A Few Thoughts on Mavs 106, Kings 110

[mavsluvr]

Part of my point in bringing it up in that post in the summer of '18 was how DSJ's development was being crushed by the refs. His greatest strength was his driving ability, but the refs swallowed their whistles against objective fouls more than for the average rookie.

Are there stats on that?

We live in the age of the perimeter-playing driver being the most favored players on the court by virtue of rules that all but outlaw perimeter defense. Luka gets to the line with one of the highest frequencies in the league, but only a third to a half of the times he should. Given his off-the-charts marketability, I don't see how that could be due to anything other than Cuban.

I hear what you're saying. I wonder if you have opened your mind to whether it is within the realm of possibility that other reasons could play a part. I can think of a few. 


One is the fact that the refs are encouraged not to call every foul, so that the game is not totally broken up by foul calls on just about every play. So they aren't going to call everything, and that's going to apply to some Mavericks. It also works in our favor occasionally. Remember Vince Carter's spectacular three-pointer to win a playoff game against the Spurs? He pretty clearly travelled on that shot, but Pop said that a team just isn't going to get that call at the end of the game. We don't have to like it, but it is enlightening to understand it. 

There are other possibilities. The officials could be, consciously or subconsciously, biased against Luka for trying to embarrass them and show them up. Or, they could tune him out as someone who just automatically complains. Or, maybe they are involved in some massive gambling thing and have money against the Mavs. Or, maybe their kid is lying in the hospital very sick, and they're distracted. Or, they're incompetent. Or, any number of other things. It doesn't have to be all one thing. 

Luka actually gets a pretty phenomenal amount of respect for a 20-year-old player. Nevertheless, I am as baffled and annoyed as you at missing what appear to glaringly obvious situations. It could be that the sole cause is that the refs are just carrying on a vendetta against Cuban, who knows? I've been wrong before. I understand why you would raise the possibility.