Dwyane Wade is one of the pioneers of foul-baiting in the NBA. The Miami Heat legend was so much smarter than his opponents that he knew how to use the rules to make his opponents commit a foul. This even led to him winning the scoring title in 2009 while averaging close to 10 free throws per game.
Although the NBA has significantly changed its rules over the years to prevent this from happening, many believe that the current rules in the NBA favor the offensive player. Having been around the NBA for the past 18 years, JJ Redick recently pointed out numerous rule changes in the past couple of years just to show that the fan’s perception of the NBA playstyle is not true.
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It started off with Redick mentioning that the NBA has taken away many tricks used by the players to get a foul call. This included the rip-through from Kevin Durant, invoking contact like James Harden, intentionally slowing down to get contact like Chris Paul, even jumping backward at opponents like Trae Young, or the widely used leg kick out by numerous players to intentionally draw a foul. But Redick also added an iconic move used by Dwyane Wade.
“The shot-fake. If you jump out of your air space, it’s not a defensive foul anymore. Dwyane Wade used to get 8 free throws a game doing that… I just named six f*****g rules that favor the defense,” said JJ Redick in a recent episode of The Old Man and The Three.
Dwyane Wade was exceptional at making the defense fall for his traps. This led to him averaging over 10 free throws a night in his prime, almost 20 years before the fans started believing that the rules were favoring the offensive players. But this is not the case in the current generation.
Why is JJ Redick upset about the current narrative in the NBA?
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Redick is visibly frustrated that the fans believe players like Joel Embiid are scoring a lot and getting a lot of foul calls because the rules favor them. He is not happy that the players are not getting enough recognition for their talent and basketball IQ, which are actually helping them to do so.
Superstars like Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic are exceptionally talented and smart enough to manipulate the defense. That is the reason why they can draw fouls with such ease. Redick just wants the fans to recognize it and give props to the players where they are due.
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What do you think of JJ Redick’s rant on the current narrative? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!