My biggest problem with the Olynyk suspension is that I genuinely think (based on past history) that if Kevin Love didn't get injured in the play, there would have been absolutely no repercussions beyond a simple personal foul.
Why does that concern me?
Because in theory a Flagrant Foul is supposed to be a penalty for a play that was un-sportsman, unnecessarily aggressive, or made with malicious intent. Ultimately all of the definitions that separate a flagrant foul from are regular one based on the action itself - not the repercussion.
Theoretically speaking a flagrant foul should be called the same way regardless of whether a player is injured as a result of the play or not. If I punch you and you only get a bruise, or if I punch you and break your nose, that doesn't change the fact that I punched you - which is an unacceptable and unsportsmanlike act. Likewise if I dive for the ball and you trip over me and fall, then that's a basketball play and so by definition it's not a flagrant foul - whether you tear an ACL from that fall or whether you get up unhurt shouldn't have a bearing on that call.
So that right there is what has me frustrated. Plays similar to what KO did happen every day in the NBA, usually more than once a night. Nobody every gets seriously hurt as a result of it, and so they are never called as flagrant fouls. On this night KO does the same type of thing, a star player ends up getting hurt as a result, and so they suspend Olynyk (the equivalent of giving him a flagrant 2).
How is that justifiable?
When Perkins did his excessive foul on Crowder, if Crowder had fallen and torn his ACL on that play, would the league then have issued Perkins with a Flagrant 2 and suspended him? Probably.
Personally, I don't understand the message that the NBA is sending out with this nature of officiating. They are basically telling guys that it doesn't matter if you make dirty plays or not, we're really only going to call a flagrant foul if somebody goes flying to the ground, or if somebody gets seriously injured. If you want to perform unsportsmanlike fouls on somebody that's fine, just make sure they don't fall or get injured from it and we'll let it go.
Makes no sense to me.