[Spellmen]

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Bill Simmons had a thought about this new rule. He seemed to think it would lead to the refs actually enforcing the rules, ie travels, carries, and whatnot. So in essence the refs can make whatever call they see fit and not have to deal with on court antics from whiny players.

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OK, that makes sense. Thanks. As someone who has gotten his share of passion-related T's in his life I still think it will be tough for players to restrain themselves, but we'll see how it plays out.

As for the rest of your post, I don't remember such a huge inequity in conferences as exists in the NBA today. Not even AFC/NFC or AL/NL in recent years. If any of the Mavs, Spurs, Suns, and maybe Rockets were in the East it would be a much easier road to the conference finals.

Unrelated, can anyone tell me who the non-LBJ players are in the Nike ads? Just saw them for the first time. The big 'fro/cell phone guy looks like Amare but doesn't sound like him. Maybe they're all just actors and I'm thinking too hard about this.

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They are all Lebron. I like the new rule, the league was getting a little out of hand with players whining at refs all the way down the floor after they were called for a foul or didn't get a call, it was ridiculous. I can't remember who it was in the playoffs last year (cassell?), but they were whining to a ref as the ball got stolen and taken down the court for an easy score