The NBA Has a Plague; Will It Ever Get Cured?

Basketball has evolved as a sport, just as football, hockey, and even baseball have. The differentiator between basketball and these other sports is that the NBA has changed for the worst. There are far too many rules that get broken, which are almost never enforced, and fouls are given out like freaking candy. At this point I feel like the only rule in basketball is to not foul anyone, and even that call is just amplified to a stupid degree as to make up for everything else not getting called. The NBA needs to do something to stop the spread of this plague.

“In basketball, traveling is a violation of the rules that occurs when a player holding the ball moves one or both of their feet illegally. Most commonly, a player travels by illegally moving his or her pivot foot or taking three or more steps without dribbling the ball.” Three or more steps, huh? Then why do I see players taking four, five steps without dribbling and not getting called for it? Please tell me how DJ Augustin can take six steps headed toward the basket and not get called for it. The bum didn’t even make the layup, but that’s besides the point. Tell me how all these big men can just walk around the court, ball in hands, and change their pivot foot as if that isn’t a travel.

Tell me how Shaq can have a whole segment on the “worst travels in the NBA” or the “funniest” travels in the NBA. This isn’t funny to me one bit. This shows how garbage the referees are and how every single one of them needs to be replaced immediately. These violations take place right in front of their eyes and they just stand there looking for a foul. Because let’s be honest, that’s the only thing that gets called in the NBA these days. They need to start calling traveling because one day some guy will come around and run coast to coast without dribbling. It’s absolutely ridiculous and the fact that I can’t even remember the last travel that was called is just mind boggling.

Carrying. I don’t think anyone who has entered the NBA after the year 2000 even knows what this rule is. Every single player in the league carries. Once you put your palm lower than the side of the ball, that is a carry. If the ball momentarily stops while you are dribbling, that is a carry. All you see is every player just grabbing the ball from the bottom and flipping it like a burger, only to repeat the process for every dribble. It’s only going to get worse from here because kids watching this will think it’s okay, and then go ahead and do it in their games. They’ll develop a habit of committing a violation without even knowing it’s wrong. Every single dribble in the NBA seems to be a carry and it’s frustrating to watch. Whenever I am watching a point guard “dribble” up the court, I catch myself saying, “Carry. Carry. Carry.” The fact that I can call it from my home on every single dribble really shows both how bad this league has gotten with carries, and how bad the referees are at their job. Either start calling this more often or just eliminate the rule, although I suggest the former.

Fouls seem to be called way too much to compensate for everything else the referees miss. They probably call so many just to make it seem like they’re actually doing something out there, when in reality they aren’t. Every referee is pretty much useless, and I wouldn’t doubt if half of them don’t even know all the rules in the book. The NBA has become so soft to the point that it is an absolute joke. Look at highlights from the Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Magic Johnson era, and then look at today. Contact layups were just contacts layups. Nowadays you could graze someone’s forearm on a layup, and it easily gets converted into a 3 point play. The physicality that this sport was once based upon only exists in the form of street ball now, and organized ball seems to becoming an entirely different game.

So what is this plague? It’s pretty much the NBA as a whole, but the referees are a big part of this problem. They are the ones that are supposed to be calling the shots, making sure the rules are enforced. But NBA referees are really just glorified spectators. They get to watch the game courtside and get paid in doing so. We need to find a cure to this plague and revitalize this league.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1TRkdRM0bk

Written by Cam Simes