NBA Charge Foul rules

[Jimgolf]

I ran across this article by Dennis Hans of HoopsHype as a link from an article today about what's wrong with the NBA's officiating (not the officials, BTW, but the instructions from their supervisors). It's from last December, so if it's been mentioned before, forgive me, since a search on the forum didn't turn up anything.

In a letter to Ronnie Nunn, Hans suggests that the NBA is being ruined by eliminating the drive to the basket by rewarding flops. By calling so many charges, both the frequency of the drive and the legitimate shot block attempt are reduced. Hans makes the point that the key element in establishing whether LGP is established is whether the defender has position before the offensive player has taken his last step, when in reality the offensive player has to commit to his move on the next to last step. This gives an unfair advantage to the defender, since he step in to take a charge when it's essentially too late for the offensive player to change his mind.

I'm not sure about this, but it strikes me as a novel argument. As a fan, I certainly don't want to see Varajao falling down when he's hit by Earl Watson. What do you think?

Link: http://hoopshype.com/columns/nunn_hans.htm