Bill Simmons roasting NBA officials

[knightngale]

He would not have written this if the Nuggets had won last night. He did not even mention the "block foul" on the 3 attempt by Lebron.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

i saw bill simmons name i didnt bother to read it...i can just hear his annoying voice...pffft bill simmons

 

[celtixhalfshell]

Originally Posted by bhzmafia14

I promise when scrolling down I thought the article would never end.

didnt it feel like the 1st time u saw that Star Wars star destroyer fly over the screen to open up episode iv (quite possibly the best one)?

 

[blazinjkid]

It's been ridiculous for a few years now. I don't think Billy boy was complaining last year when the Celtics were on the receiving end of thatpreferential treatment.

It's really a damn shame because there's such a great young crop of players emerging in the NBA, and the way the game is being run is completelyruining it. The games can be damn near unwatchable at times because of the inconsistency in refereeing.

 

[torotrigger]

it all starts with Stern...he knows what he wants and the refs follow suit

 

[kayway8]

I don't think some of you recognize the sarcasm that Simmons uses in regards to LeBron.

 

[ballinboykz]

That was one of the best articles I have read in a long time. He was right the entire time. Now, it was a bit lengthy, but the point is that he got his pointacross loud and clear.

The NBA has come such a long way from 55 years ago. And now, I completely agree that it has worked it's way back down. Its quite sad to see, because thecurrent generation is full of stars that can play at a high level similar to the 90's. Not saying it will be the 90's all over again, but these playersare quicker and stronger. Let them play, and the game could become so much more applicable to the casual NBA fan than ever before.

I completely agree with Bill saying that Jordan was the best and worst thing for the NBA. He was such a great player. He did great things for the league thatpeople couldn't even imagine. And yet, when it came down to it, he would get the calls nearly every time. That kind of mentality has been passed on to thecurrent NBA stars, and has helped lead to its current decline of the game.

The part I agree with the most is consistency. Bill didn't comment on it directly, but indirectly pointed it out comparing to the situation with Kobe andDahntay Jones the other night. The biggest thing for an official to be successful is consistency (trust me on this. After 7 year of reffing high schoolbasketball, I've experienced it first hand a number of times). Yet, one play changes the entire flow of the game. After one play, the refs crack down onsmall contact. And it is situations like that which have lead to the current situation that we are in now. The refs have no balls to say "No, I'm notgoing to bail you out, because we haven't been calling it". Yet, we have referees like Joey Crawford who will do everything in his power to ensurethat he doesn't get flack for making the "right" call.

The second thing that has brought the game down besides inconsistency is the fact that it is cracking down on pointless rules. With the situation of calling atech or a flagrant at the smallest thing, it has brought down the competitiveness of the game to an extreme. Its like David Stern expects all players to nowplay it like soccer; like a gentleman's game. Instead of playing a hard physical game, they are now expected to shake their opponents hand after hittingthem to the ground. I'm all for sportsmanship, but that takes away from the competitiveness to an extreme. Hell, even the NBA now has adopted the wholeflopping technique.

I'm not saying go back to the days of the Bad Boys, but the reason why the NBA was successful in the 90's was because it was allowed to be competitive.The refs didn't crack down on meaningless chit chat or yelling. That's what made the game competitive, and what attracted the game to the casual fan.And now, that's what the NBA has lost, and will have an extremely difficult time regaining.

Good luck to you David Stern. Your going to need it more than ever now.

 

[burns1923]

Originally Posted by ToroTrigger

it all starts with Stern...he knows what he wants and the refs follow suit

Yep.

Each year, I think the refs can't possibly get any worse and they do.

There's a whistle on nearly every possession now.

I don't know if there is a rock bottom for how bad the quality of the game can get.

And I thought it was really bad back in 06.

 

[Lizakers]

i enjoyed that article

he's spot on

and he didn't even mention all the travelling and carrying the ball that is never called anymore

 

[purplenurple1414]

that was really long. Started at 9 am today and ended at 11:30 pm. (on and off)

great article nonetheless, I'm sure if us fans actually did something other than complain (as Simmons suggested, pointing out flaws in detailedstatistics), something might come up.

Then again, with the ratings seemingly shooting up since the Cavs/Spurs finals pwn, I doubt we could make a huge difference in a semi-short span of time.

 

[darthska]

You can't overstate how excruciating the stalling and fouling tactics were. There was the time Fort Wayne famously beat the Minneapolis Lakers 19-18. There was the five-OT playoff game between Rochester and Indy in which the winner of each overtime tap held the ball for the rest of the period to attempt a winning shot, leading to a bizarre situation in which Rochester's home fans booed and booed and ultimately started leaving in droves, even with the game still going. The '53 playoffs averaged eighty free throws per game.
Yikes!

Could you imagine an overtime game today where a team wins the tap, holds the ball for 4 minutes 55 seconds, then tries to pull off a game-winner?!

And a 19-18 NBA game?!

AVERAGING EIGHTY-FOUR free throws per game?! That's like a game of '00-'02 Shaq, '06 Wade, '09 LeBron, and '04-'07 Kobe all on thesame team.

 

[westcoastsfinest]

Originally Posted by mYToAsterspeak

the refs will help the more marketable team.

yehh they tried to help Lebron a lot of times

He would not have written this if the Nuggets had won last night. He did not even mention the "block foul" on the 3 attempt by Lebron.

QFT

 

[scotthallwithapick]

Originally Posted by I NaSmatic I



In that respect, Jordan was both the best and worst thing ever to happen to the league. You know the good things he did, but he also paved the way for a generation of one-on-one players who careen toward the basket in big moments, create some form of contact and hope officials will bail them out. With four seconds to play in Game 4 and his team trailing by 2, LeBron put his head down, dribbled as fast as he could and prayed Michael Pietrus would either bump him or trip him. If you watch the clip, he's moving so fast that it would have been humanly impossible for him to make a shot. That wasn't his goal. He wanted a call. And he got one. Their feet got tangled, LeBron lurched forward, and the refs bailed him out.

Dwyane Wade won an NBA Finals for Miami that way. Three years later, LeBron nearly saved Cleveland's season that same way. It's a reprehensibly effective strategy that has nothing in common with anything we would ever see on a playground, an intramural game or a one-on-one battle in someone's backyard.

CP, it doesnt seem like he favors Lebron.

PS: One of the best sport article I read in a while.

 

[CP1708]

Originally Posted by ScottHallWithAPick

Originally Posted by I NaSmatic I



In that respect, Jordan was both the best and worst thing ever to happen to the league. You know the good things he did, but he also paved the way for a generation of one-on-one players who careen toward the basket in big moments, create some form of contact and hope officials will bail them out. With four seconds to play in Game 4 and his team trailing by 2, LeBron put his head down, dribbled as fast as he could and prayed Michael Pietrus would either bump him or trip him. If you watch the clip, he's moving so fast that it would have been humanly impossible for him to make a shot. That wasn't his goal. He wanted a call. And he got one. Their feet got tangled, LeBron lurched forward, and the refs bailed him out.

Dwyane Wade won an NBA Finals for Miami that way. Three years later, LeBron nearly saved Cleveland's season that same way. It's a reprehensibly effective strategy that has nothing in common with anything we would ever see on a playground, an intramural game or a one-on-one battle in someone's backyard.

CP, it doesnt seem like he favors Lebron.

PS: One of the best sport article I read in a while.

Again, you must not read Simmons either.

If Bron went to the Celtics, Bill would shut the internet down with his articles. Worlds would collide, lives lost, nuclear winters.........

Just because he points out one small thing, meaningless really, doesn't mean the guy jocks Bron harder then OC does. Just look in the tattoo thread wherethe author throws the one token white guy into his column so he doesn't come off racist in his article. It's a cheap and easy trick to seem unbiased.

I'll take his whole body of work over just one quote that is semi negative.

 

[5am6oody72]

Originally Posted by blazinjkid

I don't think Billy boy was complaining last year when the Celtics were on the receiving end of that preferential treatment.

Good point, I didn't even think of that. Where was this article last year when the Celtics could murder the Lakers on defense and Kobegets an offensive foul called for backing Ray Ray down on the perimeter?

Or Gasol can just get bulldozed out of the lane so the Celtics player can get awide open dunk

Don't act like the reffing wasn't terrible in the Finals (both ways depending on the game) last year.

 

[scotthallwithapick]

Originally Posted by CP1708

Originally Posted by ScottHallWithAPick

Originally Posted by I NaSmatic I



In that respect, Jordan was both the best and worst thing ever to happen to the league. You know the good things he did, but he also paved the way for a generation of one-on-one players who careen toward the basket in big moments, create some form of contact and hope officials will bail them out. With four seconds to play in Game 4 and his team trailing by 2, LeBron put his head down, dribbled as fast as he could and prayed Michael Pietrus would either bump him or trip him. If you watch the clip, he's moving so fast that it would have been humanly impossible for him to make a shot. That wasn't his goal. He wanted a call. And he got one. Their feet got tangled, LeBron lurched forward, and the refs bailed him out.

Dwyane Wade won an NBA Finals for Miami that way. Three years later, LeBron nearly saved Cleveland's season that same way. It's a reprehensibly effective strategy that has nothing in common with anything we would ever see on a playground, an intramural game or a one-on-one battle in someone's backyard.

CP, it doesnt seem like he favors Lebron.

PS: One of the best sport article I read in a while.

Again, you must not read Simmons either.

If Bron went to the Celtics, Bill would shut the internet down with his articles. Worlds would collide, lives lost, nuclear winters.........

Just because he points out one small thing, meaningless really, doesn't mean the guy jocks Bron harder then OC does. Just look in the tattoo thread where the author throws the one token white guy into his column so he doesn't come off racist in his article. It's a cheap and easy trick to seem unbiased.

I'll take his whole body of work over just one quote that is semi negative.

You're right I am not familiar with Simmons but that's to my advantage because this is a great article if you read it w/o knowing who the author is.

 

[CP1708]

Oh trust me, I like Simmons, I know full well that he knows his stuff, but certain topics/players/teams he slants WAY too much.

I didn't disagree with the article, I just get annoyed with some of his crap. As someone else said, last year was nothing but Doc Rivers articles, howgreat KG was, Celtics are back, blah blah blah, this year they're gone, and he's mad at the refs.

Refs sucked last year too, he didn't mention them much unless it was the Lakers cryin, then he pointed it out.