Rise of the Charge

I have a serious problem with the charge call in the NBA.  I believe that the charge call needs a serious renovation of its definition, and it needs to be officiated much better.  Notice how I haven't been calling it an offensive foul.  An offensive foul and a charge have the same signal from the referee, but in my opinion, they are two completely different things.  

            The charge call in the NBA is becoming a nuisance.  When a player slides in to take one in the chest at the last second, it forces the referee to make a quick judgment that is unneeded.  Many times, the offensive player has to worry about someone sliding in underneath their legs while they go to the rim.  The play is simply not safe.  When the ball is in the post, and an offensive player is backing down his defender, the defender is able to flop when the offensive player is bigger than he is.  This is only because the charge call is so prevalent in today’s NBA.  When this happens, the referee either needs to make no call or a new protocol needs to be introduced for the incident.  I understand that the referee will still have to make a judgment in this situation, but it will discourage the defender from flopping.  With less defenders flopping, the only time a player should be knocked down on the back-down attempt is when he is actually forced to the floor.

            In my next blog post, I will be blogging about the offensive foul as it should be called and enforced.