Describing SGA as a foul merchant seems extremely disingenuous.

PushDaRock · Post #81 » by **PushDaRock** » Wed May 21, 2025 4:53 am

syrus3 wrote:It is really not at all that shocking that FTA fans are in denial about the foul baiting tactics of him and his teammates.

OKC ranked 5th last in FTA this season

ImmortalD24 · Post #82 » by **ImmortalD24** » Wed May 21, 2025 4:55 am

Lets be real.. if SGA was able to somehow do a dunk like this once in a while:

Watch on YouTube

He can do all of the "free-throw merchant" activity he wants (which are obvious fouls 99% of the time). But since he doesn't have that lets bash him because teams can't guard him effectively without fouling. :nonono:

ImmortalD24 · Post #83 » by **ImmortalD24** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:04 am

Watch on YouTube

Also OKC needs to make a complaint to the NBA/ ESPN.. Dorius Burke can't be name calling a young promising player who's about to win an MVP. Don't be using twitter as an excuse either. Twitter got plenty of words for her boy LeBron but I don't see her quoting those. Hypocrite and classless.

Mr Peanut · Post #84 » by **Mr Peanut** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:07 am

He's not as egregious as some (e.g. Brunson), but he very clearly foul baits. I get that it's within the rules but It's pretty ugly to watch sometimes.

PushDaRock · Post #85 » by **PushDaRock** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:08 am

DB23 wrote:
walk with me wrote:
zimpy27 wrote:SGA is slippery and changes direction constantly when driving, he used to be known for his euro and now defenders play him close, when he changes he gets bumped and fouled. If you don't defend SGA like this then he scores at a very high clip on drives. It's a tough cover.

100000%

I’m confused at what people are watching. SGA is SUPER slippery and shifty. You can’t bump a guy while he’s driving. I don’t understand what people are seeing but this foul merchant stuff is dishonest.

He is super slippery and shifty, he also launches himself into the defender whenever he feels they are out of position. Maybe it’s smart, but it’s also annoying to watch.

And he gets a favorable whistle, usually that stuff isn’t called in the playoffs.

So yes i think a free throw merchant tag is fair.

Defenders can alternatively give him more space so they don't find themselves having to recover and be out of position to draw those fouls, but I'm sure SGA would be more than happy if you want to give him space instead.

Lo Wang · Post #86 » by **Lo Wang** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:09 am

Enso wrote:
Lo Wang wrote:
Enso wrote:
No thats not what it means. I said fans from every fanbase which is like saying a portion of fans or some fans from every fan base feel this way. Maybe English isn't your first language so now stress homie.

English isn't my first language. Logic is.

To learn without thinking is fruitless; To think without learning is dangerous

To steal a quote is lame; to pretend it's your's is even lamer.

MrGoat · Post #87 » by **MrGoat** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:16 am

I have OKC winning it all now, even before tonight. And their whistle has a lot to do with it like it or not.

DusterBuster · Post #88 » by **DusterBuster** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:22 am

Mr Peanut wrote:He's not as egregious as some (e.g. Brunson), but he very clearly foul baits. I get that it's within the rules but It's pretty ugly to watch sometimes.

Yeah, I'm with the Goat guy too, I have OKC winning it all at this point, but the Thunder are a hard hard hard team to watch for 48min, even when they're clicking.

Lalouie · Post #89 » by **Lalouie** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:30 am

walk with me wrote:I’m not liking how they try to paint SGA to be like harden (shooting layups under his opponents arms).

SGA is extremely slippery, has insanely good footwork, and has really good ball handling. The way nba rules are designed benefits the offense since the defense can’t really be physical with the offense. SGA is super crafty and his skill makes it next to impossible to stay in front of him. If you decide to continue to pursue him while out of position, you deserve the foul call.

I can’t speak on the reg season cause I didn’t watch okc much but SGA is a BEAST on offense.

it's only disingenuous if harden fans bring it up

Bolivar · Post #90 » by **Bolivar** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:35 am

Wolfgang630 wrote:FTA is a foul merchant…

Lalouie · Post #91 » by **Lalouie** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:47 am

ImmortalD24 wrote:

Watch on YouTube

Also OKC needs to make a complaint to the NBA/ ESPN.. Dorius Burke can't be name calling a young promising player who's about to win an MVP. Don't be using twitter as an excuse either. Twitter got plenty of words for her boy LeBron but I don't see her quoting those. Hypocrite and classless.

doris is everyone's auntie

no one will complain

Lakers In 5 · Post #92 » by **Lakers In 5** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:53 am

Read on Twitter

Patches Perry · Post #93 » by **Patches Perry** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:57 am

I was reliably informed that OKC would fold in the playoffs when the officials stop calling fouls (and also start calling fouls on OKC ""holding"" and ""grabbing"") lol.

Jokes aside, the truth is that Shai doesn't have elite run and jump athleticism relative to some of his superstar peers, but he has elite misdirection and is "slippery" so he puts defenders on skates and out of position. Once you get defenders out of position, you "put them in jail" by keeping them on your hip or behind you, and if they try to speed up to get back in position, you penalize their being out of position by taking the hit. It's the same principle as getting a guy to bite on a pump fake. Even if contact is slight, if they land in your space and bump you even slightly, it's a foul by the rules. This is why officials have been fairly consistent on this, with only a slight dropoff in the playoffs both years.

All superstars without elite run and jump athleticism do this. Luka does it a lot, obviously Brunson does it, Jokic does it a whole lot, Harden used to do it, Chris Paul, etc. Not everybody is Giannis where they can just overpower their way to the rim and and ram the ball down your throat, but even Giannis got a lot of complaints about officiating when Milwaukee was winning because he'd just barrel into guys and get fouls. It was for the same reason. If he gets you out of position and you overcompensate to try to get back in position, that contact will be a foul on the defender most of the time.

Message Boar · Post #94 » by **Message Boar** » Wed May 21, 2025 5:58 am

Lo Wang wrote:
Wolfgang630 wrote:
Lo Wang wrote:
Not every fan is saying it, only the ones getting owned by SGA.

Every fanbase knows he is.

And every fanbase got whooped by him.

Evidence: 68 wins

Thunder has a small fanbase, so ofc most people are calling him that. It doesn't make it true.

And just because you are a Thunder fan doesn't make it untrue. Maybe take a step back and have some perspective, because every 'argument' you've laid out so far is a either very flawed or a straight up fallacy.

durden_tyler · Post #95 » by **durden_tyler** » Wed May 21, 2025 6:03 am

His playstyle is Harden-ic and Embiiid-ish; of course it’s frowned upon and even hated.

The good news (for the entire NBA fandom) so far is that both those guys are career losers. Those same playstyles are what has stopped them from going deep into the playoffs and win the title.

An SGA championship will validate that playstyle and of course, the NBA fans does not want that because validation means replication in this copycat league.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dick Tate · Post #96 » by **Dick Tate** » Wed May 21, 2025 6:15 am

I’m expecting plenty more replication without validation. :lol:

Hugi Mancura · Post #97 » by **Hugi Mancura** » Wed May 21, 2025 6:29 am

SGA gets much easier calls than anyone else in NBA. Sure you can watch all those calls in slow motion and find a contact, but question in not are those calls, question is would have anyone else in NBA gotten the same call. And answer is NO.

Calling SGA new Harden is fair. His way to create fouls is to take contact on defense and after the contact is created pull your arms up. After people complained this enough with Harden they stopped calling this for everyone except SGA. Majority of SGA fouls comes from situation where initializes the contact and then takes separation. If we would call a foul on defense every time offense creates contact on defense we would run out of players in first quarter. SGA is getting extremely favourable whistle like Harden did. Only difference is SGA gets it also in playoffs which Harden didn't get.

HotRocks34 · Post #98 » by **HotRocks34** » Wed May 21, 2025 7:00 am

This happened after G1. It's real. Draw your own conclusions.

Lo Wang · Post #99 » by **Lo Wang** » Wed May 21, 2025 7:02 am

Message Boar wrote:
Lo Wang wrote:
Wolfgang630 wrote:
Every fanbase knows he is.

And every fanbase got whooped by him.

Evidence: 68 wins

Thunder has a small fanbase, so ofc most people are calling him that. It doesn't make it true.

And just because you are a Thunder fan doesn't make it untrue. Maybe take a step back and have some perspective, because every 'argument' you've laid out so far is a either very flawed or a straight up fallacy.

Logic?

Wanna play?

What about your position? As an anti-Thunder fan (prob a grizzly fan where okc utterly embarrassed you), what makes your position more relevant?

naabzor · Post #100 » by **naabzor** » Wed May 21, 2025 7:05 am

walk with me wrote:I’m not liking how they try to paint SGA to be like harden (shooting layups under his opponents arms).

SGA is extremely slippery, has insanely good footwork, and has really good ball handling. The way nba rules are designed benefits the offense since the defense can’t really be physical with the offense. SGA is super crafty and his skill makes it next to impossible to stay in front of him. If you decide to continue to pursue him while out of position, you deserve the foul call.

I can’t speak on the reg season cause I didn’t watch okc much but SGA is a BEAST on offense.

The two things are not mutually exclusive. Just like Harden was a beast on offense, he was still fishing for fouls in a blatant way, the same way SGA is doing now.