NBA Thread 2020-21

[cheebs09]

James Harden, NBA MVP and multiple time league scoring leader who has also averaged double digit assists per game multiple seasons and has averaged 31/7/9 the last 5 years...entire MO is cheating and begging the refs to call it.  Just a foul merchant.

Chris Paul...probably the best pure PG of the last decade, consensus first ballot HOF...just a foul merchant rule bender, nothing more, just his MO.

Devin Booker, averaged over 25 pts a game the last 3 years, takes 20+ shots a game, yet has never averaged more than 7.3 FTs per game in his career...simply a foul merchant who couldn't score otherwise.

Shameless cheaters, the lot of them, not a decent player in the mix

Yea. I think there's a difference between whether these guys are cheating or if it's good for the game. Clearly not cheaters, but I don't think their style is good for basketball.

It's not like the NBA is firing refs who don't enforce flopping rules, travels, or lane violations. So until it's being enforced, you can't blame the players for taking advantage.

[MU82]

Fouling is against the rules. So is traveling. So is carrying the ball. So are moving screens.

Lots of cheaters in basketball, all the way from the NBA down to bitty ball.

[tower912]

Don't forget traveling.   I would like to ban every NBA player who knowingly travels or Euro-steps.   



Oh.    Wait.....

[5DollarPitcher]

Don't forget traveling.   I would like to ban every NBA player who knowingly travels or Euro-steps.   



Oh.    Wait.....

Giannis doesn't travel, boomer.  Gather step + 1 + 2.

[Its DJOver]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBabRHw3Lko

Good thing he went straight to the ref and told him he committed an uncalled violation that directly helped his team win.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Committing an uncalled rule violation which directly helps you win is cheating.  Which I suppose purports a level of responsibility on the referees to manage it.  Worse yet is when it's a player's entire MO.  Crowder, Harden, Booker, CP3, even Tucker.  These players are foul merchants that seek to bend the rules to their advantage any way possible.

If someone shoots a free throw from 10 feet instead of 15 feet and the referees don't call it, I'd say that person cheated...

So it's only cheating if they don't get caught?

So if Ayton hacks Giannis intentionally to keep Giannis from dunking the ball and the refs call it, it is not cheating. But if Ayton hacks Giannis intentionally to keep Giannis from dunking the ball and the refs don't call it, Ayton cheated?

Or is flopping a special rule violation?

[jficke13]

Even by scoop standards this is a weird argument.

[5DollarPitcher]

So it's only cheating if they don't get caught?

So if Ayton hacks Giannis intentionally to keep Giannis from dunking the ball and the refs call it, it is not cheating. But if Ayton hacks Giannis intentionally to keep Giannis from dunking the ball and the refs don't call it, Ayton cheated?

Or is flopping a special rule violation?

Flopping kind of is, in and of itself, a special rule violation because there is an inherent attempt to deceive that isn't really a given in any other rule violation.

If Ayton hacked Giannis intentionally and, presumably, expected to be punished for it (Giannis gets a chance at the FTs and Ayton picks up a foul), that's not cheating.

[JWags85]

Yea. I think there's a difference between whether these guys are cheating or if it's good for the game. Clearly not cheaters, but I don't think their style is good for basketball.

That's completely fair.  Listen, if the NBA switched to FIBA rules tomorrow.  Officiated as such, outlawed flopping and made it an automatic T via video review, etc...those players listed above would adapt incredibly quickly and still be otherworldly.  Acting like the opposite is true is just petty stupidity.

Listen, I think some of Harden's game is obnoxious, but there have been plenty of players who have spoken how difficult it is to do it well, and evidence of how he refines the nuances of his game to take advantage of everything in the rules he can. The fact that people vilify players and act like it's the only reason they are successful is asinine

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

If Ayton hacked Giannis intentionally and, presumably, expected to be punished for it (Giannis gets a chance at the FTs and Ayton picks up a foul), that's not cheating.

Have you ever seen an NBA player expect a foul to be called on them? They all act like it's a complete surprise

[cheebs09]

That's completely fair.  Listen, if the NBA switched to FIBA rules tomorrow.  Officiated as such, outlawed flopping and made it an automatic T via video review, etc...those players listed above would adapt incredibly quickly and still be otherworldly.  Acting like the opposite is true is just petty stupidity.

Listen, I think some of Harden's game is obnoxious, but there have been plenty of players who have spoken how difficult it is to do it well, and evidence of how he refines the nuances of his game to take advantage of everything in the rules he can. The fact that people vilify players and act like it's the only reason they are successful is asinine

Agreed. Especially in an era when efficiency is king, those guys are such good free throw shooters it's an almost automatic 2 points. Plus they sometimes make the shot. These guys don't need to do it, but since they get the calls, it's an efficient play.

It does seem like they are making a point to call more of these on the ground. It seemed against the Nets and with Trae, they were more liberal with act of shooting.

[MU82]

Obviously, Hack-a-Shaq back in the day, and Hack-a-Simmons or Hack-a-Whoever-Sucks-At-FTs is "cheating," too.

Oh, and watch an entire NBA game and count the moving screens. There literally are dozens of them every single game. Some guys reach out and actually grab the guy they are screening. But the refs don't enforce the rules, so it's "cheating."

[HutchwasClutch]

Oh, and watch an entire NBA game and count the moving screens. There literally are dozens of them every single game. Some guys reach out and actually grab the guy they are screening.

The difference between how they call illegal screens in NCAA and NBA couldn't be a more stark contrast.  NBA lets guys absolutely light up the defender. NCAA barely allows a proper screen to be set. They're both ridiculous, college game drives me more nuts though.

[HutchwasClutch]

WTH is going on with USA Basketball right now?  Keldon Johnson and Javale McGee added. No Trae, no Ja, Zion, Julius, De'Aaron etc, etc, etc??

Popovich has lost his mind.  And please, spare me he's getting guys who fit his system, his style, whatever.  Supreme talent wins in the end.  Johnson and especially McGee shouldn't be near this team.

This just has disaster written all over it.

[The Sultan]

Maybe those guys didn't want to go through the hassle that this year's Olympics is going to be.

[tower912]

Available, vaccinated, and not nursing injuries?

[cheebs09]

Available, vaccinated, and not nursing injuries?

Especially with a short offseason for some last year.

[The Sultan]

And an Olympics that provide none of the "fun stuff" players get to do when they aren't playing.  They just get to sit in their hotel rooms.

[Uncle Rico]

And an Olympics that provide none of the "fun stuff" players get to do when they aren't playing.  They just get to sit in their hotel rooms.

There will be a lot of bold proclamations about the results in these Olympics without any context.  I'm already seeing those that follow the international game proclaiming the world has closed the gap on Team USA and while that's probably true to a certain extent, if we send our best, Team USA rolls.

[HutchwasClutch]

All assumptions. Trae Young clearly wanted to play based on his tweet late Thursday. So there's one great player to fill one of the two open spots who's unquestionably better than who got picked. 

[The Sultan]

All assumptions. Trae Young clearly wanted to play based on his tweet late Thursday. So there's one great player to fill one of the two open spots who's unquestionably better than who got picked. 

You state something as a fact. We provide reasonable explanations. You write them off. 

Very typical.

[The Sultan]

There will be a lot of bold proclamations about the results in these Olympics without any context.  I'm already seeing those that follow the international game proclaiming the world has closed the gap on Team USA and while that's probably true to a certain extent, if we send our best, Team USA rolls.

Of course. I mean I really don't care about this stuff anyway, but it is clear that the US generates the best basketball talent. One Olympics doesn't change that.

[HutchwasClutch]

You state something as a fact. We provide reasonable explanations. You write them off. 

Very typical.

You provide ASSumptions and then argue to be arguing.  Very typical. 

You're going with Trae would have said no to an invite? His tweet left gray area how he feels?  Hardly.

[tower912]

Suggestions for answers to a rhetorical question.    The horrors.

[The Sultan]

You provide ASSumptions and then argue to be arguing.  Very typical. 

You're going with Trae would have said no to an invite? His tweet left gray area how he feels?  Hardly.

Dude you're the one who said Pop was going for system guys and throwing him under the bus based on assumptions. And then using a Tweet as evidence.

So spare me the outrage over the quality of your argument.