Hawks' Star Young Upset With New Officiating Rules: "It's frustrating."
"I don't want to get fined too much, but it's frustrating," said Hawks G Trae Young after the Hawks lost 122-111 to the Wizards on Thursday night.
Hawks’ G Young arguing with a ref over a call
The Hawks star certainly had plenty to say about the recent officiating throughout the league.
"There's a lot of missed calls," he said. "It's basketball. It's just, it feels that they're learning, and they're just -- I don't know. It's frustrating."
The NBA implemented a new rule change ahead of its 75th anniversary season in order to discourage offensive players from making "overt, abrupt or abnormal non-basketball moves." Now, NBA refs will no longer reward offensive players who launch themselves into defenders. Young and Nets G James Harden has been the poster children of this new ruling who have been significantly affected. Young averaged 8.7 free throw attempts a game last season but is currently averaging 4.4 this season after taking only three Thursday night.
Young: "I saw James said it's about him, but it's not targeting just one player or two players. You can watch basketball. Damian Lillard's never averaged 17 points probably since his rookie year. 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."
Not everyone has been against the new ruling as Young has been. The NBA was actually met with high praise from fans and media with this crackdown on non-basketball moves designed to draw contact:
Young was not completely opposed to the new changes but cautioned the refs to protect the health of the offensive players when watching for fouls.
"Veering back and jumping into guys -- that's different," he said. "There are certain things that, I agree with the rule changes, but then there's things that are still fouls, and guys are going to get hurt. Especially a smaller guy like me who's going up against bigger and stronger defenders, they're using their body and they're using their legs and their hands to stop me."
