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Time Out? By Christopher Sells
08.25.2009 - Updated on 08.25.2009
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It has long been thought that the NBA’s biggest problem has been its referees.
That sentence takes on a whole new meaning with the news that the league and its game officials are having trouble figuring out their contract situation. The current contract expires on September 1 and the two sides are reportedly not close to an agreement.
The holdup is reportedly over a 10% reduction that the NBA wants to make to the refereeing budget. The refs, of course, aren’t feeling that idea and may respond by withholding their services into the preseason and regular season until they get an offer from the NBA that they’re willing to work for.
This is either brilliant or insane.
Let’s first look at the insane: If you look back to last season’s playoffs— which were filled with missed calls, controversial calls, inconsistent calls, reversed calls and other general nonsense— it’s hard to take the referees’ side. After all, the economy isn’t doing well and being asked to take a cut in pay is something that lots of workers are being asked to do on less than what NBA officials make. This article says that in 2000 a rookie ref would make $90,000 and the cream of the crop would pull in $328,000. I’d be surprised if any deal reached since then included a salary reduction, so it’s not as if the league is asking these guys to work for peanuts. The NBA laid off 9% of its workforce before last season started, so a 10% budget cut for the refs isn’t an arbitrary number. To think that they should be exempt from the economic realities of this nation is unwise, at best.
And now the brilliant: Even with all of the debauchery that occurred in the postseason, can you imagine what it would be like if the NBA were forced to use the guys who weren’t good enough for the league? The game is faster and the rules more complex and some guy off the street can’t come in and sufficiently do the job, no matter what the viewing public thinks. And who thinks that the players would respect someone who they know is a replacement ref? Can you imagine Rasheed Wallace or Kobe Bryant interacting with someone they’ve never heard of before? Sure, Steve Javie and Joey Crawford have huge egos and sometimes get in the way of the game, but the players know not to cross them. I won’t go so far as saying that the officials deserve the six figures they currently take to the bank, but they can make a case that they don’t deserve less.
Lost in the disagreement between the two sides is the actuality that theydepend on each other. Short of players making their own calls and shooting for it when there’s a disagreement, there’s not a realistic way to move forward without the zebras. And there aren’t many workplaces that would tolerate the failure rate the referees put up from game to game.
In short, the two sides should figure out how to play nice and give in a little from whatever their current demands are. If they don’t, the game is what will suffer and the fans’ discontent will become the NBA’s newest biggest problem.
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slaughterhouse
on 08.29.2009 | yea yea yea thats why there is 3 THREE OFFICIALs not ONE but THREE OFFICIALS on the court to make sure all the calls are made and with THREE and you miss the most OBVIOUS CALLS or completey make up BS CALLS like they do they SUCK PERIOD...and hell they even do make up calls WTF is that if you make a mistake doesn’t mean they need to make another one by making a BS CALL....the refs are TERRIBLE hands down . | Posted by
on 08.27.2009 | The first comment is dead on. Basketball is the TOUGHEST sport to officiate, hands down. The speed and the size of the players make it extremely difficult to call fouls and violations at real time. You not realize that the NBA referees are the best in the WORLD? They really are. These 60 officials are the only ones that can keep order in a crazy game like the NBA. You fans are too ignorant to see that. If you had any clue as to how BAD the NCAA officials are, you’d really respect the professionalism and skill level of the NBA officials. Do they miss plays? ABSOLUTELY. There has never been a perfect game, and there NEVER will. Do players miss shot at critical points of the game? Yes. Referee’s also miss plays calls during critical points in the game. But when I player makes that mistake, do we say he’s a cheater and he’s throwing the game? Do we say this player sucks and they should fire them and bring in NCAA players from D2 schools? NO. Try reffing a local rec center, or if you’re daring enough, start off refereeing high school basketball. It will be a real eye opener for you. You’ll never criticize NBA officials again until you know what it’s like to be under the fire. The best thing is for the officials to lock out and refuse to work until they get a better contract. The owners and league need to see how bad the rest of the country is in officiating the NBA game. Only then they will see how good they really had it. Good for the refs, they need to take a stand. They are a premium product and they need to be paid accordingly. . | Posted by
Anonymous
on 08.26.2009 | No, the refs are in the right to take a stand for themselves as this is unfair on them for being underpaid for the job they do. Sure they can be inconsistent at times, but hey they’re human. It’s like saying Kobe, A.i LeBron and so on are meant to do what ever they are meant to do perfect, e.g., scoring, defending etc, but no, they are human too and can be inconsistent in their on right. Everyone is on their back for not being so consistent with calls and that, if there are so many complaints and bitching then incorporate some sort of video referee to make a quick and more reliable decisions. as they would be able to see a lot more and better of situations. But don’t expect them to be perfect too. So to the NBA and NBA fans get over it, let them get paid fairly and get on with it. . | Posted by
slaughterhouse
on 08.26.2009 | umm no taking someone off the street and having them ref how could that be worse??? all the playoff games last year were officiated at its all time worse...if you would of told me all the refs were off the street last season i would of believed ya the refs are terrible they should be working for mininum wage bc they dont even know there job or the rules of the game . |
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