REFS!

[ozgod]

The Minny fans aren't too happy with Brian Forte, Justin Van Duyne and Derrick Collins.

(click to enlarge)

[gouki88]

The Minny fans aren't too happy with Brian Forte, Justin Van Duyne and Derrick Collins.

(click to enlarge)

I can't blame them really. The end of that game was abysmal, for both clubs involved.

[Kernewek]

I stopped seeing NBA as a sport and more as entertainment. Just like the WWE the matches are not scripted but the outcomes most certainly are. Especially now that we have legally betting, which I'm 99% confident will lead me away from the product in the future.

I'm just glad my team is one of the top performers and gets lots of the top billings.

Surely a sport qualifies as entertainment?

[Roy H.]

I stopped seeing NBA as a sport and more as entertainment. Just like the WWE the matches are not scripted but the outcomes most certainly are. Especially now that we have legally betting, which I'm 99% confident will lead me away from the product in the future.

I'm just glad my team is one of the top performers and gets lots of the top billings.

Surely a sport qualifies as entertainment?

I think he’s referring to the moniker WWE gave itself:  “sports entertainment”.  Athletic feats that don’t involve true competition, because the winner is picked ahead of time.

I don’t think the NBA is there yet.  Evidence points to incompetence rather than corruption.  There are times that it looks like the league is tipping the scales, however.

[Kernewek]

Possibly. I think the actual issue behind the perceived drop in refereeing quality are the improvements in broadcasting, though. The rest of it (gambling, missed calls, inconsistent whistles) has been more or less a constant for the last 40 years at least.

[liam]

The Suns none too happy:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/phoenix-suns-vent-over-giannis-183152249.html

[liam]

This is classic NBA:


https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mavericks-to-file-protest-after-alleged-ref-miscommunication-leads-to-worlds-easiest-basket-for-warriors-025818271.html

[liam]

Everybody is hating the refs this year:

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35922583/monty-williams-suns-call-officiating-46-20-ft-disparity

[Phantom255x]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

[liam]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

This year has been really bad. Tatum had never been ejected before this year. It's also the reason scoring is up because of so many free throws and it's nearly impossible to guard without fouling. I'm hoping that the playoffs will be better officiated. The NBA decides it wants scoring up and voila. The refs definitely change the games.

[hpantazo]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

I hope the players make this an emphasis in the CBA discussions

[slamtheking]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

I hope the players make this an emphasis in the CBA discussions

I hope the owners to do.  be a united front in dealing with the officials union.  Need to be able to remove awful officials

[ozgod]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

I hope the players make this an emphasis in the CBA discussions

I hope the owners to do.  be a united front in dealing with the officials union.  Need to be able to remove awful officials

I'm thinking beyond that. They need to support refereeing at the grassroots more, encourage more people to take it up as a career, so that we increase the pool of quality referees, so we can drop these bad ones. I have a suspicion that as bad as these ones are, the ones waiting in the wings are even worse.

But in the meantime, I've been thinking of how to fix this issue of human error/bias. I really think that with technology the way it is now, it's possible that fans watching the game on TV will have access to many more angles and replays of calls that the refs have to do in real time, and so the errors become a lot more magnified. Then you also have players taking a leaf from soccer players' books and embellishing contact, flopping and otherwise trying to fool the referee. Then you have the likes of LeBum, Tatum, Trae etc. trying to influence the referees by constant chatting and complaining.

Maybe it's time to implement 3 rules:

• any chatting or arguing with the referee will be subject to a technical foul; (this fixes the issue of dissent and influencing on the court)
• there will be a FOURTH video referee watching the game with access to multiple camera angles. He has the authority to stop play and overrule the on court referees if after reviewing replays he feels a foul has been missed or a call has been made incorrectly; (this fixes the issue of incorrect calls because referee is unsighted/incompetent etc)
• each team gets two challenges a quarter. If they get it right they get their challenge back (this fixes the issue of bias)

Obviously the downside to my proposal is that the game will probably get a lot slower and stop-start as calls are reviewed and challenges are made. But would that be a worthwhile cost to pay to get calls 100% right? (Or maybe 99%, 100% seems optimistic  )

[ozgod]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

I just looked at the replay and it was kind of silly what he did though, he was asking for a touchy ref to eject him. Doesn't help that Trae has 15 techs already...like Draymond and Dillon Brooks he's got a rep with the refs.

"It's just a play he can't make," Hawks coach Quin Snyder said after the game. "I told him that. He knows it."

Snyder said Young acknowledged his mistake.

"There wasn't a single part of him that tried to rationalize what happened," Snyder said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewf6vqFB_mU

I guess they could have let him stay in, but I think once you show dissent to a referee, it's like arguing balls and strikes with the umpire in baseball, you're at risk of being Td up. Trae is like a mini version of Draymond for me - he moans about every single play that's called against him 

[Redz]

Trae Young just got ejected for simply passing a ball to an official.

ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME?? 

And Young is right. He recently said refs need to be held accountable with fines/suspensions. Now I kinda wonder if this was a conspiracy from the refs to eject Young since he made those comments recently too. It's becoming pathetic. Wish something could be done about it in the offseason. But given the Lebron incident against Boston, and all these countless technicals on the most ridiculous stuff (like simply clapping your hands to yourself) I think there'll be real discussions

I hope the players make this an emphasis in the CBA discussions

I hope the owners to do.  be a united front in dealing with the officials union.  Need to be able to remove awful officials

I'm thinking beyond that. They need to support refereeing at the grassroots more, encourage more people to take it up as a career, so that we increase the pool of quality referees, so we can drop these bad ones. I have a suspicion that as bad as these ones are, the ones waiting in the wings are even worse.

But in the meantime, I've been thinking of how to fix this issue of human error/bias. I really think that with technology the way it is now, it's possible that fans watching the game on TV will have access to many more angles and replays of calls that the refs have to do in real time, and so the errors become a lot more magnified. Then you also have players taking a leaf from soccer players' books and embellishing contact, flopping and otherwise trying to fool the referee. Then you have the likes of LeBum, Tatum, Trae etc. trying to influence the referees by constant chatting and complaining.

Maybe it's time to implement 3 rules:

• any chatting or arguing with the referee will be subject to a technical foul; (this fixes the issue of dissent and influencing on the court)
• there will be a FOURTH video referee watching the game with access to multiple camera angles. He has the authority to stop play and overrule the on court referees if after reviewing replays he feels a foul has been missed or a call has been made incorrectly; (this fixes the issue of incorrect calls because referee is unsighted/incompetent etc)
• each team gets two challenges a quarter. If they get it right they get their challenge back (this fixes the issue of bias)

Obviously the downside to my proposal is that the game will probably get a lot slower and stop-start as calls are reviewed and challenges are made. But would that be a worthwhile cost to pay to get calls 100% right? (Or maybe 99%, 100% seems optimistic  )

I think if you want to start a grassroots movement to entice people to get into refereeing you’d need to do some community coaching on parents and high school kids not being complete buttholes to refs. 

It’s a pretty thankless job.  I used to ref a little a little bit, and actually liked it, but good lord pretty take sports/competition way too seriously.