I'm so intrigued by the NBA's crackdown on whining (or, as the NBA says, "showing up the refs"). Here's the question:
Which players are most likely to get nicked by the new emphasis?
Basically, what I'm asking is this:
Who are the biggest whiners in the NBA? About calls against them when they play D? No-calls against them when they are on offense? Other generic griping?
As I wrote earlier, LeBron James became one of the worst offenders over the course of last season. It is the biggest crack in his otherwise spotless facade of skills, talent and marketability:
He's a first-team All-Star Bitcher. Griper. Crier. Whiner. Whatever you want to call it, he's it. Waaaa!
We're all witness, all right: Witness to LeBron's unsightly whining about calls. (Funny: I didn't see "The Griper" among his LeBron "personas.")
So: Who else is on notice? Which other players are most likely to be T'ed up as the NBA cracks down on bitching and moaning about calls?
-- D.S.
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24 comments:
I always thought Jordan was a bit of a whiner, but two current NBA'ers are definitely Kobe and Duncan.
I LOVE Duncan. Plays the game right, and is a solid guy. But there are at least 10 times a year where I'll be watching the Spurs and I see the "Tim Duncan Exclamation Face" and he holds the ball, then slaps it, and rolls it off his finger tips to the ref.
And Kobe takes at least 50 shots a game, so I'm not sure that counts, seeings as he probably does get hit somewhere along the line of shooting and driving all the time.
i have a feeling that stern will arrange personal meetings with all these guys rather than have the refs teach them a lesson in public. it's just bad for the league if someone points out that duncan and shaq are seriously flawed. with lebron, it could be made a part of his wonderous coming-of-age narrative. it only shows how perfect he will one day become.
plus the officials are soooo imperfect; the players barely trust them, so why wouldn't they trust their own instincts over "objective" opinion?
Antoine...you're on notice, you whiny little bitch.
Oh Duncan is clearly the worst. The guy thinks he gets fouled every other play in the game and then acts like a "lil bitch"
I like the idea of forcing the players to deal with a little maturity.
But if you can't whine, will Stephen Jackson fire off a couple of shots instead?
Yikes!
I agree on the Duncan face.....it's kinda funny to see him show some emotion every once in a while.
But without the regular contact involved in basketball, we'd be stuck with glorified "team handball". (Remember that sport every four years when it's on at 11 am during the Olympics?)
Steve Francis.
Cuttino Mobley. (Is he still in the league?)
When they were in Houston, they would bark at the refs and slap their shooting elbows after every shot. After. Every. Shot.
duncan is among the worst, kobe is up there, as well. among rookies, adam morrison was a notorious whiner in college (not talking about his crying, talking about his griping to refs), so we'll see how the nba officials like that.
Antoine Walker is the Michael Jordan of whining. Duncan and Bron can only hope to reach his legendary ranks.
Dwayne Wade.
(If he EVER got called for charging or travelling.)
Duncan may be the King of whining but the European King of whining is easily Pau Gasol. I lived in Memphis for several years and went to most all of the Grizz games and Pau is notorious for this. It's why he gets labeled soft (even by the Memphis fans). Watching Pau vs. Duncan in the playoffs 2 years ago was like the ultimate showdown of whining (actually all the Spurs would be on my All-NBA Whine Team).
There's a question: who would be on everybody's ALL-NBA Whine Team??
Vince Carter is the biggest whiner, no question.
Isiah Thomas was an all-timer. Johnny Most used to love to diatribe about it! (okay, not the most impartial of observers....)
I'm surprised it took until the scoop to bring up Rip. Man, he's a bitch.
The Pistons are pretty bad -- at least, Rip and Sheed. Let the Kobe-and-Duncan record play on, too.
But my Jazz had one of the starters of the All-Time All-Whining Team: Karl Malone. I love you, Karl, but I really wish you had just shut up and played.
My crusade here is still that making everyone stop whining at this point does nothing but make them accept shitty officiating. Make the officials call games CONSISTENTLY, and then nix the bitching.
Another thing is there are officials that go out of their way to bait players and coaches into complaining. These officials need to also be reprimanded.
It's a two-way street, and David Stern refuses to make the officials culpable for their poor performance. I can't even call them mistakes anymore, because some of them are so egregious.
The entire Pistons roster has never committed a foul (according to them). And I disagree with LeBron being a whiner. Compared to Wade, LeBron takes a much worse beating and gets a lot less calls.
I wonder how many Cavs games Shanoff actually watches, considering his dislike of the NBA? Maybe 2 or 3 a season (until the playoffs).
As much as everyone would like to complain about the officiating, until you officiate a basketball game, you never quite understand about how hard and quick it is. Try it out and then see how much you would like to complain about the calls.
I watched almost every Cavs game, and LeBron is SO MILD compared to so many others in the whining category. He may be #25 on the list.
Currently, it has to go to Rash-weed Wallace, but as far as Hall-of-Fame level of whiny-ness, John Starks of the Knicks. Talk about an all time piss and moaner, he always looked like he was on the verge of tears
Does this mean we don't get to see Tim Duncan have that same look on his face when a foul is called on him that 5 year-olds get when they think they're getting toys for Christmas and end up with socks.
brendan burke makes a good point. I've reffed high school games, and it's really hard even at that level. When the speed and physicality increases, that makes it even tougher.
But that doesn't excuse refs for giving star treatment. I hate how wild, out-of-control aggressive play is rewarded (see: D-Wade, last year's playoffs).
It's interesting to note that it's mostly star players (or guys who think they are star players) who are notorious whiners. It's because they've gotten used to the benefit of the doubt from refs.
Moderate the star treatment, players will get used to it, and whining will dissipate.
I can't believe nobody's mentioned Crymelo Anthony yet. Dude is a whiny bitch of the highest order.
Zach Randolph. He's cost the Blazers a lot on defense by not getting back after a bad call or no-call. Instead, he stands in the backcourt and argues or runs up slowly while arguing. It's embarrassing.
Dirk Nowitzki is the biggest whiner. He whines if someone is whithin 5 feet of him on a shot.
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