Has the NBA made a terrible, terrible mistake? š
STL embraces debate! Do we come to praise James Harden, or bury him? Plus, the Jokic/Morris feud and more
OPENING TIP
The NBAās new foul rules are here, and they are having a real effect. Basketball games look more different that they have in several years. But not everyone at STL headquarters is thrilled with the changes! In fact, we havenāt had an issue this divisive around the office for many years. To settle this once for all, we brought in two experienced debaters to get their take (while on a break from trying to take over the world).
Locke: I had a dream last night. Damian Lillard, one of the most exciting athletes in any sport, lay bleeding in a dark alley. I looked up, and above him, laughing maniacally, was none other than Anthony Mason, holding a baseball bat. I woke in a cold sweat, and I knew one thing to be true: the Bad Old Days of the NBA are returning.
The NBAās new foul rules are a disaster, and itās high time someone had the courage to point it out. Let me count the ways.
āBasketball moveā and āabnormal motionā are complicated and vague terms that are the definition of a slippery slope. James Harden fakes a guy into the air at the three point line, then gets clobbered as the guy lands. Is it sneaky? Sure. Was it a foul? Yes. Trae Young turns the corner on a pick and roll, then stops short. He is literally tackled by his trailing defender. Is that a basketball move? I donāt know, but Iām sure the full body tackle isnāt.
Scoring is down. To be specific, it is down 5.5 points per game, the largest single season decline in NBA history. In 1999, the San Antonio Spurs dropped all of 80 points in the NBA finals. And won by 13 points! Who misses that 80-67 classic against the Knicks?
When the stars suffer, the fans suffer. Itās easy for an unaffiliated media member to bemoan ticky-tack fouls and unnatural motions. But no one comes home from a game to rave about the time they watched James Harden drop 17 against the Bucks. Fans at the games want to see the stars shine. They donāt want the skill and intelligence of their favorite player trumped by the latest version of Charles Oakley, whoās primary skill is having forearms that weigh more than his head.
Demosthenes: Iām flabbergasted we are even having this argument. Literally everyone who has ever watched an NBA game while not cheering for James Harden or Trae Young is delighted by the new rules on non-basketball moves. How could any right-thinking person want the play below to be a foul on Josh Jackson?Ā
Iām sorry that your febrile mind canāt handle nuance, but if the NFL (known for the high sophistication of its fanbase) can handle letting its officials decide what a āfootball moveā is without the world ending, I think the NBA will be fine. Entertaining basketball is like pornography - I know it when I see it - and James Harden hooking the defender aināt it.
Sure, scoring is down, but thatās mostly because three point shooting is down; as some geniuses with a newsletter pointed out recently, that was due to how easy it is to make threes in empty arenas. In any event, fans love scoring, but they hate herky-jerky games with a million free throws more than they hate missed shots. And at 107 points a game, teams are still scoring more than they did as recently as 2017-2018; weāre a long ways from the dark days of 2003-2004.
To make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs, and let me tell you, James Harden loves eating omelets. Fortunately for us, there are other stars in the league not named Harden, and most of them are doing just fine. Ever heard of a guy named Kevin Durant? Leading the league in scoring. How about Chef Curry? Just whipped up a 50 piece McNugget. Giannis, PG, Ja... all of them are scoring just fine without needing to grift their opponents.Ā
Most importantly, fans are voting with their eyeballs. Ratings are up, which genius writer Ethan Strauss has taught us is the most important metric of basketball success. Why must you sacrifice the happiness of the many for the sake of a few Johnny-come-lately fans in Atlanta? No one likes them anyway.
L: So many questionable arguments, so little time. First, it is not my febrile mind that we should be worried about. Itās the officials! The NFL is doing anything BUT a fine job deciding what a football move is.
This Dez Bryant touchdown was reviewed for five minutes while the game stopped. After which they got it wrong, and people in Dallas are still arguing about it 8 years later. The āfootball moveā rule is the most reviled in the sport!
Pardon me if lengthy reviews over impossible-to-parse situations in slow motion doesnāt sound like the future of basketball we should all be excited about. Basketball is easily the most difficult sport to referee, and decisions must be made in a split second. NBA refs have proven they are capable of calling nothing and giving us the late nineties sludge, or calling everything and giving us high scoring shootouts and the highest level of basketball ever played.
Anything in between is a mess of split-second arbitrary decisions, and who knows how or why they get made?
Actually let me retract that. Weāve seen how they get made. As mentioned, Kevin Durant isnāt having a problem. Neither is Jimmy Butler. There isn't a player in the league who hunts fouls and initiates contact more than Jimmy Butler. And do you know why Jimmy Butler is doing just fine? Because the referees have decided that the ābad, sneaky playersā cannot be fouled, and everyone else should proceed as normal. Dame Lillard or Trae Youngās problem appears to be that they drew ticky-tack fouls, when they should have been blatantly bowling defenders over or throwing elbows like Jimmy Buckets.
It might be a cheap thrill to see the āgriftersā suffer for a few weeks or even months, but a two-tiered officiating system canāt be what true fans of basketball are looking for. Shame.
D: We both have no desire to return to the Heat/Knicks matchups from the 90s. But surely there is a Middle Way: the Noble Eightfold Path of ignoring gratuitous non-basketball moves.Ā
As you pointed out with the Dez Bryant touchdown, there is nothing worse than stopping the action for minutes on end in the middle of an exciting game. But thatās exactly what calling a bunch of extraneous free throws does! The more the NBA can eliminate those unnecessary stoppages and incentivize free-flowing action, the more watchable the product.Ā
Close games can be exciting even without much scoring; the last few minutes of the 2016 Finals are Exhibit A.
Would this stretch have been improved if Steph had drawn a foul by hooking JR Smithās arm while pretending to shoot? It would be like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa.Ā
Clearly the officials are still getting calibrated on what to call and what not to. Any change brings an adjustment period with it. But the players are also adjusting, and for the better! Harden has doubled his midrange pullups and three-point catch-and-shoot rate this season.Ā Heās making his game more watchable for us. Itās working!
Dame and Trae will be fine. But we as the fans benefit the most.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
You may have heard about Nikola Jokicās tussle with Markieff Morris. Jokicās brothers Strahinja and Nemanja were at the game, and were NOT happy:
Markieff has a brother too! His twin Marcus, of the LA Clippers, took note of the situation on Twitter.
In response, the Jokic Brothers created their own Twitter account (@JokicBrothers, natch) for the sole purpose of threatening Marcus!
Tom Haberstroh sums things up:
We are setting the line at Jokic Brothers -800 over the Morris Brothers and stand ready to take your bets.
AT THE BUZZER
The secret shame of playing Football Manager. So this is the soccer version of spending too much time on the trade machine! (The Athletic, $)
Dame calls NBA officiating āunacceptable.ā He may have consulted with Locke before making this comment. (RealGM)
Ex-NBA star Williams to box Frank Gore. Although the idea of fighting Frank Gore is terrifying, we think Williamsā reach advantage and history in boxing give him the edge. (ESPN)
Ben Simmons going through the motions to not getting fined. Excellent Kabuki theater! (ESPN)