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Great find and great article in which I believe is so true.
Retired player says NBA Officials exert too much influence on games
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Saturday morning editions of the New York Post will feature a story and interview with former Knicks standout Charles Oakley in which he articulates his belief that NBA officials and league executives exert too much control over the outcome of games.
In the article, Oakley also says that he feels the biggest surprise in the allegations by disgraced referee Tim Donaghy is that they didn't come sooner.
"I'm just surprised he hasn't put more stuff out about the league because everything he put out is the truth," Oakley told The Post. "There's a lot more going on behind this. Some official some day is going to come out with a book and tell the whole story.
"They should have asked about this a long time ago," added Oakley, who played for the Knicks for 10 seasons, from 1988 to 1998, when they made the playoffs every year. "When you can talk to officials at halftime about calls they made in the first half, that's control. When you control something, that's cheating."
Oakley cites the favorable treatment his buddy and one-time rival, Michael Jordan used to get from officials.
"Whenever you have superstar calls, that tells you right there it's cheating. It's controlled," Oakley said.
Oakley offers examples from this season's playoffs for support.
He pointed to the controversial end of Game 4 in the Lakers-Spurs Western Conference Finals. After no foul was called against LA's Derek Fisher for bumping the Spurs' Brent Barry, the league came out afterward and said a foul was warranted.
"In this year's playoffs [Barry] took a shot at the end of the game. That was a blatant foul and there was no foul called. Anybody who watches basketball knows it's a blatant foul," Oakley said. "
A ref is just doing what the league calls. . . . You can't tell a guy you can't blow a whistle in the last 30 seconds of the game. That's cheating."
Oakley contends the control extends beyond the officiating and cited frequent rule changes. Oakley was one of the toughest players in the NBA and often was rankled about rules that were added to give harsher penalties for rough fouls.
"Whenever you can change the rules every year to make somebody better, that's cheating," Oakley said.
Spurs fans may agree with Oakley on that point. After winning championships, the league has made several rule changes that seemed to hurt the Spurs the following year. In addition, many fans feel that the game itself has been deteriorated in favor of changes that might attract higher TV ratings.
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Great find and great article in which I believe is so true.
Yeah, unfortunately it's true-- unspoken rules like star treatment and not calling fouls in the last seconds of a game just open up the floodgates for conspiracy theorists. I really think there should be limited instant replay calls available to coaches, say 2 per half. It'll never be perfect-- refs are human afterall-- but that would go a ways toward helping.
I love watching D Wade play, but every time he makes that 3 step spin move and scores i can't help but think that it's travelling... no question about it.
this one needs to be bolded, highlighted, underlined, etc and posted on every ing thread concerning the league office.
That rule changing aspect has been pretty obvious over the years. Whenever the Spurs have won, major sweeping changes to the rulebooks have taken place.
Now watch how there will be no major rule changes this year.
It's the real reason why the Spurs have had so much trouble repeating and defending the le...
Stern feels they were never supposed to have won it all in the first place. Four times already, Duncan keeps foiling Stern again and again...
oh yeah they cheat....have been for many yrs...im just happy that we had enough talent to overcome the nba's system and won 4 rings....but now that these secrets of nba cheating come out.......imo things will get worse not better....only one way to make things better next season with a great effect.....the nba must adopt the nfls version of the red flag...i would think half of the calls the refs make would be overturned, barry would have gone to the line, and joey's call would have been thrown out of the at&t center..after that noone knows if barry makes or misses...but at least the right call would have been made....all the nba refs would learn from being called out by coaches, they would learn that no matter what stern and his crew say todo, they wont be able to get away with it....(i tried to help the other team win mr. stern, but that new red flag busted me and got OVERTURNED) now i can't even makeup a call, cos they might overturn that play as well...guess ill wait till they run of red flags so i can help cheat for ya mr. stern.....no version of the nfls red flag=nba officiating getting worse imo
We need a shop of Stern with an old-time villain mustache saying, "Curses! Foiled again! Nya ha ha ha!"
Besides the flopping rule?That rule changing aspect has been pretty obvious over the years. Whenever the Spurs have won, major sweeping changes to the rulebooks have taken place.
Now watch how there will be no major rule changes this year.
This is why I have given up on the NBA, I'm 99% sure I will not be watching much if any NBA games next season. It was pretty blatant this season, and I'm just done supporting it.
I will not buy any merchandise, attend any games, or watch any on my home television. If I am at a bar, or someone else's house and it is on, then I will have no choice but to watch it. But as a consumer, I can voice my opinion by not supporting this product called the NBA.
I don't know how long I will boycott this, but until MAJOR changes are done, the NBA has lost a customer. I know its insignificant, but its what I believe in, so thats what I'm going to do.
Too late TimVP. What about the fines for drawing offensive fouls too vigorously (called flopping in some quarters).That rule changing aspect has been pretty obvious over the years. Whenever the Spurs have won, major sweeping changes to the rulebooks have taken place.
Now watch how there will be no major rule changes this year.
The most blatent act against SA was the change in the hand checking rules in 1999. That a clear, direct response by the league for what the Spurs did really well defensively.
BTW, Ginobili does not "flop" nearly as much as he used to. The curly headed guy in Cleveland as well as Derek Fisher are monster floppers.
"That rule changing aspect has been pretty obvious over the years."
Anybody have a compilation of the anti-Spur rules changes after each Spurs' le?
Yeah I'm curious about that too.
Yeah, that rule was announced while the Spurs were still alive in the playoffs. I'm talking about here on in.
Yup, no major rules. But they will be looking at the hack-a-shaq the spurs used against the Suns.That rule changing aspect has been pretty obvious over the years. Whenever the Spurs have won, major sweeping changes to the rulebooks have taken place.
Now watch how there will be no major rule changes this year.
What he said.
I've posted it before ..... let me see if I can find it.
Nba is rigged.
Oh well. We got 4 rings outta the !
Remember when Elliott was called for like 20 traveling violations in one playoff series?
Anyways, the Spurs have won 4 les in spite of this crap.
I had a person living next to me who played with Oakley in college.
To be fair to the NBA, it's usually the national media that starts whining first about rule changes and then the NBA follows through. I personally do not think the NBA is rigged or specifically targets the Spurs and other small market teams in attempt to make them lose.
I think that the NBA has been foolish at times and has caved in to pressure from the national media, but that could be said for any league. There's just no way the NBA can afford to even think about rigging games because if they were caught, the league would be over. I'm confident the playing field is about as level as possible. Obviously big market teams will always have a little bit of an advantage because that's true in every sport. Overall though, the NBA is an extremely fair league and it has a collective bargaining agreement that gives any team in the league a legit chance of winning a championship.
Man, this post was right on point!!
preach on
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