Evans and Martin, Sacramento's two silent assassins...

[AriesMar27]

Has anyone considered the possibility of self-correcting mechanism at work here? So, let's say you are a good team, say the Lakers. And your team (or particular player) is known for drawing fouls. Opposing coaches know it. And opposing players know it from their coaches. The same coaches know that the last thing you want to do is foul to put Kobe on the line. So what happens then? Opposing players focus much more on making sure they don't foul. Now obviously sometimes it isn't physically possible to always do that, but it is for a lot of the time. If the priority becomes to not to foul players that are known to draw fouls, then what happens? The fouling goes down. And then what happens after that? More easy scoring opportunities. Players will make the trade off and back off a little to prevent the foul. That makes it easier for the aggressive team to score. That makes it easier to win.

no, do YOU know what happens when they dont foul players like kobe? he hits jumper after jumper on players like pietrus and courtney lee in the finals. your bigmen have to gamble more on blocks and get more fouls, thats what happens when you dont foul. kobe finds the open man and super scrubs like ariza shoot 60% from 3pt range. it gets other players involved because now you really have to double him everytime he touches the ball and fisher hits game tying 3pt shots. it forces the opposing team to go for shots that they are not normally used to taking. it takes them out of their game and they lose. thats why he led his team in assists that series.

less fouling by on the ball defense usually means fewer blocked shots or more fouls for your bigmen. defensive minded players with limited offensive skills look lost because most of their points come from easy opportunities made by taking risks that may end up as fouls if not executed properly.