The NBA has seen a flurry of stars from Bob Cousy in the 1950s all the way to LeBron James today. These athletes have also evolved with the game as they seem to get bigger, faster and stronger, but somehow wimpier and whinier also.
Picture from twitter.com.
Refereeing has to be one of the toughest gigs ever. Someone is bound to complain because there always has to be a loser and a winner. I wasn't alive in the '50s, so I don't know, but I'm sure there was some complaining then, but I doubt it's anywhere close to where we are now in the NBA.
I feel like in the '80s and '90s, there wasn't as much complaining to the referees, because if someone got away with a foul, you'd make sure to get them back for it tenfold. Everyone was given six fouls, so everyone had six chances to make sure that guard stopped coming down the lane, or that power forward learned his lesson for even trying to get passed you or your teammate.
Nowadays, there's always someone in the referee's ear saying how he thought so-and-so bumped him on his way to the basket, or because that player didn't think he deserved the foul called on him because he got all ball with his hand while also mauling the offensive player with any other part of his body.
Picture from nbadraft.net. I'm not saying Tim Duncan was the start of this trend, but I'm pretty sure the guy never thought he fouled anyone in his life.
As much as the players are to blame, I think the referees need to bear some of this weight. The referees feed into it. They have for years with star players. Referees aren't there to change the outcome of the game or be biased. They are there to be fair and consistent. Unfortunately, in the NBA, that's not alway happening, especially with consistency.
I took a basketball officiating class, the rules aren't hard. I don't understand why these professional referees allow these professional athletes to get away with breaking some of the rules. Traveling is one that is always coming up. It's an easy call, but referees just get lazy or want to see the big dunk also.
Picture from interbasket.net
My biggest pet peeve when watching an NBA game is illegal screens. Referees rarely ever call that as an offensive foul, but you could call it nearly every time. The screening player is not allowed to move while screening, nor is he allowed to stick his arms or legs out. After the screen, you can open up and seal that defender by going to the hoop. It's not a hard call, but the referees never call it.
Some of the worst offenders right now are Draymond Green, Deandre Jordan and Tristan Thompson. I watch them manhandle the poor smaller defender on almost every play and nothing from the refs.
What happened to the beautiful game of pick and roll that John Stockton and Karl Malone executed so well for so many years? Those were mostly always clean screens because Malone would slip the screen and get an easy basket.
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