NBA in Trouble ?

                        Being a diehard fan of basketball and specifically the NBA is becoming a hard thing in the last few years.  For me it is not the tattoos and personalities that liter the court.  For me it is not the off the court image, because the NBA does a good job of marketing that they care.  For me it is not the politics of the league, whit teams changing cities and marketing promotions that advertise the idea that one person makes the game. For me it is the way that the game is being officiated.  There have always been whispers that the NBA is fixed and the referees have a hidden agenda.  This all came to a loud crash when the Tim Donaghy story broke in 2007.  Being that I grew up a fan of Michael Jordan and I am realist, I understand that he got every call and that was probably not because he was the greatest basketball player I have every seen.  So, for me I understand that the referees may hold some calls and blow some calls because of things that have nothing to do with the game.  My major issue is with the referee’s inability to either see or make the call for traveling when it occurs in a game.  I have seen Dwayne Wade, a prominent NBA figure take the ball and take three steps before dribbling.  Traveling is defined as a player moving his pivot foot or taking too many steps before dribbling according to Wikipedia.  Now it seems that all of the major stars are getting away with traveling and to me it affects the younger group who are aspiring to become a great player.  They are being taught that the game is supposed to be played this way.  Most aren’t old enough to understand why things like this occur so for them it must be ok because Lebron James did it.  I was playing my son in a good one- on one game when he takes two steps and a crab step before he dribbled the ball.  After I called the play he turns around and ask why did I call traveling?  He was shock to learn that what he did was traveling due to what is considered ok in NBA standards.  I think it is time for the people who run the NBA to understand that their efforts to gain finically now will affect their product in the long run.  Unfortunately their long run is now, and to me the current prospects from the NCAA shows the decline in fundamentals and ultimately the decline of great players.  It is hard to say who will be the next Kobe, Lebron, or Iverson, when the next generation of players all have no role model for how the game is truly suppose to be played.

Reference:

1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveling_(basketball)