just call it every time someone flops. MOST of the time they REWARD the player that is flopping and 70% of the time they have not even watched the play.

They call it based on assumption more than anything.

I think that is more of the biggest problem than Star treatment.

NBA would be so much more entertaining if it wasn't for CONSTANT flopping every other play and Refs make it even worse by rewarding those floppers.

[Blue_and_Whte]

It's pathetic... I think it's weak that players like Pierce and Harris go into convulsions at the slightest hint of contact, but it's even worse when the refs fall for it. Goes for defense and offense.

[Shimso]

Superstar calls are by far the worst aspect of the NBA.

[Chrome]

It sucks. It should be even for everybody.

[KevinMcreynolds]

Superstar calls are by far the worst aspect of the NBA.

[Flash Falcon X]

Obviously it's bad.

During the Warriors/Heat game a couple days back, I recall two plays where Chris Bosh missed a layup and drew a foul because of that. You can tell they were embarrassment fouls called by the refs.

Chris Bosh missed a wide open layup, then when the ref saw that the layup didn't go in he blew the whistle to make it seem like Bosh got fouled. It prevents embarrassment. The late whistle made it so obvious.

With that said, I'm not saying that players like Bosh get that treatment all the time. It only happens once in a while. My point is that if a crappy player missed a layup, the refs most likely wouldn't have bailed him out with an embarrassment prevention foul call.

Another thing that's annoying is when superstars draw fouls without drawing much contact, but then they get praised by analysts. Analysts go on and say things like, "Well Dwyane Wade was playing aggressive. That's what you have to do to draw fouls". Just because a player is playing aggressive it doesn't mean that they're actually drawing fouls, but they get the whistles on their side anyways.

When they do that against a team that is more perimeter oriented, there's a big free throw disparity between both teams. The team with the superstar gets more calls for them whereas the other team barely gets to the line. Analysts look at that and say, "Well the free throw disparity is normal because the other team isn't aggressive and always stay out on the perimeter. They can't draw fouls like that". What those analysts don't understand is that the team is on the perimeter because whenever they do drive the ball inside they still can't draw fouls. No matter how much they drive in they can't get a call. They only get a call every once in a while because the refs would feel bad if they don't throw a call on their side once in a while.

[LameR]

It's by far the worst part of the game. Players should be great because they're great, not because of their name.

[CoffeeJanitor]

Economically it makes perfect sense. Casual fans and meatballs alike pay to see the great players play great. They don't pay to see them in foul trouble or ejected because they were screaming at the refs. Nobody pays to see Alonzo Gee or Bill Walker. Remember, hardcore fans, like RealGM, make up a very small percentage of the fans.

With that being said, I'm very strongly against it because it hurts the credibility of the league when LeBron James and Adam Morrison will initiate the exact same contact but only LBJ will get the call. LeBron is already the best player in the game and he clearly doesn't need extra help. Someday they need to implement robot refs that won't take into account who the player is, who he is playing for and not get caught up in emotion.

I don't think you're giving the average fan enough credit. When I watch games with buddies who don't really follow the NBA, they tend to point out a lot of the BS calls the refs make. I usually explain to them that the refs give "star treatment" to certain players. These new/casual fans usually think that that idea is just dumb as heck. People aren't that stupid--they have eyes.

It's no wonder, IMO, that the NFL is the most popular league. Not because it's an "event-based" sport, but because it's the only American sport out of the big 3 (sorry NHL) that I can watch any game of and not worry about officiating. It easily has the most integrity of the three leagues, and also the biggest focus on the teams themselves, and its following shows that.

[Jase]

"Star treatment" breeds entitlement, which is a terrible thing for the league. It's hard for anyone (players, fans, etc.) to take the league seriously when certain rules don't apply to certain players.

[MG20]

The four guys that vote "For It" should be banned.

[schematics]

Two feelings: WWF and "Personal foul" by Donaghy

[CoffeeJanitor]

Two feelings: WWF and "Personal foul" by Donaghy

It's kind of crazy how one or two calls can decide a game. It's also crazy how much leniency is given to officials on calls.

This doesn't ever bode well for my confidence in the league.

[duppyy]

All star calls is BS.

Stern thinks this helps the game by making star players get calls constantly. It slows the game down making it boring.

[Agenda42]

I am pretty okay with paying attention to whether a player would be put in foul trouble by calling a foul, and letting the play continue so long as the foul was non-obvious and didn't directly contribute to the play. You want the players to decide the game as much as possible, and Dwight Howard can't really play proper defense if he's always in foul trouble.

Of course, I'd much prefer to change the 6 fouls = ejection rule into something that is less punitive, so that we wouldn't have to worry so much about the number of fouls a player has committed while officiating the game.

I really hate how star players can't be touched as normal players can be when they initiate contact on offense.