RealGM

N.B.A. Crunched Numbers When Creating Disciplinary System

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/sports/basketball/04foulside.html?_r=1&ref=basketball

League officials said they arrived at 16 by studying the frequency with which players received technicals in previous seasons. To remain under the limit, a player could average one technical foul every five and a half games.

The basketball operations department applied the same equation to the playoffs, but decided to allow more leeway, since the games carry higher stakes and emotion. Assuming someone played in the maximum 28 postseason games (which is extremely unlikely) he would be able to average a technical every 4.67 games before earning a suspension.

...and a player on a weaker team can misbehave at the rate of a T per 0.51 games, because he knows his team won't be playing long enough for it to matter. Not a level playing field.

LarryCoon wrote:...and a player on a weaker team can misbehave at the rate of a T per 0.51 games, because he knows his team won't be playing long enough for it to matter. Not a level playing field.

If a player is getting two per game and is sitting in the locker room then the coach had better sew his mouth shut.