Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr was absolutely on point with his criticism of how the NBA is officiated, and completely off the mark with when he decided to throw a tantrum about it.
Kerr was not very jolly on Christmas.
The Warriors coach was incensed with the officiating following Golden State's 120-114 loss to the Denver Nuggets after Nuggets star Nikola Jokic shot 18 free throws (and made all 18). After the game, he elected to empty a stocking full of angst on the referees and how the game is officiated today.
“I have no problem with the officials themselves,” Kerr said. “All across the league we have really good officials. I have a problem with the way we are legislating defense out of the game. That’s what we’re doing in the NBA. The way we are teaching the officials, we are enabling players to BS their way to the foul line.”
“If I were a fan, I wouldn’t have wanted to watch the second half of that game,” Kerr said. “It was disgusting. It was just baiting refs into calls, but the refs have to make those calls because that’s how they’re taught. So I have a real problem with the way we’ve legislated defense out of the game in this league. The players are really smart in this league. Over the last decade or so, they’ve gotten smarter and smarter. We have enabled the players. They are taking full advantage, and it’s a parade to the free throw line. And it’s disgusting to watch.”
Whew. Tell us how you really feel, Steve.
There's just one problem: Nikola Jokic is the exact worst example toward whom to levy this kind of criticism about officiating.
Here are seven quick stats that explain why.
- Of the 51 players with a usage rate above 25 percent (meaning they absorb at least 25 percent of their team's possessions, not counting assists), Jokic ranks 27th in free throw rate.
- Of the 68 players to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award going back to 1956, Jokic's two MVP seasons rank 47th and 58th, respectively, in free throw rate. Last year's winner, Joel Embiid, ranks sixth, and Giannis Antetokounmpo's 2019 season ranks ninth. Notably, Steph Curry's two MVP seasons under Kerr rank 65th and 66th in free throw rate.
- Jokic is averaging 6.3 free throw attempts per game after Monday's 18-of-18 record-setting Christmas Day performance at the line. That ranks 18th in the league overall, despite Jokic leading the NBA in touches per game at over 101 per game.
- The Warriors rank 26th in opponent free throw rate. On some level, even relative to modern officiating averages, the Warriors foul more.
- Jokic's 18 free throw attempts matched a career high. It was also his 59th career game with double-digit free throw attempts. By comparison, Joel Embiid has 213 games with 10 or more FTAs. Embiid had 45 last season alone when he won MVP. Giannis Antetokounmpo has 270. Luka Doncic has 126. Trae Young has 121. And Anthony Davis has 141 such games just in his 3.3 seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers.
- Kerr has chosen to play his younger players, given the team's struggles. That includes Trayce Jackson-Davis, who committed three fouls trying to guard Jokic. TJD averages 5.5 fouls per 36 minutes of play. Without Draymond Green, Kerr elected to go to Dario Saric, a power forward playing smallball five, who struggled with Jokic's size advantage. And Steph Curry, who is a notoriously over-handsy defender, tried to go for two steals at the point of Jokic's catch, a not-uncommon trend for Curry. Most (though not all) of the calls Jokic garnered on Monday were, in fact, fouls.
For Kerr to go on this tirade following this game with this opponent now makes Jokic the face of "grifting" in the league. There will be TV segments discussing Kerr's comments featuring highlights from Jokic. It paints Jokic as the face of how players take advantage of the rules in the modern game, which turns off many fans, and that's an unfair characterization of his game, which has been for the most part physical and skillful at the same time.
Kerr's decision to lose his temper in this particular game does a disservice to Jokic in particular, who has so rarely benefited from a kind whistle. There are many foul-baiting free-throw merchants in the NBA; Jokic is not one of them.
Except … he was on Monday. Jokic exaggerated contact more in Monday's game than I've even seen him in seven years I've spent covering him. He flew backward on a Steph Curry push-off. He flailed in the middle of the lane. He didn't stoop to Embiid's and Davis' brand of constantly falling down to elicit shooting fouls, but he absolutely did engage in that conduct. (Jokic denied he was trying to sell contact to ESPN, saying he was just trying to stay aggressive.)
Still, Kerr's decision to go off in a post-game presser, specifically after Jokic shot not just a career-high in free throws but had only his sixth game this season with 10 or more free throws, unfairly paints Jokic as the source of this problem. And for that, Kerr was wrong.
But Kerr wasn't wrong in what he said.
The NBA has a massive problem with foul-baiting, and it is a turnoff for fans wanting to watch good sports. Look no further than the comparison stats I painted above. Joel Embiid won MVP last season by literally shooting the most free throws per 100 possessions of any player since at least 1974, when such stats can be produced.
James Harden set the tone for this in his Rockets tenure, playing heavy isolation, iso-centric basketball and then manipulating defenders into positions he could lift his arms through to draw contact. They were legitimately fouls. They were also against the spirit of the game and made games unnecessarily long and interrupted.
The NBA has absolutely empowered players with the way the calls have been made. Early last season, the NBA instituted areas of emphasis against foul-drawing. For a few glorious weeks, the games were largely clean, and we saw defenses have more success than ever. But predictably, star players complained constantly, and things eventually returned to the new standard.
The league-average free throw rate genuinely has not shifted much over the last 20 years. In 2004, the league-average free throw rate was 22.9. This season, it's 20.3, which is still the second highest in the last 10 years, but all the figures are roughly between 19% and 22%.
But there is an automatic nature to how point-of-attack defenders in particular are allowed to defend. It's too easy for ballhandlers to get past the first line of defense, which can't hand check, and then once a defender closes, they can lean into that contact and then flail, oftentimes even falling to the ground to assure the call.
That perception and feeling in watching games is real and something the league should address. But Kerr's decision to make this an issue after an outlier Nikola Jokic game does a disservice to both Jokic and his argument.
Besides, if Kerr wants to focus on illegal contact, he should probably start by trying to keep Draymond Green from slapping/punching/kicking/stomping anyone.
