I don’t know about you, but when I’m playing basketball I don’t worry about a defender standing in my way purposely trying to get me to foul him. It doesn’t make sense, a foul is, well a foulAlthough ‘taking the charge’ has become a highly valued skill in basketball, I don’t think NBA players should either. Fouls are not supposed to be a skill you develop, but something that happens by accident or that has to happen. Drawing charges should be viewed the same way.
Unfortunately for Anderson Varejao, if the NBA stopped calling charges he'd have to find a new place of employment
I can’t tell you how many games I’ve seen recently that have been decided by a charge or blocking call. Why can’t we just see some real defense? No one but centers go for blocks anymore because it’s easier to just fall down and hope the call goes your way. NBA players probably feel that if they go for a block they are more likely to get called for a foul than by attempting to draw a charge, but if they go straight up, there’s no reason they should be called for a foul.
I can understand why keeping this call in the game is probably easier than taking it out, but when it’s constantly deciding games, it’s time to change it. This rule puts the game completely in the hands of refs when the games on the line, instead of letting the players decide it. I can see Anderson Varejao drawing a charge against Kobe in the finals to win a game this postseason, will the NBA let a high school musical star be the finals MVP?
The main argument for having charging/block calls is that without them, offensive players could simply knock over defenders. But this is an issue that was mostly created simply because of defenders taking charges. After all, it is much more easy to knock someone down that is trying to get knocked down than someone who is trying to play defense.
