NBA type play in youth ball

[ChuckElias]

Originally posted by refTN
What Shaq does for the most part is not illegal.

According, as you note below, to NBA rules.

He is bigger. Should we blame him or even penalize him for that? NO.

Not unless he displaces another player.

If the kid never comes to a "firm up" position and instead just keeps giving way after every bump, that is his fault

#1, a "firm up" position is irrelevant in HS and NCAA. Legal guarding position has no mention of firming up. It can not be applied to HS and NCAA situations, period.

#2, how exactly is a 200 pound player NOT supposed to "give way" after being pushed by a 350 pound player? That's probably an exaggeration, I don't know Shaq's weight, but the point is the same. The smaller player is not giving ground, he is being pushed off his legally obtained spot by a bigger player. That's not legal in a HS or NCAA game.

Eastdavis you will find that almost all and if not all of the posters on here are on your side about the NBA and not liking the work the officials do and even the NBA in general, but I am not on that side. I have met with, watched, and observed the work that they do on and off the court(watching game film, case plays, etc.). They are the best in the world at what they do.

I don't think anyone on this forum has ever denigrated the job that the NBA's officials do. Nobody here has ever said that they are poor referees. They are great referees and they apply the rules as the NBA wants them applied. We all agree that they do an excellent job of doing that; where some of us differ is in whether we like NBA rules and the way the league wants them applied.

I too have been to a camp affilliated with -- wait for it -- the SEC and have met with many of the NBA refs. My first contact with an NBA ref was Zach Zarba and I have been his biggest fan since that first meeting. (In fact, he got me into that camp I mentioned.) Don't confuse some people's feelings about the game with their feelings about the officiating.

I feel the plays like the back down you are reffering to are the calls that are not "no-called" enough. The defender is giving way ground to the offensive player and the offensive player has every right to keep banging that defender until he decides he wants to hold a position, and until then or until the offensive player does something overt my whistle will remain silent.

I think that is a very bad attitude to take into a HS or NCAA game. Seems like every single year, the NCAA and/or the FED put out POEs aimed at cutting down on that "banging". I don't think you should be "wishing" for more of it. JMO