NBA / Aug 20, 2010 / 11:00 am

Is the NBA Too Soft?

By

Ron Artest, Dime #21

Whether it’s Kendrick Perkins in the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals or some 12-year-old hothead playing pickup during his lunch break, basketball is by nature a game of emotion, confrontation and, sometimes, anger. So it’s unavoidable that games will sometimes turn into Fight Club scenes, whether it’s the millionaires doing their jobs or the rec-leaguers doing it for pride.

Still, it seems this summer tensions are extra high. Already we’ve seen multiple incidents jump off during international “friendly” exhibitions leading up to this month’s FIBA World Championship — including Carlos Arroyo slapping an opponent during a Puerto Rico/Mexico game, and yesterday’s Serbia/Greece brawl. During that fight, Serbian star Nenad Krstic (OKC Thunder) threw several punches and then threw a chair. He was taken into police custody and held overnight, but sources believe FIBA will slap Krstic with a suspension of less than five games.

Had Krstic gone off like that during an NBA game, he would have been suspended for the rest of the season, or depending on when the brawl took place in the schedule, been given at least a 60 or 70-game ban. It could be seen as the only fair punishment, since Ron Artest was suspended 70-plus games following the Pacers/Pistons brawl in 2004.

Was there any difference between Krstic’s actions and Artest’s actions? You could say Artest was worse because he actually went after a fan and incited a riot that got the fans involved, but Artest also didn’t throw any objects intended to maim like Krstic’s chair-toss. Bottom line, both players went temporarily insane and were out of control, creating a dangerous situation for everyone involved.

So why such a discrepancy in punishments by the basketball governing bodies? The first reason is obvious: Krstic is never going to play 82 FIBA games — let alone 82 FIBA games in one season — so the scale by which you can punish him is different. (Although he could be given a lifetime ban.)

The second reason isn’t so clear. Is it because the NBA is too strict on players for behavior with which FIBA is more lenient? Does FIBA have a better understanding that basketball players sometimes lose control and are therefore more forgiving? Or is the NBA’s aim to create a fan-friendly product making the league softer in regards to what is deemed unacceptable?

What do you think? Is the NBA product too soft?

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  • http://uoregon.edu sans

    Yeah the L is soft, but because they call tickytack fouls on the perimeter and fouls on the shot after ball contact that just don’t make sense….

  • control

    Well, racial bullshit aside, the answer to the question is “fuck yeah, the league is soft”. Austin, you are soft for even ASKING the question, because it isn’t a question, the league is soft and has been for a while.

  • John

    All I can say is, if Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest and Jermaine O’neal were part of the other team, Nenad would have gotten knocked out! I don’t know if I can qualify Nenad’s tapping on other players’ backs with a closed fist as a punch. Pacquiao or Mayweather needs to show that guy a thing or two about how to punch. After watching the brawl at the Palace, and how Jackson, Artest and O’Neal were connecting with their punches, I don’t know if this brawl in Greece is close to the same level. Nenad would not have even gotten to the Jerry Springer chair-throwing part, if he had to face off against one of those guys from the Palace brawl.

  • http://getyourishbusted.net Chicagorilla

    @KT
    “Baseball allows you to clear the benches and retaliate against players who hit your guy and it is wiped of as part of the game. Everyone loves hockey fights. But when bigger than life stars on the basketball court get emotional or fight, the words that come up are not tradition and passion, but thuggery and anger”

    That^ is the realist ish you ever wrote son. It’s the bottom line to all this.

    @Control,

    I agree with you as far as the NBA being pu$$ies and wanting to clean up the image, but trust and believe that the image of it being “Black men” has a lot to do with them not liking that image. This goes all the way back to the ABA days.
    Also, you wrote about corp America and the color green. I agree 99% that the color green is the bottom line for them, but please understand that the NBA is not catering to “Black Corp America” because there is very little Black people who have the money to support the NBA.

    As KT pointed out, Baseball has bench clearing brawls (along with fans coming out of the stands to beat up umpires and players), and Hockey is the most Brutal Sport in America, and Football is the most violent after hockey. Yet they have no problem with their image.

    David Stern is a smart businessman, but you better believe he doesn’t GIVE A $H!T about the sport of Basketball, it’s history or its future. He is in it for the money because that’s his job. On any street or Gym here in Chicago, a guy like Tony Parker would never be able to cut into the lane without getting punished for it. Sure he’ll be good enough to get there, but he’ll have to be strong enough or tough enough to FINISH there. The NBA has gone away from this (hence the reason Allen Iverson was so successful) and thats why I will never respect the numbers any of these guys (NBA players) put up from here on out.

    the 80′s and 90′s were the best the NBA had to offer with a great combination of talent, athleticism, and skill to match.

  • http://getyourishbusted.net Chicagorilla

    @KT
    “Baseball allows you to clear the benches and retaliate against players who hit your guy and it is wiped of as part of the game. Everyone loves hockey fights. But when bigger than life stars on the basketball court get emotional or fight, the words that come up are not tradition and passion, but thuggery and anger”

    That^ is the realist ish you ever wrote son. It’s the bottom line to all this.

    @Control,

    I agree with you as far as the NBA being pu$$ies and wanting to clean up the image, but trust and believe that the image of it being “Black men” has a lot to do with them not liking that image. This goes all the way back to the ABA days.
    Also, you wrote about corp America and the color green. I agree 99% that the color green is the bottom line for them, but please understand that the NBA is not catering to “Black Corp America” because there is very little Black people who have the money to support the NBA.

    As KT pointed out, Baseball has bench clearing brawls (along with fans coming out of the stands to beat up umpires and players), and Hockey is the most Brutal Sport in America, and Football is the most violent after hockey. Yet they have no problem with their image.

    David Stern is a smart businessman, but you better believe he doesn’t GIVE A $H!T about the sport of Basketball, it’s history or its future. He is in it for the money because that’s his job. On any street or Gym here in Chicago, a guy like Tony Parker would never be able to cut into the lane without getting punished for it. Sure he’ll be good enough to get there, but he’ll have to be strong enough or tough enough to FINISH there. The NBA has gone away from this (hence the reason Allen Iverson was so successful) and thats why I will never respect the numbers any of these guys (NBA players) put up from here on out.

    the 80′s and 90′s were the best the NBA had to offer with a great combination of talent, athleticism, and skill to match.

  • http://getyourishbusted.net Chicagorilla

    D@mn did I double post?

    I’m better than that, thats “Bush League”…thats what that is!

  • Chaos

    I agree with a lot of you on this but it all comes down to….MONEY…wh;ile the hardcore basketball fan loves all aspects of the game: skill, toughness, finesse, strategy, teamwork….the casual fan which lets face it, outnumber the hardcore fans, want to see all the stuff that gets on Sportscenter: dunks, killa crossovers, ankles broken, alley oops, open court steals, fancy passes, etc…and David Stern knowing all of this is doing whatever he can to attract the casual fan because its more of them and they have deeper pockets. Stern wants all of this with scores in the 100s and not a hard nose, hard fought game like we saw with the 80s-90s bulls vs pistons games. In seeing these games with low scores and low ratings, what did he do, he did like the nfl and changed the rules to emphasize more skill and athleticism, no hand checking, more fouls, especially flagrant, less physciality just like the nfl has increased rules to protect wide recievers and qbs, not because of safety but because of increasing highlights and making games more exciting for the fans. Why do you think more people turn in to see the warriors or suns than they do to see the spurs and utah?

    if you had jordan, zeke, magic, moses malone, dr. j, barkley, robinson, drexler, hakeem, stockton, and karl playing into todays games, they would average 40 easy! if the best players were playing in the 80s then they would get hit in the mouth and sent down to the D-League to grow a pair of balls. even lebron would have been crying…but thats not exciting. there are no rivalries anymore. there is no hard fought games anymore. not like there once was, not like life or death. but stern doesnt want anything to happen that changes the view of the league and runs away any fans, basically cutting down on the thug-dom, heated confrontations, fights, anything that may drive away fans.
    I feel bad for players like Dwight Howard because he is a man that has been neutered like a dog because he can’t move without something happenin. he can be the second coming of shaq, but cant take a step with out causing and drawing fouls, so he can’t really make a move because he plays a POWER game like shaw did. yes he has to develop touch but sometimes you got to let a bull be a damn bull. …..thats exactly what i see the league as a bunch of neutered men who cant be men or show emotion because of david stern.

  • http://Dimemag Smitty012

    Karizmatic u need a girlfriend. Damn dick head do u checkk this shot every hour ?

  • Kyle

    Obviously there is a lot of racism involved with how the NBA calls games, but that’s not the only reason the NBA has become more of a show/or basically just entertainment. Corrupt officials, Stern who is a businessman, and the upperclass white guys who pay for the expensive seats.

    Look at Bird, Mullin, Stockton, Havilicek, Rick Barry, Laimbeer, or even Nash playing with a jacked up eye to finish off the Spurs… they’re white. And could handle tough play. Blame the Rudy Tomjanovich incident… Kermit was cowardly and dirty while ruining a guy’s career who had been a 5 time all-star(and averaged over 18 and 9 rebounds a game)before that cheap shot and had just turned 30. Kermit Washington was a scrub who was like Bruce Bowen but could rebound.

    Get rid of the thugs who have no skills, but just play dirty.

  • Guitar Hero

    Being European, thus looking from the outside, it’s obvious for me that the Americans try too much to build a family friendly atmosphere in sports. And that reason alone “pussyfies” the sport and it’s surroundings.

    In Europe, South America, etc, the environment surrounding football (soccer) is completely different. You know that there’s a good probability that players are going to exchange some blows, and that the same could happen between fans. Because in sports outside the US, the rivalries are REAL. Just google Barcelona-Real Madrid, Porto-Benfica, Marseille-PSG, Argentina-Brasil, England-Germany, etc. There’s a deep cultural background supporting all that…and that leads to hard fouls, rabid fans, etc.

    You do not see that in the US. LA-Bos is the greatest rivalry you have, and it’s totally fan friendly. You just hear the occasional Beat LA or Boston Sucks chant, and that’s it. That is not a rivalry, sorry…

  • Mtx

    If Pau Gasol and Chris Bosh are considered two of the best big men, then this league is def soft

  • tiks

    Imagine ballers slugging it out like ice hockey players almost every game. Now imagine the reaction of the general public. That’s how easy it is to pick on the NBA players.

  • http://twitter.com/Chris_Barrio C Money

    If the “stars” today played in the League in the late 80s and early 90s they woldnt be stars! i like FIBA play and they should implement some rules BACK into the NBA like hand checking. Half of these points the “stars” in the nba score are because they are “chosen” ones and get calls and get buckets at the line.The NBA is soft and though fighting shouldnt be tolerated it shouldnt be a problem. With all the moeny these kids are making so early they have NO INSENTIVE nor do i see the passion for the game i ONCE SAW as a child and teenager. So when a player has that fire and fight in him i dont see his aggression as a problem i see it as competitiveness. Everyone in the league is too friendly with one another they smile too much and wear their head bands upside down and to the side like its a fashion statement. THIS IS BASKETBALL (at its highest level) NOT NYC FASHION WEEK! Wheres the Rodmans the Oakleys and Laimbeer’s Xavier Mcdaniels of the league now? THEY DONT EXIST. The NBA is a cream puff league and without Kobe James Wade Mello and Howard amongst other elite players watch the “stars” of our NBA in FIBA play get EXPOSED!!!!!!!

  • http://getyourishbusted.net Chicagorilla

    One guy you guys have to exclude as a “Nice guy” in the NBA is Dwight Howard. Nothing about the way this guy plays screams Nice guy. He has dunked on people without any regard to to their feelings since he got in the NBA. Just last year I watched him smash Derrick Rose TWICE in the same week on the same play and injure him both times. Howard later made NO APOLOGIES and suggested Rose try coming down the lane a different way, then 3 days later played in the All-star game with Rose. That right their is old school and is not “nice guyish”. Howard also got into a scuffle with USA and All-star teammate Chris Bosh last year.

  • snuffkin

    the nba is soft nowadays bec its protecting its image and selling out. it should go back to the 90′s, where it was tough basketball, like the bulls vs knicks or pacers vs knicks kind of style. there was even a time that it was so soft, the refs are calling techs when players show emotion! thats really BS. it is really business and ratings first.

  • http://www.threadsandkicks.com.au Eduardo

    They made the league soft in the NBA so that the players can score more points, to make it more exciting. Besides the Celtics compare a majority of teams these days to the late 80′s and throughout the 90′s. The Detroit Pistons during the mid 2000′s were a great defensive team that got defense all happening again.

  • pace

    BRING.

    BACK.

    HAND.

    CHECKING.

    PLEASE.

    it makes the game much more challenging, and i wanna see real 80′s-early 90′s era goonie D be played.

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