Unbelievable Stat

[anotherdumbprediction]

Spoken like someone who rarely sits through a game, but follows the sport via ESPN highlights. Free throws aren’t the problem, officiating that panders to the playground game is.

Basketball is a great game when it’s played as it was designed. Few things are more boring than watching a guy endlessly dribbling the ball. Toss in the inevitable palming to give them even greater confidence in their ability to bounce a ball, then bail them out continually when they drive to the basket and flail away with something that may or may not resemble a shot, and you create an ugly game with too many free throws.

Free throws are like special teams in football. If you have that as a hole in your team, someone is going to exploit it. You may have to bench a top player because he’s a liability late in a game. Or you may have someone use it to get back into a game if your team sucks at the line. And if we are going to be honest, there isn’t a higher pressure shot with the game on the line. If you don’t have your big boy pants on and can’t hit an unopposed shot from 15 feet, then it sucks to be you. And nothing sickens me more than making excuses for laziness, or rewarding a weak mind, which are the primary reasons guys aren’t good at the line. If guys would rather practice a windmill dunk or their bitchin’ crossover, then they can deal with the humiliation of clanking FTs that could be the difference in winning and losing. Be a complete player, or plan on being a spot player.

If your goal is to have a better, more entertaining game then call palming, traveling and player control fouls when the offense is initiating the contact, and dump the flagrant foul. Not allowing a defender to chose to foul in a physical manner only encourages offensive players to drive the lane. That doesn’t mean we allow guys to foul to the point of injuring, but getting knocked to the floor is sending a message. It challenges the offense to decide if driving is worth it, or do they decide to just pull up and shoot a jumper...create a choice, and let toughness be part of the equation.

There are problems with the game, but the free throw isn’t one, it’s the actions that cause the free throw that hurts the game.

Basketball sucks. Haven’t watched it in years. And no, I don’t watch ESPN highlights. Come to this board to see NU’s results, but won’t watch. It is a crappy sport because of all of the points you mentioned. The game has changed because fans want to see crossovers and dunks. The constant stoppages for free throws and timeouts don’t jibe with the poor fundamentals and lax officiating.
I imagine, at your height, you have played a lot of pickup basketball. When someone gets fouled, do you shoot free throws? You know why?

 

[LarstheRed]

Basketball sucks. Haven’t watched it in years. And no, I don’t watch ESPN highlights. Come to this board to see NU’s results, but won’t watch. It is a crappy sport because of all of the points you mentioned. The game has changed because fans want to see crossovers and dunks. The constant stoppages for free throws and timeouts don’t jibe with the poor fundamentals and lax officiating.
I imagine, at your height, you have played a lot of pickup basketball. When someone gets fouled, do you shoot free throws? You know why?

We didn’t call fouls. At least not after high school. Your manhood would be questioned if you weren’t needing stitches.

To your point, a foul should only be called when one player gains a significant advantage by breaking a rule. Idiots who thought young people wouldn’t watch unless spectacular plays were being made changed the game at the professional level. The game remained fairly pure in high school and college until the last 12-15 years, and has taken an even more drastic turn the last 5. The game would revert back to something far more entertaining if the simply went back to officiating as they did 10 years ago. Sadly, I doubt they do.

To me one of the more telling signs of how poor our guys play is the fewer opportunities in Europe. We used to be hugely desired, so much so, they had rules limiting American players to 2 per team. Americans were given the green light, and dominated most leagues. Now, sadly, many of the Euros don’t like Americans, because our fundamentals are so poor, and we struggle in their style which is heavy in good passing and shooting, and not on one on one, trying to take a guy to the basket. One of my friends who played and coached some in Europe was telling me the other coaches made fun of the fact the American players couldn’t be counted on to know which foot to go off in layup drills. I blame much of this on the club teams that spend little to no time actually learning the game.

I still hope we change to that style, at least at the college level.

 

[Bballbilly]

We didn’t call fouls. At least not after high school. Your manhood would be questioned if you weren’t needing stitches.

To your point, a foul should only be called when one player gains a significant advantage by breaking a rule. Idiots who thought young people wouldn’t watch unless spectacular plays were being made changed the game at the professional level. The game remained fairly pure in high school and college until the last 12-15 years, and has taken an even more drastic turn the last 5. The game would revert back to something far more entertaining if the simply went back to officiating as they did 10 years ago. Sadly, I doubt they do.

To me one of the more telling signs of how poor our guys play is the fewer opportunities in Europe. We used to be hugely desired, so much so, they had rules limiting American players to 2 per team. Americans were given the green light, and dominated most leagues. Now, sadly, many of the Euros don’t like Americans, because our fundamentals are so poor, and we struggle in their style which is heavy in good passing and shooting, and not on one on one, trying to take a guy to the basket. One of my friends who played and coached some in Europe was telling me the other coaches made fun of the fact the American players couldn’t be counted on to know which foot to go off in layup drills. I blame much of this on the club teams that spend little to no time actually learning the game.

I still hope we change to that style, at least at the college level.

Have a hard time believing they go off wrong foot in layup drills. That was first thing that was taught to me when I first started playing and the first thing I taught the kids I coached when they began playing. I guess I can understand when they are alot older and physically gifted that they can just dunk it. But then again you hardly ever see any one block out on a rebound anymore either.

 

[LarstheRed]

Have a hard time believing they go off wrong foot in layup drills. That was first thing that was taught to me when I first started playing and the first thing I taught the kids I coached when they began playing. I guess I can understand when they are alot older and physically gifted that they can just dunk it. But then again you hardly ever see any one block out on a rebound anymore either.

Honestly, you’d be amazed how many are horribly inadequate at basic fundamentals. When you are physically gifted, you tend to not need to focus on the things like checking out, setting screens, making simple passes, you’d be surprised just how incomplete many of these players are.

 

[Bballbilly]

Honestly, you’d be amazed how many are horribly inadequate at basic fundamentals. When you are physically gifted, you tend to not need to focus on the things like checking out, setting screens, making simple passes, you’d be surprised just how incomplete many of these players are.

I'm glad you brought up setting screens. Went to watch my golfing partners son play a j.v. bball game a couple years back. The other team was playing man to man. I saw maybe 2 screens the whole game. Not one pick and roll. It was really hard to watch. Probably coaching?