Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been called a foul merchant for the last two seasons, allegations that will only get louder after last night’s performance against the Detroit Pistons.
Shout out to the Pistons, who show up every damn night no matter who is on the floor. They were missing four starters and their best bench player but were still able to force overtime against the league’s number one team. The Pistons are good, and I can’t wait for the playoffs so they can shut some of these haters up.
It was a hard fought and mostly entertaining game with one caveat: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took 25 free throws, and the entire Pistons team took 23. I don’t like to spend much time talking about refs because there are always good and bad calls that go both ways, but sheesh.
The Pistons also have no one to blame but themselves, as they missed 11 free throws, so it’s clear where they lost the game.
But it’s also clear that SGA plays a brand of basketball that few people outside of Oklahoma want to watch, and it’s time the NBA starts to enforce its own rules.
Remember when the NBA cracked down on flopping? What happened?
I should first say that SGA is amazing, and a lot of the fouls he draws are legit fouls that come as a result of the fact that he’s nearly impossible to stop. He’s going to win his second straight MVP this season, and I do think he deserves it.
But please watch this short reel and tell me how many of these are fouls? Not only do refs routinely call phantom fouls on SGA’s defender (ask Derrick White) but reward him for things that are supposed to be against the rules.
Players are not supposed to be allowed to kick out their legs to draw contact on shots, for example. In the handful of plays in that reel, we see him do it at least twice.
Offensive players are not supposed to be able to use their off arm to push off, which is SGA’s bread and butter move, one he gets away with more times than not. Many offensive players get away with this, so he's not unique on this one.
The NBA was meant to crack down on offensive players who intentionally leap into defenders to draw contact. Watch the second play of the clip. The Pistons were beaten and literally just getting out of his way, but he turns his body, sticks out his butt and creates contact that wasn’t there otherwise.
Flopping is supposed to be an illegal play, but he does it constantly, flailing his head back and throwing his arms up as if he just got hit by a double decker bus.
I get it. He’s the MVP and he’s very good at what he does, but what he does is not fun to watch strictly from the point of view of a basketball fan. Does anyone want to watch one player shoot 25 free throws in a game? I don’t.
I get sick of constant whining from “fans” who use foul baiting as their number one reason to hate the NBA, but it’s hard not to see their point sometimes. It’s something the league needs to address because this isn’t basketball.