This past summer the NBA set out to curb players' complaining about calls. The League instructed refs to call technicals on players that made "aggressive gestures, such as air punches", or those that showed disagreement by raising their hands or smacking their arm to show they were fouled. There would be no more "running directly at an official to complain" or "excessive inquiries about a call, even in a civilized tone." Basically, all of those natural instincts a player would have when they get fouled and there's no call were to be bottled up.

The NBA implemented this new plan in an attempt to fix an image problem. Senior vice president of referee operations, Ron Johnson said these reactions are "not what our fans want. They tell us in many many ways and I think we have to adjust to meet the needs of our league and our fans. It's a business." But who has a worse reputation - the players or the referees? A cloud still hangs over referees after Tim Donaghy's accusations with many fans believing his claims that some games were fixed. While putting forth detailed descriptions of what displays should be called for technical fouls instead of leaving it up to the discretion of the refs might seem like something that would help their image, the simple fact is fans don't want to see players receive technicals. It slows down the game and puts even more scrutiny on the refs.

The players' image problem has more to do with the rules of free agency and the perception that they lack allegiance to their teams. The Heat are the most hated team in the NBA because LeBron decided to leave Cleveland to form a super-team. More recently, many fans have enjoyed watching the Knicks falter since trading for Carmelo Anthony since the perception is he forced his way out of Denver to play in New York.

The number of technicals has little to do with a players' image. Dwight Howard is one of the most likable players in the NBA. He's well-spoken, often has a huge smile on his face, jokes around with the media and throws down some of the nastiest dunks you'll ever see. He leads the league with 17 technicals. Amare' Stoudemire has received high praise all season for breathing like back into the Knicks and he's tied for second with 15 technicals. Kobe Bryant is a bit of a divisive figure but his image has gotten better and better in recent years. He's tied for fourth with 13.

But putting whether it's a good idea or not aside, has it even worked? This is a tough one to quantify. As far as I know no one has done a study looking into players complaining vs. last year so it's all going to be anecdotal evidence. But based on that, in my viewing of many NBA games it hasn't changed a thing. Maybe I feel that way because I'm a Laker fan and Kobe Bryant still complains after every single missed shot (old habits die hard - especially those learned from Jordan). There was a flurry of technicals called early in the season but then the number called declined. But don't confuse that fact with believing behavior has been curbed. Nope. Instead, the refs just became lax on enforcing those rules.

Maybe the worst part of the new guidelines has been the inconsistency involved. Different referees have different levels of tolerance. One day a player receives a tech for walking away after a bad call and another day a player dances around and complains to anyone who will listen and he's not penalized. It puts the refs in a bad position. What ref wants to call LeBron James for a second technical for complaining and toss him out of the game? Even fans that hate LeBron want to watch him play.

The new rules haven't helped anyone. They haven't helped the refs who at first were scrutinized for calling too many technicals and it seems like they have now let up on calling them; it hasn't helped the fans who, from those I've talked to haven't really noticed much of a difference and don't seem to mind either way; and it hasn't helped the players who were opposed to this from the beginning and can't be pleased with the inconsistency involved. There will be a lot more pressing issues in play with the possibility of a lockout quite high after this season but this is something that certainly should be addressed and abolishing these new guidelines would serve the league well.