Hoop Vision

Currently the NBA is going down a dangerous road that’s destroying the sanctity of NBA basketball. Going back 15 years we’ve seen NBA players manipulate the system to get calls and help their team win but, what we’re seeing now has reached another level. In the 2010-2011 season Kevin Durant was using the sweep through move to catch defenders reaching and get to the free throw line. For the 2011-12 season the NBA deemed the move was not a legitimate shot attempt and, the move was no longer called a foul. I didn’t have a problem with KDs sweep through move, I feel if a defender is extending their arm and reaching, they’re at the mercy of whatever the offensive player wants to do. Next we saw Joel Embiid and James Harden abuse the system but, once the playoffs started what they were doing was no longer called a foul. This was part of the reason both of them have struggled in the playoffs specifically late in series. Now we have Shai, for the entire 24-25 regular season I watched him initiate contact on drives to the basket only to flail when the contact was met. The whole time I thought the same thing would happen to him as Joel Embiid and Harden where the fouls wouldn’t be called in the playoffs. Clearly I was wrong, I watched all of the 2025 playoffs baffled at how the refs treatment of Shai differed completely than their treatment of Embiid and Harden, who quite frankly were better players at the time. At some point the NBA has to stop the nonsense like they did in 2011 with KD. The biggest problem is I don’t think Shai can operate as the same level of player without this light whistle, and I don’t think OKC wins the championship without it as well.