Do you ever get the feeling that some players get more than their fair share of foul calls? Or perhaps it just seems like some players foul a lot more than others. Well naturally some have a higher propensity to foul than others... but then again, there is a pretty big perception out there that superstar calls exist in basketball, meaning that a rookie is always going to get different treatment to an established vet or TV draw card.

Empty the Bench has an interesting article on this phenomenon today, penned by Zachariah Blott. In particular, he focusses on the unusual circumstance whereby LeBron James seems to foul a helluva lot less than his contemporaries. A somewhat strange situation that could be explained in a number of ways. Does he get favourable calls from officials? Is he a superior athlete who avoids fouls with his basketball smarts? Or is it some combination of the above? Check the article out, it goes into some fine detail on the matter.

Meanwhile, I thought it worth looking at who the most prolific foulers in the game are today. No real conclusions to be drawn here -- this is purely for interest's sake. Of course, foul proneness is to a large extent dictated by position. Big men tend to foul more due to the responsibilities they have to protect the paint. So let's have a look at some different statistical measures.

2009/10 Personal Fouls Per 40 Minutes (entire league)

We could go on. However I'm sure you're starting to notice the trend here -- the most prolific foulers are mostly bigs that don't get many minutes. So let's filter this a little more and sort by players who play more than 10 minutes per game and have been involved in at least 10 games this season.

2009/10 PF/40min (>10mpg, >10gms)

Okay, a similar problem really. Big guys foul. It's worth noting that every one of those guys averages at least 1.3 blocks per 40min, with the exception of Oberto who only has managed 0.4 per 40min! So, getting away from picking on the big men, who are the kings of the foul in the other positional areas (using the same filters)?

2009/10 PF/40min Guards

Kyle Kutcher?! Why I never... I thought you were such a wholesome boy who wouldn't harm a fly. Clearly Jerry Sloan and Jay Triano have enforced upon their bench guards that high intensity is the way to go, with both Utah and Toronto sporting a pair on that list. Generally with guards who foul, you think of steal attempts. The only guy on that list who doesn't average at least one steal per 40min? KK.

2009/10 PF/40min Small Forwards

In line with Empty the Bench's article, LeBron certainly falls way down the list when it comes to foul-proneness. In fact, guess where he ranks amongst small forwards in fouls per minute? Dead last. Yep, amongst small forwards (using Hoopdata's split of who is/isn't a small forward) LBJ commits the fewest fouls per minute in the league this season. Wow. Looking across his other defensive statistics (blocks and steals), I can only spot a couple of other players that fit his mould in terms of lack of fouls and steals/blocks at the SF position.

All statistics per 40min

Whilst you wipe the tear from your eye as you remember the AK47 defensive statistics of old, we can see from this that possibly there are some players who really can avoid fouls through their style of play, despite being active defensively. Perhaps this is indeed the case with LeBron. In any case, read the article at Empty the Bench to gain more insight.

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Comments (2)

Cheers
written by BrianETB, January 26, 2010

Thanks for the link, friendo, and glad you enjoyed the piece. When Zach emailed and said he'd tracked down a statistics professor at Portland State Univ. to help strengthen his analysis, I had a feeling we might see some nutty findings. Sure enough...

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written by Vince Carter, January 26, 2010

I wonder where the Hack-a-Shaq ranks on this list???

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