LeBron James, you’ve been warned.
At the annual referee’s meeting in New Jersey yesterday, the NBA announced that the technical foul guidelines will be expanding to players that whine or complain about a call. Many people believe that LeBron James is “King” of the whiners because of the way he reacts to a foul, whether it was legit or not. Well now he is going to have to pay the price if he wants to argue with the refs. According to the new guidelines, the referee’s have been instructed to call a technical foul for:
• Players making aggressive gestures, such as air punches, anywhere on the court.
• Demonstrative disagreement, such as when a player incredulously raises his hands, or smacks his own arm to demonstrate how he was fouled.
• Running directly at an official to complain about a call.
• Excessive inquiries about a call, even in a civilized tone.
Has anyone ever seen an NBA player do any of these? The common answer has to be at least 5-8 times every game. These new rules will inevitably lead to more ejections since two technicals in one game will earn you an early exit. If this wasn’t enough, the ref’s have also been told to issue technical fouls when a player uses “body language” to demonstrate disagreement with a call. I used LeBron as an example earlier because I have watched him his entire career. He does whine a lot about calls and if this new guideline sticks, he will be seeing a lot of technicals. If I had to put an over/under on the number of times he gets T’d up I would have to say 37. I know it seems like a lot but you have to figure he will get one at least every other game. Of course it won’t just be LeBron paying the price, everyone complains.
This was tried once before during the 2006-07 season but faded quickly. This time around officials are more confident that the new guidelines will not only be implemented, but also be around for a long time. Basically this new guideline will only be effective as the referee that is calling the game. I suspect after the first few weeks of the season, the players will get a feel for how much “complaining” they can get away with depending on the ref.
Source: ESPN.com
