Steve of phpBB wrote:I'm curious - what is driving this? Is it annoyance with flopping? Has there been an increase in charging calls over the past few years? Has it become more difficult to get to the basket? (Is there any way to tell, statistically, whether it has become harder to get to the basket?)
Well, by now it's more than a few years. It's been in the game for a long time. I think more and more teams/defenders are adept at this than they used to be - a secondary defender slides over stands still, makes no other attempt at defending, and falls down at the slightest contact (or even near contact). It clutters the lane, creates dangerous undercutting scenarios, and puts too much pressure on refs to make incredibly difficult calls with very unequal outcomes (a charge is more punitive than a block, because it's both a foul and a turnover, usually in a situation where the offense has otherwise earned an advantage).
Basically, it's a strategy that's not so much related to the essense of the game, but in how the rules are currently written and enforced. I find it somewhat similar to the trend of intentionally fouling bad free throw shooters away from the ball. Yes, it's in the rules, and yes "he should just hit his free throws," but it takes away from the flow and beauty of the game.
Think about it another way. When you play pickup basketball, are charges part of the game? No. But yet somehow games are played all over the world at all different skill levels that are fun and competitive. The rule is unnecessary.
