[Hoot Gibson]

The refs are told who to protect in the leagues best interest. Hell man have you never seen the sacremento series with the Lakers. Game 7 of the 2010 finals. Game 2 of last years finals. NBA officials protect the leagues prized players. And James is there most marketable player. It makes sense.

Nonsense. Veterans in the NBA are treated different than young players, but the main reason that guys like Lebron are fouled so much is that they consistently beat defenders and drive the lane. Many of the fouls against James are committed to prevent dunks.

Kobe is another example. If a player shoots the ball with three defenders guarding him, then his chances of drawing fouls skyrocket. His teammate-spectators are simply not going to shoot as many free throws as he does. Some superstars have the ball in their hands far more than they should, so it is natural that they will get fouled more often than somebody who works to get open and depends on teammates to feed him the ball.