Many players are struggling to find their touch this season, especially when it comes to their foul-drawing techniques. James Harden, Luka Doncic, and more have been punished with the new rules.
The league made sure to ignore flopping, and that has been hard for certain stars. Harden has recognizably voiced his frustration with this situation, but so has Trae Young. The Atlanta Hawks star isn’t happy with the new regulations, as he believes refs are simply missing calls.
This is a big change for these players and it’ll take some time before they get used to that. Meanwhile, they are making the adjustments to return to the free-throw line with the same consistency as before.
“I don’t want to get fined too much, but it’s frustrating,” the Hawks star said. “There’s a lot of missed calls,” he said, via Noah Trister of AP. “It’s basketball. It’s just, it feels that they’re learning, and they’re just — I don’t know. It’s frustrating.”
Moreover, Young talked about James Harden’s recent claims, saying the new rules were made to affect certain players.
“I saw James [Harden] said it’s about him, but it’s not targeting just one player or two players,” Young said.
“You can watch basketball. Damian Lillard’s never averaged 17 points probably since his rookie year,” the Hawks star continued. “There’s a couple guys. I mean, Book’s averaging 18. There’s a lot of things that, when guys are driving straight and guys are getting knocked off balance — it’s still a foul, whether they’re using their lower body or their hands.”
While some players struggle to get used to this situation, others like how fluid the games are now. Kyle Kuzma of the Washington Wizards recently celebrated the new rules, praising the league for making these adjustments before things would become worse.
It’ll be a long season for Young, Harden, Lillard, and others if they don’t adapt to the new rules. This is a positive thing for the competition and every fan is happy with that.
