Anonymous
Years ago

NBL need to find middle ground on refs

http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/auckland/news/spbbl/778950639-basketball--nbl-need-to-find-middle-ground

Breakers forward Mika Vukona could be forgiven for thinking Australian basketball league officials are against him.

The NBL's cracking down on physical play this season, in a bid to create more entertainment for fans.

The changes to rule interpretations are expected to limit Vukona's effectiveness and he's heard the talk the changes are because of him.

"The conspiracy theorists would say so, yeah. Obviously they thought the league was getting towards more of a rugby kind of game and it's now gone to the other extreme where they're calling everything."

Vukona says he's hopeful the officials find a middle ground before the Breakers' season opener against the Wollongong Hawks in Auckland on Thursday night.

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Bear  
Years ago

I love the way he plays, but is this a bit of a sook or a plan to try to get into the heads of the ref's?

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Isaac  
Years ago

Probably the latter. I don't mind Vukona's style. Rarely feel as though he's pushing refereeing limits, just playing with intensity and has always paid for it with fouls.

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paul  
Years ago

I dont think it's either, just giving the opinion that a middle ground between calling very little and calling almost everything would be best.

Given the way they called it for most of the Blitz was not completely in line with the rules I think he has a point, one that Mal Cooper acknowledged.

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Bear  
Years ago

With some common sense and time for everyone to adjust to this new style we are seeing emerge, I am sure the middle ground will work out just fine.

The comment about the game starting to look like rugby was quite amusing coming from a Kiwi, but nonetheless it did at times resemble the WWE, especially in the paint (lots of acting)...

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Early in the season I think it will depend on which refs are on each game as to what type of game you will get called. Like the players, the referees as a whole will need a chance to get games under there belt and find out where that line for the whistle actually is.

As I think I read Paul say, there were some atrocious games at the blitz refereeing wise then on the last day (experienced refs) the games were called well.

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Mystro  
Years ago

the NZ media are producing some rubbish at the moment.

A bunch of opinion based pieces that are poorly informed and basically trying to fool the average NZ sports fan into believing that their beloved Breakers are getting the raw deal by the Aussie's with these new rule interpretations.

They just get a :facepalm: from me

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Isaac  
Years ago

Mystro, guess like Breakers media and some fans feel like they have everything to lose whereas perhaps the rule changes favour other teams who are less likely to complain. Or perhaps less of a feeling of ownership of the league over there, so less regard for its future.

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paul  
Years ago

I think it's just knowing your audience and playing to it, something Boti has done extremely well for years and years.

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Mystro  
Years ago

I agree with Paul, the audience (NZ public) love to play the under dog card and love to cry conspiracy when things don't go our way and lately a few journalists have been trying hard to feed off it.

A lot of fans have also just jumped on the bandwagon during the Championship run so as a result they have only ever seen the super physical play and how their team was successful playing that style so as Isaac said they feel their team has a lot to lose when in reality they are a very talented team more than capable of flourishing under the actual rules of the game.

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The Situation  
Years ago

Agree with Mystro.

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paul  
Years ago

Agree with Situation.

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MACDUB  
Years ago

Ageee with paul

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Mystro  
Years ago

I agree to disagree

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Camel 31  
Years ago

While only yesterday I watched NZ play Aus netball and D.Corletto lacks credibility.

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Nathan of Perth  
Years ago

They're suggesting that Vukona is *the* reason for the rule changes?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I agree with The Situation and MACDUB, but strongly disagree with paul.
Seriously mate get a clue.

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paul  
Years ago

I agree with anon.

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Money Traveler  
Years ago

I've not heard one player ever complain that Mika plays outside the "old" rules.

Many have said he's the most physical, hardest etc but i've never heard anything like "dirty" "cheat" which others are labelled with.

This just looks like a ploy to get some underdog status happening.

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Mick  
Years ago

Completely agree. We dont want the league to become soft. We just want want an uptempo style.

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BigAds  
Years ago

Can we agree to wait and see before we start spitting the dummy?

I mean....seriously,
Perth v Adelaide hasn't even been on the tv.

Agree?

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The Situation  
Years ago

I agree with Ads

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Wookiee  
Years ago

I think he's having a bit of a sook, to be honest... But it could just be the "oh the ANBL is against us Kiwis" spin that is so often put into their media...

Boti made a good point in one of his articles that Mal and the refs need a bit of a learning curve and time to adjust just like the players and coaches... It's not going to be 100% perfect from Day 1, but they're working hard to get it right as soon as they can...

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Proud  
Years ago

I'm just glad that they are getting more experience into the younger refs... Once they can feel comfortable with how they are calling then the NBL will be all the better for it... I'm not expecting this to still be prevelent come end of November...

But Mika may still be whinging if the Breakers have lost more games by then than they did all of last season (3 wasn't it)

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Bear  
Years ago

The point should be made perhaps that the rules are unchanged, it is the interpretation of the rules which is so subjective that without common sense applied can frustrate the hell out of players and fans alike...

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