Quote:
Originally posted by mick
As an illustration, Rule 10 - Section 10 of the rules states, 'A player shall not contact an opponent with his hand unless such contact is only with the opponent's hand while it is on the ball and is incidental to an attempt to play the ball...' If an official did not take a realistic approach to this particular rule and officiated the rule literally, the basketball game would be one of continual fouls and whistle blowing. [/B]
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I believe this assertion to be false. If the referees called every hand contact as a foul, the players would stop using their hands, and the number of whistles would remain the same. Or the players would foul out, and eventually get the message.
It's like saying if we call double dribbles, we'll interrupt the flow of the game, so let's allow double dribbles.
The number of fouls called in games has not seemed to me to have significantly decreased over the years despite the allowal of more contact. Years ago there were a lot of cheap fouls called. Now there are a lot of hard fouls called. Which is better for play? Which is safer for the players?