Metta World Peace on new foul call: 'It shouldn't take you 7 years to figure it out'

Before the 2021-22 season, the NBA adopted a rule change that attempts to prevent a frustrating move that some of the league’s stars had used to draw fouls.

The change limits players from using “abnormal, abrupt or overt movements” to draw fouls, as Monty McCutchen, who oversees NBA referees, called it.

These include an unnatural or non-basketball move, including leaning backward or sideways, pump-faking then launching into a defender, kicking out a leg, abruptly veering off path or hooking a defender with an off arm. These would now either be called offensive fouls or go as no-calls.

On the latest “Posted Up with Chris Haynes” podcast, Metta World Peace called out officials for waiting to address these type of calls.

“These are people making rules that have never played the game so it takes them seven years to change rules,” World Peace said on “Posted Up.” “They should be required to have to play full-court games. If you work in basketball, you should at least put on some shorts and some sneakers, go to Equinox and play some ball. I know guys 80 years old playing ball at Equinox.

“So take that suit off, unbutton that tight button-up on your neck and put on some T-shirts, put on some shorts and go play the damn game. It shouldn’t take you seven years to figure it out.”

Many put up Brooklyn Nets guard James Harden and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young as the models for this rule change.

Harden led the league in the 2019-20 season in free-throw attempts with 800, while Young was fourth with 559. Last season, Young averaged 8.7 attempts per game (fourth) and Harden averaged 7.3 (seventh).

Through Monday’s games, Harden and Young were each averaging 5.3 attempts per game (15th in the league).

Young has been vocal about the change, saying it’s “frustrating” and that “there's a lot of missed calls.”

World Peace, a former Defensive Player of the Year who played for six NBA teams over a 17-year career, took it a step further and suggested that referees should currently be playing basketball in order to keep a feel for the game.

He also pointed out that when fouls aren’t consistently correctly called on the floor, it affects how all players play.

“If that’s the case, then take that rule out if you’re not capable of making that call on time. If you can’t make the call consistently, then it must not be a good call,” World Peace said on “Posted Up.” “And then that way you notify everyone, ‘Hey, all the players, we’re no longer implementing this rule,’ because some players are thinking they’re playing by the rules but then the refs, they don’t want to slow the game down, so players are playing on different sets of rules.”

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