90's vs today: Officiating is in steep decline

[bdonovan]

For fun I watched a few nba games from the 90's- mostly knicks v bulls. It's grainy on YouTube but manageable.

One thing that stood out in watching those games- the officiating was on point. It was consistent. If you were watching a saw a foul, the refs would call it a foul. I saw maybe one "phantom foul" - calling a foul where there was none.

Today, all I see is blown calls or phantom fouls. I realized the reason for this is the lack of consistency in officiating today. Back then, there was one standard which all refs bought into. Today, you can have 3 refs on the court- each with their own threshold for what constitutes a foul.

I was watching the Memphis vs. Timberwolves today. Two refs had completely different ideas of a foul. The black ref hardly called a foul, even when there was significant contact. The white ref called tap fouls with minimal contact. It was comedy.

As a fan, you couldn't know what to expect- and the players didn't know either.

Adam Silver's tenure hasn't been the best IMO; but officiating is where they are losing a lot of confidence in the game. Ref approach needs to be consistent across refs in a game, across games, and across teams. Instead what I see is each ref has their own 'style' or personal opinion of what constitutes a foul. This is a recipe for disaster- esp. when you have inconsistent officiating by different refs in one game.

We could argue all day about what constitutes a foul, but there is an element of subjectivity. The NBA should standardize it like they did back in the 90s. It would earn a lot of trust lost amongst NBA fans.

Instead refs retreat behind the vagueness of the written rules and use legalese like "legal guarding position" to worm themselves out of some standard definition of a foul, and instead give themselves leeway to rule as they see fit.

All I can say is watching 90's NBA was far more enjoyable and satisfying as a fan. You got the sense the refs were actually doing their job.

[Im so nba'd out]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4VlAoeLtQs&ab_channel=ESPN


https://i.postimg.cc/cJjSYh6H/69915069.gif

[Real Men Wear Green]

People have always complained about the refs. Including in the 90s. One of the most famous no-calls of all time is MJ pushing off on Byron Russell to get the open jumper for the win in the Finals.

[ImKobe]

People have always complained about the refs. Including in the 90s. One of the most famous no-calls of all time is MJ pushing off on Byron Russell to get the open jumper for the win in the Finals.

That's not an offensive foul. He caught him off-balance and while there was some contact there's no way anyone would call that in the 90s.

[Real Men Wear Green]

That's not an offensive foul. He caught him off-balance and while there was some contact there's no way anyone would call that in the 90s. It definitely wasn't getting called on that player in that circumstance but it's absolutely against the rules to shove the defender out of your way.

[ImKobe]

It definitely wasn't getting called on that player in that circumstance but it's absolutely against the rules to shove the defender out of your way.

Bryon's momentum is already going to other way as he gets crossed up, and there's no real force behind that "push" as MJ's making his move to pull up for the shot.

Offensive players have been allowed to create contact and push off defenders for the longest time so I don't see how you'd call that on anyone. Also Reggie pushed off Jordan in the ECF for his game-winner (which was way more obvious even in real time as he does it with 2 hands) and that wasn't called so to me it's fair game.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Bryon's momentum is already going to other way as he gets crossed up, and there's no real force behind that "push" as MJ's making his move to pull up for the shot.

Offensive players have been allowed to create contact and push off defenders for the longest time so I don't see how you'd call that on anyone. Also Reggie pushed off Jordan in the ECF for his game-winner (which was way more obvious even in real time as he does it with 2 hands) and that wasn't called so to me it's fair game. Result of asking Google what an offensive foul in the NBA is:



In NBA basketball, an offensive foul is a personal foul committed by a player on the team with possession of the ball. It occurs when an offensive player makes illegal contact with a defensive player, resulting in a loss of possession for the offensive team.






Here's a more detailed explanation:

Definition:
An offensive foul is a personal foul committed by a player who is part of the team with possession of the ball.









Examples:
Offensive fouls can include charging, where an offensive player moves into a defender who has established a legal position, or a player control foul, where an offensive player dislodges a defender who is in a legal position.






Jordan's push was illegal contact that forced Russell out of his way. It's pretty simple.

[ShawkFactory]

Result of asking Google what an offensive foul in the NBA is:









Jordan's push was illegal contact that forced Russell out of his way. It's pretty simple.

I think he's just getting at the consistency aspect. If it's going to be a no call most of the time, even if it IS a foul then it's fine.

If an umpire calls a strike on a ball six inches of the plate but does it consistently and for both teams then it doesn't really matter that it's technically wrong.

As long as players can adjust to what is being called and what isn't then there are no issues.

[Real Men Wear Green]

I think he's just getting at the consistency aspect. If it's going to be a no call most of the time, even if it IS a foul then it's fine.

If an umpire calls a strike on a ball six inches of the plate but does it consistently and for both teams then it doesn't really matter that it's technically wrong.

As long as players can adjust to what is being called and what isn't then there are no issues. It could be said that superstar officiating is consistent in terms of always existing and being an issue that players had to deal with but when the refs call the game one way for a megastar but would not allow an average player to get away with the same kind of play it's not actually good.

[ImKobe]

Bryon already turned his body prior to MJ's move if you slow the play down. Jordan used his off-hand to keep balance as he gathered to shoot the ball but his contact didn't cause the separation.

[Real Men Wear Green]

Bryon already turned his body prior to MJ's move if you slow the play down. Jordan used his off-hand to keep balance as he gathered to shoot the ball but his contact didn't cause the separation. You don't surrender protection from illegal contact for leaning. Jordan used his off hand to make sure Russell had no chance to recover defensively and challenge the shot.

[tpols]

Even if the refs called an offensive foul on MJ for a slightly innocuous push off on that play, the Bulls still couldve won the game. And even if they didn't it would've gone to game 7 and they could've won that.

This was in a series, mind you, where it was literally a wrestling match between the two teams. A slight forearm ain't shit in that type of atmosphere.

The main ting is flopping and subsequent referee shenanigans are out of control today. We need less whistles not more.

[Real Men Wear Green]

I didn't say that the push off invalidates Jordan's whole career or whatever tangent you're going off on, just pointing out that it was a no-call.

[SouBeachTalents]

People have always complained about the refs. Including in the 90s. One of the most famous no-calls of all time is MJ pushing off on Byron Russell to get the open jumper for the win in the Finals.
Forget the push off, which I personally don't have a problem with not calling there. The refs missed 2 separate shot clock beating baskets that both went against the Jazz, one a 3 pointer by Howard Eisley, the other a jumper by Harper. This resulted in a 5 point swing that went against the Jazz in a game they ended up losing by one point.

It's actually insane how little this gets brought up. I understand it ruins the Disney ending, but with those calls the Jazz win and they'd have a Game 7 at home with Pippen severely hobbled.

Go to 2:31


https://youtu.be/4Ks4tzZ8kLY?si=MXHEh6e5k07gQb-M&t=151

[tpols]

Forget the push off, which I personally don't have a problem with not calling there. The refs missed 2 separate shot clock beating baskets that both went against the Jazz, one a 3 pointer by Howard Eisley, the other a jumper by Harper. That resulted in a 5 point swing that went against the Jazz in a game they ended up losing by a single point.

It's actually insane how little this gets brought up. I understand it ruins the Disney ending, but with those calls the Jazz win and they'd have a Game 7 at home with Pippen severely hobbled.

Wait a second. When I told you it was all WWE you said I was crazy. :lol

[FKAri]

lol. Officiating was NOT on point in the past and was even LESS consistent. You just didn't have HD replays from 4 different camera angles to send you into a frenzy.