The New NBA... and one place for my ranting...

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

The frustrating part about Young is that he isn't even a very good 3 point shooter. 34% career shooter......extremely pedestrian. His efficiency is 100% related to FT attempts. Honestly, I have never been overly impressed with his skillset......but since he gets phantom call after phantom call, he seems a lot better than he is.

The NBA has become the new age soccer. Guys just fall down with no contact. I grew up a soccer player, and the game I grew up with was NOT the same. It was rugged, and you didn't fake a fall and injury....ever. I can't even watch a minute of it anymore. NBA feels the same way. My son plays High School ball, and I will take that and college over NBA any day of the week. NBA has become a gimmick sport, as many state, to pacify fans of specific players. It really is a joke.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

This is really the continuation of a years-long theme in the NBA of offensive players initiating contact. Let's go through some of them:

Rip-through move - Offensive player intentionally swings his arms into an aggressive defender and heaves the ball toward the basket in hopes of drawing a foul. Biggest offender: Kevin Durant

Jumping into the defender after a pump fake - Pump faking and then jumping into the defender that left his feet (versus straight up in a natural shot motion). Biggest offender: Dwayne Wade

3-point shooter stop and heave - 3-point shooter begins to dribble around ball-screen when before even getting past his own man doing the screening, he suddenly stops to create contact with the chasing defender trying to get over the screen, then heaves up a 3-pointer in the process. Biggest offender: James Harden originally, now Trae Young

Fast break run into defender - Ball handler on fast break lowers shoulder into retreating, but well positioned defender, then goes into shot motion. Biggest offender: Every NBA star guard or wing


Believe it or not, the NBA has kind of cleaned up the first two in my opinion. I think eventually they will clean up the 3rd, but we probably have to live with it for a while longer. Rules and "points of emphasis" always lag the new ways NBA players try to create advantages for themselves.

It's the last one that I think never changes and seems to draw an automatic whistle every time.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The frustrating part about Young is that he isn't even a very good 3 point shooter. 34% career shooter......extremely pedestrian. His efficiency is 100% related to FT attempts. Honestly, I have never been overly impressed with his skillset......but since he gets phantom call after phantom call, he seems a lot better than he is.

The NBA has become the new age soccer. Guys just fall down with no contact. I grew up a soccer player, and the game I grew up with was NOT the same. It was rugged, and you didn't fake a fall and injury....ever. I can't even watch a minute of it anymore. NBA feels the same way. My son plays High School ball, and I will take that and college over NBA any day of the week. NBA has become a gimmick sport, as many state, to pacify fans of specific players. It really is a joke.

Once while talking to a 45-ish year old former soccer player... I questioned the sport's toughness.

He got pretty damn upset. Partly at me... and partly at the way the game has changed a bit to give some credence to those takes.


[Note: To be fair, my derision for soccer's toughness came in a discussion about American football. Still though... I'm not questioning the sport's toughness to any old-school soccer guys any time soon.]

[kekgeek]

https://twitter.com/jackfrank_jjf/status/1344505828469051392?s=19

[mjs34]

Jumping into the defender after a pump fake - Pump faking and then jumping into the defender that left his feet (versus straight up in a natural shot motion). Biggest offender: Dwayne Wade

I see your Dwayne Wade, and raise you a Sam Cassell.

[Coolbreeze44]

The frustrating part about Young is that he isn't even a very good 3 point shooter. 34% career shooter......extremely pedestrian. His efficiency is 100% related to FT attempts. Honestly, I have never been overly impressed with his skillset......but since he gets phantom call after phantom call, he seems a lot better than he is.

The NBA has become the new age soccer. Guys just fall down with no contact. I grew up a soccer player, and the game I grew up with was NOT the same. It was rugged, and you didn't fake a fall and injury....ever. I can't even watch a minute of it anymore. NBA feels the same way. My son plays High School ball, and I will take that and college over NBA any day of the week. NBA has become a gimmick sport, as many state, to pacify fans of specific players. It really is a joke.

I hope some of you saw Brook Lopez last night. He was really angry about a flop that Adebayo used to draw a foul. So several seconds later, they're lining up at the free throw line, and Brook just falls over backward and lands on the floor without anyone touching him. It was hilarious. I can't believe he didn't get a technical as he was clearly showing up the officials. If you haven't seen the clip it's worth a search.

In regard to soccer I love the sport, mostly because my kids grew up playing it. But I can't stand watching high-level men's competition due to the theatrics. We have both pro men's and women's teams here in Portland and I will go to see the women play every year. But I won't pay a dime or walk across the street to see the men play. As a big NHL fan, I just can't.

[DNatagal]

https://nba.nbcsports.com/2020/12/31/brook-lopez-falls-over-while-arguing-call-video/

LOL, gotta love that guy.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

The jumping backwards/to the side into the trailing defender off a PnR at the 3 point line probably pisses me off the most from that list. The defender literally can't play defense in that scenario when guys like Harden and Curry get that call because they are already having to fight through an illegal screen let alone having someone jump back into them to create the contact.

[Lipoli390]

Cool - I just watched the Lopez video. Thanks for posting. It's hilarious. I agree that it's surprising Brook didn't get a technical. Watching it a few times, I just think the officials didn't know what to make of it. The nearest official seems to have caught it at the tail end and probably thought that Brook might have just slipped.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I just clicked on Coo

The jumping backwards/to the side into the trailing defender off a PnR at the 3 point line probably pisses me off the most from that list. The defender literally can't play defense in that scenario when guys like Harden and Curry get that call because they are already having to fight through an illegal screen let alone having someone jump back into them to create the contact.

Is Curry a big culprit of this now, too?

I see he's averaging a career high in FTA... but it's at a fairly reasonable 6.5 per game.