Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of making opponents pay for their carelessness. To the frustrations of many, he’s been accused of pulling a basketball ruse. Over the summer, the league worked to get rid of fouls created by unnatural basketball movements.
Immediately, Young, James Harden, and Damian Lillard come to mind.
Young is making the adjustment to officiating, and it’s carried over into the team’s overall success. The Hawks sit at 3-3 to start this season.
The Hawks superstar was hit with a stray bullet by Brooklyn Nets head coach, Steve Nash last season. Coach Nash voiced his opinion on the way the all-star has operated on the floor.
Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young might be right about the league’s enforcement of shooting fouls
It seems that the NBA took Nash’s words with a lot of weight, as mentioned. Keep in mind, it’s only been six games, but Young has been less productive than in previous years. He’s averaging 22.3 points per game on 4.3 free-throw attempts.
This is his lowest since his rookie season, where he averaged 5.1 per game.
This could all just be the adjustment jitters or a sign of things to come. We also see both Harden and Lillard struggling.
Harden attempted one free throw in today’s game. pic.twitter.com/v3KawA446p
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 25, 2021
Harden is averaging 5.7 free throws per game, which is his lowest mark in 11 seasons. His scoring average of 18.7 points per game also is an 11-season low.
Lillard is just missing his career-low of 3.9 attempts per game at just four trips per night. The same can be said for his scoring at 19.2 points. A sense of a trend is very real. Young has established a good point. He spoke a bit about it to the media, per The Associated Press:
"“I don’t want to get fined too much, but it’s frustrating. There’s a lot of missed calls. It’s basketball. It’s just, it feels that they’re learning, and they’re just — I don’t know. It’s frustrating.”"
It feels like the emphasis is so enacted, that it’s muddled the viewpoints of the referees. They have lumped in foul-baiting with actual fouling. So what will the NBA do? It’s clear that the referees are on a course of correction right now. You can take it as making up for the sins of the past.
Players have to work through this new reality. Even genuine moves are coming into question.
The initiative is affecting the teams as well. The Hawks and Nets are thought to be contenders in the East, while the Portland Trail Blazers hang with the fighting pack out West. These three teams are a combined 9-8. All I know is that the product can’t suffer.
Teams also can’t pay for this. The league, I’m sure, is hard at work to balance things out. If they’re not, then we are going to be looking at a very long season.