Article on NBA "fixed"

[craig01]

Here's an article about the NBA "fix"

How can a league ever have credibility when make up calls are considered normal procedure but are an unwritten rule?

Of course, David Stern would deny this.

How can a league have credibility when stars play to different rules interpretations than other players? Just ask the players if this isn't the case.

The NBA would deny this as well. But the eyes of millions of observers do not believe the sincerity of the NBA's explanations.

http://raysinsider.blogspot.com/2008/06 ... fixed.html

[Walt Cronkite]

Great article!

[Birth of the Cool]

I pretty much agree with the theme of the article.

The (imo) unnecessary desire of the NBA to over promote the "star" has made officiating very difficult and frankly has given the referee far too much power. It's sad in today's game that officials not players/coaches in many ways dictate the tempo of games. A well run league (be it the NBA or your local rec league) the officiating should feel almost invisible.

The fact that officials can call games so many ways leads to the perception that thing's aren't right. This is not a Donaghy thing, it's been a long time coming & Donaghy's accusations has just put a megaphone on the whispers of the public view. Heck even the great Michael Jordan (where some can argue this favoritism reallly started to get out of hand) said the Ref's were far too involved in the game for it's detriment.

The make up call and the "wait if it's a made basket or not before deciding if it's a foul or not" are the two that drive me the most batty when I'm watching and it's sad the national or your local announcers call it as it is as if it's expected and just part of the game. It's sad that the EXPECTED performance of NBA officiating has become that low and people accept it. We shouldn't have to accept that as the norm and if anything good comes out of this scandal I hope the league finally puts some faith into the players and the viewers that great basketball can be shown without the NBA trying to shove it down our throats. Dr. J was great before the hype machine, MJ would be known as great without the hype machine...let the players talents & the viewers enthusiasm speak for itself.

[craig01]

Good post.

I think you/we share identical thoughts.

Let the game become the story again.

[craig01]

The make up call and the "wait if it's a made basket or not before deciding if it's a foul or not" are the two that drive me the most batty when I'm watching and it's sad the national or your local announcers call it as it is as if it's expected and just part of the game. It's sad that the EXPECTED performance of NBA officiating has become that low and people accept it.

This is the part that hurts credibility IMO.

[chrice]

Stern basically supresses coaches/players from complaining about officiating, by handing out fines and threats of other disclipinary action. He's like the parent that will put soap in kids mouths for talking back at him.

[JustOneFix]

Once again, people are overreacting. No system, no goverment, no sports league or anything else in this world is perfect. NBA in general, is by far the best sports league in the world. It's dealin with huge, huge money, over 400 diferent characters and egos (players), refs, racial issues, fans etc etc, and yet is producing great entertainment and high quaility basketball and it's almost a cult worldwide. In short, positives heavily outweights the negatives and to reduce everything to the comments like "NBA is rigged or fixed", "it's corupted and fake" is very shortsighted and i would say spoiled.

Here's my problems with this article:

Stern "fixed" the NBA by predominately having players marketed instead of teams. No longer was it the Sixers against the Lakers with Dr. J and Kareem. Instead it was Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls take on Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz.

Ok, this is BS. We've had Wilt Chamberlain - Bill Russell cults long before David Stern ever heard about NBA. Then there was Larry Bird, Magic Johnson in the 80's, Jordan vs everyone in the 90's etc etc. In soccer people workshipped Pele and Maradona and didn't give a damn about their teams. It's just natural, people are always looking for the leaders and those extra individuals. It was NEVER this team vs that team, it was always this guy and his team vs that guy and his team, in ANY sport.

Besides, all this Stern bashing is really getting absurd and most of them are completely false.

We have Knicks fans sayin "Stern won't let us win the championship".
We have Suns fans blaming Stern for getting their asses kicked every year by the Spurs.
We have Nuggets fans sayin Stern won't allow us to go to the Finals because we're small market team.
We have Lakers fans sayin Stern won't ever allow Kobe and the Lakers do anything cause Kobe's a rapist
We have Pacers fans who are convinced Stern would never allow....i don't know what, but anyway Stern won't allow that...

...We have 30 teams (fans) around the league who are convinced Stern has something against their teams.

All that lead us to my favorite comments ala "Stern is a thug!". Well that's just great.

While beginning a drive towards the basket, Allen Iverson receives a contact foul at the 3 point line against the Magic. Iverson finished his drive successfully, and was awarded a free throw due to the foul.

The problem in this instance was that Iverson never once dribbled the ball after the foul. He took four full steps from contact at the 3 point line to the finishing the shot without the ball once touching the floor.

So, how does the NBA defend this? Oh, that's right, it was a continuation. OK.....

I agree. Continuation is a good rule but oftenly gets pretty absurd. Refs have to deal with this more properly.

We won't get into the John Stockton holds, the Shaq clear-out post ups or his camping in the lane, Iverson palming the ball, or the seemingly infinite other privileged rules interpretation that stars get from NBA referees.

I would call this the extra flare of the game. It brings that special streetball element to the game. I have nothing against if the refs are allowing these special moves to some special players. Big deal.

Calls get one sided at times, primarily due to more aggressiveness by one team over another.

It was always that way (some of the stuffs the Heat and the Knicks were doing in the 90's were on the verge of homicide). In almost every sport.

Coaches will change the call frequency often during games. The angry coach gets a technical foul by baiting an official, then shortly thereafter the calls usually balance themselves out.


The make up call

Dwight Howard has solid position in the deep post, starts his drop step, is grabbed by his jersey and then gets hammered on the side of his head by Brendan Haywood. Howard misses the shot, the Wizards get the rebound and play continues.

No foul call.

Next time down, Howard receives the entry pass while stationery, Haywood is barely touching the Magic center, and the whistle blows.

Foul. OK....

It's because refs are, just like us, only humans. They're dealin with pressure, with 20,000 fans, players, coaches and guess what? They can make a mistake. It's called a compensation. Being a player and having many friends who are basketball refs i know exactly how they feel and what are they dealin with. Unless the refs are blatanty biased and are making huge mistakes i never say them a word while i'm playin. There are always 2 coaches, 10 players and the fans calling out his mother's name everytime we play. And all of them think they're right and their point of view is the only right one.

If you think NBA refs are bad, go watch some Euro games for God's sake. You'll be more then happy with what you got here in the US. At least you don't have to deal with politics, bah.

Credibility

How can a league ever have credibility when make up calls are considered normal procedure but are an unwritten rule?

Of course, David Stern would deny this.

How can a league have credibility when stars play to different rules interpretations than other players? Just ask the players if this isn't the case.

The NBA would deny this as well. But the eyes of millions of observers do not believe the sincerity of the NBA's explanations.

Then there are the home court rules, the bad player rules, and of course, the superstar rules. It's no wonder that the NBA can't be consistent.

There are just too many rules to enforce.

It's called the protection of extra talents and it's a great rule. On other continents, in any sport, you can send some (Please Use More Appropriate Word) off the bench just to break opposing best player's leg just to win a game. In NBA, players are respecting their opposition, they're respecting stars and superstars and that IS a good thing.

Tim Donaghy

Now the NBA faces it's biggest dilemma since the cocaine crazed early 1980's.

Because of all of the different (albeit denied) rules standards given for various situations, the word "fixed" has appeared. The naysayers cry out that evidence is in hand, all you have to do is watch the tapes. Playoff tapes at that.

The hyped NBA Finals are near midstream, yet all discussions these days start with the name Tim Donaghy. Is it true, or isn't it? Donaghy is a crackpot liar, rat, and a gambler, or so the league defenders argue.

Or, can he be telling the truth? Donaghy has little to gain by perpetuating false claims to the FBI. Ask Martha Stewart how well that works out. He does have a lot more to lose if these accusations are a figment of his imagination.

Donaghy is a sad story. Him and some others (as it seems) are a few bad apples. There are bad apples everywhere and to say the entire NBA (and conclusion seems to be going that way) is "fixed" and "rigged" is completely childish, dumb and immature. Are we gonna call the university of Columbia, UCLA, Harvard etc. corupted and rotten just because of few corupted teachers? I don't think so.

Bottom line is - since i'm watching this league (and that's something around mid 80's) i have found ONE questionable championship team. And that's Miami Heat few years back. Every other year, every other title team, before and after i see as a legit and valid championship team. I can't question any other team during that span. I know some will probably disagree but that's my point of view.

It's time for Stern to actually fix the game itself. The NBA is a great product, but is not a great game anymore

This is completely subjective and obviously only author's opinion. It's off course, completely diferent with mine. Only this season, i've watched over 50 fantastic games + the playoffs were great. So, it's a matter of opinion. If you don't like it, switch the chanell. I definitely won't.

[th87]

Did you hurt your leg coming down from that soapbox?

[Tha Trillest Candidate]

are we forgetting that David Stern called Donaghy a "Singing and Co-Operating" witness for the FBI? The dog took a sh*t on a catapault Robert "Tractor" Traylor has stumbled is about to fall on the other end and just watch the sh*ts gonna hit the fan