Wanted: Warnings on Personal Fouls

In a quest for consistency in the NBA, I'm leading the crusade for more warnings. Currently, teams are warned the first time they commit a "delay of game." I think the warnings should be applied to even more calls, because from official to official the interpretation of the rules is fairly inconsistent. The players should be given a warning so they can get acclimated each game.

Personal fouls: some officials allow more contact than others. Also, the block/charge call is often a gray area. Fouls are valuable, so players should get a warning so they don't pick up a ticky-tack one early when they didn't realize they were doing anything wrong.

Traveling and palming (carrying): obviously, this is a spotty call. Some officials call these violations, although I don't think any enforce it consistently. By giving a warning, you would key players in on what is acceptable on a given night. It's only fair.

Three in the key: application of this rule is variable and, while some warnings are given verbally during games, big men should get a warning ... no need for another turnover when players are exploring the limits of acceptable behavior.

Technical fouls: sometimes, people just want to get a "T." If so, warn them and let them keep talking. But, let Tim Duncan know that his mocking claps aren't acceptable. Warn the coach that if he's out of his box he'll get one and give him one the next time. Warn Rasheed, then don't put up with him cussing at you the rest of the game. Seems pretty reasonable ... much more reasonable than handing out a technical foul every time a player looks at an official early in the year, then relaxing the standards over the course of the season so that now players are allowed to rip into officials without any punishment. What's the rule, David?

Obviously, I'm not exactly serious, although it seems like it would be nice to know how the rules were going to be applied going into a game. In baseball, the rules aren't applied exactly the same by all the umpires. However, while umps occasionally miss calls, in baseball the only real large variation is in the application of the strike zone by the plate ump. And, usually, the teams figure out the strike zone pretty early and it's pretty consistent throughout the game, a stark contrast to fits of traveling and 3 seconds that often plague basketball.

Tim Duncan just took two steps after catching the ball ... stopped ... dribbled ... then went up for a shot. Obviously, it was a travel ... or it would have been if it was someone besides Duncan. Oh, and they just bailed out Parker with 49.8 left in the 2nd quarter ... after a travel by Parker. That's nice.

They need to get the application of rules refined a little bit because there are so many calls that have such large variation. Many don't occur often in games and that makes it worse because teams aren't able to adjust. Also, why do they give delay of game warnings and illegal defense warnings? Isn't a delay of game always a delay of game? They don't change the rule in such a way that teams don't know what is or isn't a violation of the rule from game to game, at least not in the book ... just like they don't for goaltending, traveling, etc. And, why do you get a freebie for illegal defense? Teams should know what illegal defense is ... they shouldn't need a warning if the rules are applied consistently ... if only that were the case.