With the globalization, the NBA saw an opportunity to grow worlwide. Stars like Michael Jordan helped expand the game towards new territories, but the game had to go through certain rule changes, in order to make it more appealing for newer audiences. The agressiveness, the physicality, the temperamental outbursts had to be tuned down and that's was the officials role.
In order to polish the final product, the rules were made more rigorous with respect to the actions and reactions of the game, resulting in some occasions, in incomprehensible and even funny calls by the referees.
Here is a brief top that perfectly summarizes what we are talking about:
There is no doubt that the presence of
Rasheed Wallace and
Dennis Rodman could not be missed. Even for transition times in the rulebook, these two icons were practically on a mission to receive a technical in almost every game. Maybe that's why Rasheed was called for a tech just for looking at the referee. The former champion with Detroit in 2004 was already famous for his temper.
Later in time we see examples of somewhat more excessive calls, in which it is really difficult to understand what action the officer observed as "too much" to end up penalizing it.
This is the case of
Jayson Tatum for example, who receives a technical foul just for a "loud clap" of frustration.
Part 2 coming soon!