Now this all changed in 2004 when the league changed the rules of the game and got rid of the hand check making it so touching other players can legitimately be called for a foul or at many times not called a foul for whatever reason the officials decide for themselves at that moment.

As we all know, it is impossible to play good basketball without touching the offensive player with the ball at some point, but the biggest problem with how the NBA and copycat league NCAA has now decided to officiate this game is that an official can, for most part, call any touch to an offensive player a foul and rightly justify it in accordance with the NBA rule book.   Numerous times we watched our NBA stars getting foul calls while handling the ball for the simplest of touches; not only that are many times initiated by that offensive player, but also really has had no bearing on the shot that was taken and/or the obstructed path to the basket.  Now this is great for the fans of offense right?   Well, maybe if you like winning by rules rather than by play.   What is even worse now is that many times the offensive player will fall to the ground untouched or vehemently flail his arms in the air acting like he was impeded but in reality the action was a complete fallacy to draw an incorrect whistle to the benefit his situation in order to gain free throws while the Zebras fall for it ever so frequently.   I have seen times where it seems like the officials were ready to blow the whistle for Steph Curry, Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook  and James Harden even before the dribble drive happened which many times has resulted in a  phantom foul call upsetting the fans and quieting the announcers who are not allowed to call it like it is due to their job security from the TV station who gets paid mightily by the NBA.  For equalization in this game and the adjustment on the other side, the defense has to in turn stoop down to the levels of “acting” or “flopping” in order to successfully attempt to draw the ever so often charging penalty that is also officiated at a low level of accuracy and that has plagued this league for a very long time as is it is.  When we add this all together, we will realize that there are literally hundreds of non-calls and violations in every single game that the officials could have made and easily justified juxtaposed with also hundreds of calls and violations per game that the officials did make but as easily justified if they didn’t make those calls within the same interpretations of a complex rule book that allows for both sides to be correct.  Being that this is the case, along with the hundreds of touches and contact per game, it is easy to determine that the players have much less control of the result of this game.  We as fans could literally get more accurate results and more of a fair experience watching cricket races on our front sidewalk.  To add insult to injury, whenever an NBA official feels like he or she made a bad call, they will call a controversial “make-up” call on the other end to try and even things out which further degrades the integrity of the sport.    This in turn creates a basketball game that is pretty much decided by what the officials feel like doing during these touch moments even more than teams actually taking the shots to win a basketball game.   The officials decisions without consequence or real accountability influence a basketball game more than the actual teams do themselves.  It isn’t far fetched to say that In 2019 the NBA’s version of basketball is now an alternative way of playing H-O-R-S-E with some guys in striped shirts saying if something counts or not whenever they decide the moment to be necessary.

Now many people want to blame the officiating by saying that these guys terrible (as we see every game by usually the losing fan base) because these touch foul interpretations happen every single game, but the truth of it is that these officials are really not all that bad at all.   I actually applaud some of their work due to the high degree of difficulty that has been bestowed on them by a league that can’t really define a rule.   In a contact sport like basketball, when just touching somebody according to the NBA rules could be a foul one would literally have to slow things down to the speeds of the movie “The Matrix” levels in order to at least attempt to have a somewhat of an accurately called game!  I think it is easy to see here that the old way of doing things was much less controversial.   Simple bumps and incidental contact within this game was never meant to be a foul when this sport was created by our basketball forefathers years back and the NBA has taken their rules way too far.  Please watch this 5 minute youtube video with over 500K views from @mj2k_allday for a great explanation on how the 2004 removal of the hand check has changed the game.

Now I know what you are going to say.   You are going to say that if there are literally hundreds of inefficient interpretations and infractions of the rules during each game then why do the teams with the most talent usually win and or cover the spread?   Well the answer is actually somewhat of a testament to these officials, for the most part, for calling the game equally on both sides.   Now I am not saying that they get it right most of the time by any means due to the fact that the NBA has set such a bad precedent for them.  What I am saying is that the variance within the game can cause final scores to be missed easily by 20 or 30 points on either end of the spectrum.  The meaning of this for example is if the Houston Rockets are favored over the Memphis Grizzlies by 10 points and the game was played 5 times in front of 5 different officiating crews or even 5 times with the same crew (if it was possible to hold exact play as a constant),  we could get scores that vary from Houston winning by 30 points to Houston losing by 10 all dependent on the way that the officials called the game.  No matter what outcome happens, each time it all can be justified from an NBA rules perspective making this system substandard to the overall integrity of the game and an inadequate experience to the educated viewer.  The teams that benefited the most due to the 2004 hand check rule changes are the ones who can have some control over their own destiny within the aspects of the game itself. Those aspects specifically are what can’t be impeded by the ebbs and flows of the officiating variance within each game itself and that is mainly free throw percentage and 3 point shooting percentage.   The Golden State Warriors are the perfect example of this especially because without the hand check, defenses have to play their opponent off the perimeter to better protect the dribble drive thus opening up a much easier shot.  Should the other team even try and play defense the offense can easily draw a shooting foul on a three point attempt (three free throws) due to many of these awful touch rules and offensive players caring more about the foul than the shot.   This hand check rule change has also changed the game making the stretch four three point shooting power forward much more relevant to this version of game when it really didn’t exist before 2004.  The NBA does know that there are major issues here yet they want to keep a high flying fast paced perimeter game that frowns on defensive play so instead of changing the rules back to what they were not so long ago with some modifications, they decide to expand replay and further slow down a game that was made to be played at a fast paced in the first place.  The whole issue with replay here, and the reason that it won’t help like I have stated before, is that one could justify something being a foul or not according to the rules in whatever camera angle that is looked at by using different arguments such as the defensive player’s touch contact did not impede a drive or a shot enough to be a foul or the very same contact did impede the drive or a shot.   Seriously, who is to say that when the possible infraction is just a legal touch or a foul that happens in all and every single game that is played?  At least with an all out hack or major shove like in the old days, one can say it was enough to call a foul and the discrepancy happens much less frequently.  Not making touch calls and allowing hand checks is similar to straight up back yard basketball that exists just fine without any official interference.   Too many whistles slow the game down mightily and cause fans to change the station.   Lastly, shouldn’t it be the offensive players fault for not getting open enough for that shot if he is slightly hit or slightly shoved anyways???  Some of the major coaching changes that had to adapt to this way of playing basketball is that there is much less running of good basketball plays starting with the point guard and much more pick and roles with high ball screens while players succeed in flailing their way to the basket.   The NBA has now been dumbed down to the point that running strategy and plays do not net the same good results as they used to.   Players rely on their ability to more or less draw whistles over playing a strategic game.  Basketball fans are really starting to notice these issues and that is why the NBA ratings have been tanking over the years with the 2019 NBA finals down over 22% from the last few years.

Back to a prediction aspect of the game within this league.  These rule changes and interpretations are not good for sports betting and playing the side of a spread because it adds variance within the game while the main goal of sports betting is to eliminate variance and results due to chance as much as possible to create a positive expected value of the side that was handicapped and played against the bookie.  People do not want to bet games that have too much variance negating the creation of value and that is why many sports bettors have given up on the NBA.  The fact that sports betting is becoming legalized across the united states will only put more pressure on this league, and if things do not change, the NBA may be left open to be sued for a lack of institutional control similar to the standards that are set for public corporations by the FCC.

Just when you thought I was finished taking apart this league, there is another glaring problem with the NBA that the NFL has seemed to figure out well.  Being that stars are ever more important in a league with only 5 players on the court at once, one would think of a way to protect the franchises in smaller markets within that league from losing their talent to free agency.  The NFL has solved this issue by using a franchise tag.   The franchise tag solves 2 major problems and that is having fair competition while allowing a player great player to prosper.  It makes the player the highest or one of the highest paid at their position while the same team gets to keep their rights due to the fact that they spent resources and assets when they drafted and developed that same player.  On year tow a team can pay up the nose in order to keep this player who may want to leave thus giving that player an honest framework of playing in the league without hurting the team.  By doing this the team can own the rights to that player and still trade them while getting some assets back.   The NBA can use a modification of this franchise tag that the NFL incorporates in order to improve the overall competition and integrity of the teams in this league.  I honestly, for the life of me, do not understand how anyone could be an Indianapolis, New Orleans, Denver, Orlando, Charlotte, Atlanta, Detroit, Phoenix, Memphis and Sacramento NBA fan when the team’s best players that they tanked to draft 3 to 5 years ago constantly leave on a regular basis.    Not only that, these players can hold the organization hostage threatening to leave giving that player more power than the whole organization itself.  Now I understand why the player would do that when he wants to be in bigger market, make more in endorsements and win championships especially because his current team could not attract talent to come there in the first place but that makes it very bad for real competition within the sport itself and if that is the case there should be only 6-10 teams in the NBA rather than 30.  Don’t get me wrong, some teams like the Toronto Raptors can get lucky at the expense of other teams such as their 1 year rental of Kawhi Leonard that they ripped from the San Antonio Spurs which helped them get the final piece to an NBA Championship squad, but in reality, this caused another team to suffer and retaining a Kawhi Leonard type talent in this market will be a long shot.   Teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets and the Milwaukee Bucks have successfully tanked and now have become relevant the last 2 years but it isn’t going to last because they can’t and will not be able to attract free agency talent due to their market size and location from this turbulent and inefficient league.  I find it funny that the NBA wants to expand to Europe.   Let’s face it, tanking in itself is terrible for this sport and all sports in general.  The first pick of the draft should be awarded to the the team who just missed the playoffs down to the worst team in the NBA while expanding the salary cap highest to the worst team moving back up forcing them to pay for their players for the bad results that they gave to their fans.  At least this way there will be some accountability here.

There are only about six relevant teams that all of the talent in the NBA end up going to due to the location and the size of the market itself.   Players do not just make money off of their contracts, they also create fame in fortune within the endorsement of the size of the market, and if that is going to continue to be the case, the rest of these teams are just basically a farm system for the these franchises.  These six teams can change slightly over time but right now they are the LA Lakers, the Houston Rockets, the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks (even though they have terrible ownership and can’t get it right), the Golden State Warriors, and the Miami Heat.   Gone are the days the old Bulls, Pistons and Spurs where players would stay with the team that they were drafted by when offered a max deal.  I think the major blame for this dysfunction is the media who sometimes want these few super teams for large market coverage, the NBA for lacking control and the sports agents for cashing in.  We just saw this with the New Orleans Pelicans lose a top 5 NBA player in Anthony Davis to the Lakers even when they offered him a MAX deal and won the lottery to get the number one draft pick in Zion Williamson.  Who is to say that Zion won’t leave in 4 years now as well under these rules?  Davis held the New Orleans franchise hostage with his sports agent Rich Paul whom also happens to be Lebron’s agent saying he will stay his final year of his contract with the Pelican’s getting nothing if he isn’t traded to the Lakers.  Talk about conflict of interest!!!   In the stock market this would be called insider trading and prosecuted accordingly.  For these reasons that I have stated is why the franchise tag is needed to badly to protect smaller market teams and the integrity of the NBA league and sport of basketball itself.  Not every NBA team can afford to max our their payroll.    What is even more sad is that one would think the owners of these smaller teams would be in an uproar about this, but instead, they actually get paid for losing high priced players to teams in larger markets via the Luxury tax system making their franchise financially stable and therefore okay for them to be bad at basketball at the expense of the fans while making the franchises with deep pockets elite.   The NBA should operate like an equal opportunity employer with a sales force.   Everyone gets about the same base salary and same territory sizes to compete to be the best for the organization.   In a well run company there shouldn’t be 6 people that have 3/4 of the country while the other 24 have 1/4 of the country if they are all being judged on the same size quota similar to making it to one championship in the NBA.   Being that the NBA can’t promote equal competition it is like I said before, I do not know how that someone could be an NBA fan if they lived in a smaller market.

Make no mistake that the NBA is a monopoly and without real professional competition, this league does not have to live up to any real standard in basketball rules so no matter what product that they put out, the fans will watch and complain either way without having any say about it.  It’s like Marxism within our own society because of the fact that each NBA team represents a massive group of huge fans and people within in each city making the intangibility of the league the reason that it is so profitable and powerful.   Fans do not want another professional league or team competing with the nostalgic way that they grew up rooting as a child and no matter how bad the product, these fans are powerless to make a change.  This is similar to how it must feel to be a teacher in a very bureaucratic school district.  The teachers love their location, and love their kids, but are literally powerless to make a much needed change.  I think it’s our very own human nature with our pure stubbornness of being a fan this day and age without any power whatsoever to make a change or fear of boycotting our own team and lifestyle for the betterment of the sport’s future.   For some people who have been living their whole lives as a fan it is hard to find something else to do.  The NBA could literally lower the rims to 7 feet and the teams will still have the same following of nostalgic fools such as you and I.  Now somehow if the NBA had actual competition and there were 10 equal professional basketball leagues within each city instead of one, I can guarantee you that the NBA would be toast and not survive due to the silliness on how the rules state how to officiate and play today’s game.  Lastly, I do not know why the NBA has given so much power to the players when they are the only game in town?   It’s not like the players can strike for multiple years until another league develops and takes advantage of disagreement.   This is another reason why I think the leadership in this league has gone so far astray.  Yes I’m talking about you Adam Silver!

Now on to college basketball.   During the 2019 NCAA Championship we all saw that phantom call against Texas Tech when Virginia’s Kyle Guy tripped over his own feet in overtime right?  Well that literally was a 4 point swing that changed the outcome or at least the score of the final game of the big dance.  As we all know the NCAA Copycats the professional sports leagues.  A good example of this is with football.  The NFL influencing rule changes for things like helmet to helmet contact, kick offs, holding penalties and the speeding up the game clock has all been duplicated by the NCAA.  Now Men’s Hoops has decided to take basketball in the ever so trivial direction that the NBA has made for their, touch fouls, 3 point line and length of shot clock.  The 2019 NCAA rule changes for basketball will debunk teams that rely on strategy rather than pure athleticism.    Starting in 2019 the NCAA 3 point line will be moved back from 20 feet 9 inches to the international standard of 22 feet 1 and 3/4 inches which will make it harder for shooters to hit threes while spacing out the defense.   This is a 1 foot 4 and 3/4 inch change.   The other big change is that after every offensive rebound, the shot clock will change from being the normal 30 seconds to 20 seconds which forces teams to have more possessions and less wear and tear on the athlete’s playing defense.

While you’re watching Virginia celebrate, take a look at this play. Texas Tech is up 3 in overtime, Kyle Guy trips on his own teammate and a foul is called on Texas Tech. Congrats to the Cavs but they had the zebras in their pocket all the way to the end. Wow pic.twitter.com/it17ANiRTI

— Jon Linder (@LinderShowMiami) April 9, 2019

The one thing that kept most of the 353 division I-A college basketball teams relevant and the top teams honest was the fact that if a school couldn’t get the top 4 and 5 star recruits, they still could be competitive from training less athletic kids well while instilling great shooting ability from a fair distance, the strategy of running out clock to tire or frustrate their opponents, good ball handling skills, running sophisticated plays and instilling a very tight defense.  Teams like Wisconsin, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Wichita State, Nebraska, Kansas State and Stanford were programs that have accomplished great things with some of these lower rated recruits while playing very disciplined and strategic basketball. The swing offense for example would utilize more shooters that stay on top of the 3 point circle popping open for a well earned three point shot by playing a strategy that sets great screens and runs shot clock frustrating a defense.  The smaller teams had to adjust to do this in order compete mostly due to the fact that they lack the athletic ability of the 4 and 5 star players that only the elite NCAA basketball programs get.  What these previous rules accomplished was a somewhat competitive league of 353 basketball teams with our beloved Cinderellas making it farther in the big dance.  Now with these rule changes making it more difficult to shoot a three while eliminating the strategy of wearing down a more athletic team using 30 seconds of a shot clock, the lessor teams in all of college basketball will start to become even more inept to play with the big schools.  These teams under the old rules has helped the NCAA remain much more competitive and great product to watch in every market.  As you can see, the NCAA is now moving towards having a very few relevant teams out of 353 tams that can recruit kids that, rather than running a great offense, can charge the basket with speed and draw fouls.

The most important thing that we should be asking ourselves is do we as fans deserve basketball do be dumbed all the way down to athletic players not having to run plays while charging the paint and flailing their bodies at the defense and most likely getting bailed out by a foul called from officials???   Well this is what the NCAA is trying to produce in order to try and survive and it will unfortunately favor the teams with the top recruits further separating the pure strategies and foundations of basketball that were enjoyed for over 50 years.  Where is the strategy in that?   If anything, the NCAA should be trying to get away with some of the arbitrary NBA rules and regulations complimenting the fact that these are still underdeveloped kids playing this game and  strive to make this league as fair and competitive as possible to keep interest high among all 353 schools.

Make no mistake NCAA feels forced to make some of these changes due to the fact that they are still a relevant farm system to the NBA and the national media wants more success and focus to Duke, UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, Louisville and any other team who has a large fan base.  The NCAA knows that the AAU, Eurpean and Chinease leagues are getting bigger and more powerful while they compete to get players to bypass college and start to get paid immediately.   The NBA summer league is turning into a minor league system in itself.  Soon the one and done will be gone and the NBA will once again bring highs school kids to the league at 17-18 years old and some of these kids may not have “real” high school degrees.   The European leagues over the last 20 years has been feeding the NBA more and more successfully with the talent that they have been able to accumulate and some of the competition over seas is better than the NCAA.  The Eurpean leagues do well in preparing these young kids to be competitive in the NBA as we have seen from players like Kristaps Porzingis and Giannis Antetokounmpo.   The NCAA thinks that changing the rules to mirror the NBA will help bring talent back into these institutions and I think that they are greatly mistaken.   As a kid coming out of high school, why the heck would I risk not getting paid to play for free for a degree that I will never use?  Why would I go to college and not get paid when I can go to an expanded minor league NBA system or a European league that will help me and pay my family immediately?

Calling this a defensive foul in any sport in the world in any league is a complete abomination. I want the old NBA back. This game is 95% decided by officiating pic.twitter.com/85xOlF76PX

— The OddsBreakers (@theoddsbreakers) June 8, 2019

College basketball is going to feel the pain with only enacting rule changes to mirror the NBA.  There is simply two things that the NCAA needs to do to survive and that is to allow players to make money in a free market based on their own image as well as create an athletic sports management degree where the player does not have to be held to the same standards as someone majoring in engineering.  Within this degree we can teach these kids how to make some better financial decisions in life after they either cash in by hitting the big time NBA or fail to move to the next level like 95% majority of these kids and have to hit the real world with a real jobby job.   At least these athletes that has given so much to their school can learn how money can be used to make more money rather than spend it all in a few years.   I think a 2 year associates and a 4 year bachelor degree for this major should be the consideration.   The best players can leave after 2 years with something to show for it.  This option sounds better than taking taking a few basket weaving courses I would hope.   I would also be okay with these universities giving these kids a little spending cash for “working” for the school rather than being completely used for the gain of that institution.

So in summary and tO pUt It LiGhTlY, the bureaucracy of the NBA can be easily compared to communist Russia back in the days of the USSR having their government eroding with zero accountability and citizens who are not capable of changing it or knowing how to stop it in the first place.  The national sports media and NBA analysts telling people how great the NBA is without disclosing these serious issues can be compared to the radio and TV personalities in the 1970s USSR that consistently spread false pretenses and misinformation saying how great it is to be a communist while everyone stands in a mile long bread line. The NCAA is like the Ukraine during this turbulent time who will either decide to adhere to these rules or try and rebel bringing back legitimacy within it’s own league.  If you still do not understand the comparison then please watch the HBO mini series Chernobyl and you will have a better understanding of that bureaucracy.   Let’s face it, when teams from big markets are doing well, then the overall ratings improve for the national media’s shows whom are mainly located in these markets while feeding off of the lack of knowledge from the other fan bases which should be causing these listeners to tune out.  So as you see there are many ulterior motives to our expense as fans happening to the NBA, NCAA and many other of our beloved sports leagues that are degrading the product right before our eyes and we as fans will never have any control until we can rise up as one, boycott in protest and let our voices be heard.   The question is, what are you going to do?   If you agree then please reiterate some of these points and feel free to share this article or these thoughts with your peers.

–Kiev O’Neil
-The OddsBreakers
Sports Bettor

CITED:

@MJ2K_ALLDAY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWz-EemQKbI, August 14th, 2018