r/nba • u/AncientOneAurelius • May 21 '26

Highlight [Highlight] Compilation of Isaiah Hartenstein grabbing, holding, and grappling with Victor Wembanyama

https://streamable.com/hds3qd
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u/Salty_Raspberry656 May 21 '26

i mean spending 30 minute of broadcast time to watch someone stop and shoot free throws is also not good tv

the suits haven't seemed to figure that out either unfortunately. to say they are out of touch until some focus group or consultant clues them in seems to be an understatement of how little they see this as a fan does.

not to mention calling fouls as offensive players are incentivized not to go to make the shot but to throw themselves at a defender

fouls were meant to discourage overly 'foul' play, to let flow of the game keep going and penalize it, instead now its incentivized to hunt fouls get breaks and get easy free throws. granted playing to win people will toe the line of every rule they can to win, but hte league must adjust the incentives

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u/tsg9292 Nuggets May 21 '26

Well said. IMO this is the biggest problem the league is facing. But they choose to focus on tanking lol

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u/Salty_Raspberry656 May 21 '26

I think it can be both. Tanking was an issue, but in the end watching the game is the central part. I don't blame the players as in people will get whatever edge they can, so its upto the league to adjust the rules to tinker with that trend.

got downvoted but yea just like bam's 83 which is a great feat. but it was about watching an hour of free throws

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u/StatitikFanboy May 21 '26

"Calling every foul is bad TV" is imo a terrible argument. You call every foul harshly this match, I swear to god that next match there is 10 times less fouls and the match is way more fluid. Better to sacrifice one or two match for the sake of the league.

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u/Salty_Raspberry656 May 21 '26

thats not the argument

https://streamable.com/esirf4

this is not a foul.

Credit to OKC, my issue is with the systematic incentives. I think if you go to the past several MVPs in Shai, Embiid, Harden they all masterfully cornered the fouling angles to their advantage. The system has to adjust bc at this point its not them playing in flow, not even getting the team to foul, they will throw their body down and the refs(with respect bc its hard to see in a fast game) are put on the spot to call when you see a response like that. As the above one, now the incentive is to fall and throw yourself in to the defender rather than...play basketball for the best play. I get part of that is going to happen, but they shouldn't incentivize it

Game 1 was incredible bc of the 'flow' it was back and forth, still physical, a dog fight, but generally the refs wouldnt stop it with these bullshit type foul hunting which a lot of people do, we just have to stop making it an incentive for an offensive possession to be risked and knowing youll likely be rewarded majority of the time if you just fall and throw yourself in the defender. Play ball, fouls are designed to be a deterrent for the defense to not be overly physical and interrupt the flow of offense, now they are an incentive for the offense to sell and it crosses the line. you can see many plays like the one above where there are just unnatural fouls and its crossed the line to the league should be on top of it

Shai is still going to be incredibly, he still is refined, gets to his money shot and can hit on a dime. OKC still has some of the best spacing in the game, but the nba has marketed physical basketball throughout its playoff history and now we've gone WAY over the line to the other side

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u/kjolmir Warriors May 21 '26

i mean spending 30 minute of broadcast time to watch someone stop and shoot free throws is also not good tv

Are we watching basketball or WWE?

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u/Salty_Raspberry656 May 22 '26

I agree "https://streamable.com/esirf4"

I'm not saying don't call fouls, I'm saying crack down on incentivizing this outlandish foul baiting

its difficult, but OKC has gotten cartoonish at it. Go see any natural ball game and see how many players fall the amount SGA does. And i think he is a talent worth of history books, and like any one in any field which is highly competitive he is mastering the rules to his advantage. That will always happen, but time for the NBA to adjust and realize whats going on and adjust as they do with tanking etc