Charles Oakley To The NBA: "That's Cheating!"

[LakeShow]

WTF? How would adding defensive three second help teams guard Shaq?

Laker fans

Timvp , Where did I say that? Nice try though.

In 2001, Shaq and the Lakers blitzed the league in the playoffs which was very good for the Lakers and bad for the league.

Lakers' perfection proving costly to league, TV

http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs2001/...1/1208216.html

It was after that dominance that the league made changes to the Illegal Defense calls. The Illegal defense and the defensive 3 seconds rule came hand in hand.

http://www.nba.com/news/rule_changes_010412.html

NBA Approves Rules Changes
Posted Nov 21 2002 12:14PM

BOG approves changes designed to improve the flow and pace of the game
NEW YORK, April 12 -- The NBA Board of Governors today approved several playing rules changes designed to improve the flow and pace of the game. The new rules will go into effect for the 2001-02 season.
The rules changes had been recommended by a select committee on playing rules chaired by Phoenix Suns Chairman and CEO Jerry Colangelo, and were presented to the board at last month's meeting.
The changes are:

Illegal defense guidelines will be eliminated in their entirety.
A new defensive three-second rule will prohibit a defensive player from remaining in the lane for more than three consecutive seconds without closely guarding an offensive player.
The time that a team has to advance the ball past midcourt will be reduced from 10 seconds to eight.
Brief contact initiated by a defensive player will be allowed if it does not impede the progress of the player with the ball.


The League decided that they needed more games in the playoffs and a dominance in the playoffs was bad business for them and the networks. They decided that allowing teams to play zone would give teams a better chance to defend Shaq, who was unguardable at the time. At the same time allowing Shaq to just hang out in the lane on defense would be just as damaging to the league so they added the defensive 3 second rule to prevent that from happening.

I know there were other factors in the rule changes, for instance, the leagues attempt to go global. One of the main things that have prevented the overseas involvement in the league was their lack of playing man on man defense. With the zone, it gives them a better chance to compete without the pressures of having to guard players one on one.

The Hand check rule was introduced by Mark Cuban because of Dirk and Nash not being able to move their stronger counterparts. Cuban used Billups vs. Nash as an example of a stronger guard being able to stop the weaker guard in their tracks. It may have had something to do with Bowen's defense as well but it was not a rule change implemented specifically for the Spurs, it was to help the weaker guards compete.

[stretch]

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.

I'm curious as to what rule changes were made after the spurs won championships that affected them directly? and im not trying to be a head or anything, its an honest question.

[Marcus Bryant]

Handchecking, for one.

[Thomas82]

Handchecking, for one.

That was the biggest one, because it hurt guys like Mario Elie and Jaren Jackson the most.

[Robinzine]

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.
__________________

Sour grapes from a player who's team came up short every year for 10 years. Where's his outrage against his pal Michael Jordan's Bulls, who punked them in that decade? He's strangely silent about them, but of course he has to go after the Lakers. You're yesterday's news, Oakley - thank you for playing.

[michaelwcho]

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.

Just to nitpick, only a few teams have legitimate chances to win. For example, unless you were the Spurs or the Lakers, it has been rather difficult to win championships for some time. This has more to do with the ability of great centers to dominate than the other factors, but just had to throw in my 2-yen.

[Thomas82]

Just to nitpick, only a few teams have legitimate chances to win. For example, unless you were the Spurs or the Lakers, it has been rather difficult to win championships for some time. This has more to do with the ability of great centers to dominate than the other factors, but just had to throw in my 2-yen.

That makes sense.

[himat]

The rules that limited defense after 04 was really gay. Especially handchecking. NBA is weak now.

[Thomas82]

The rules that limited defense after 04 was really gay. Especially handchecking. NBA is weak now.

Very weak!!!