Improving Officiating

[reggie35]

After last night's travesty, I wanted to offer some constructive opinions on how the NBA could improve its officiating and image. First, I'll offer some small steps and then I'll offer a radical idea. The first high-level idea is to remove the financial incentive for officials to lengthen series. The second high-level idea is to make NBA operations more transparent. The third high-level ideal is to make more use of video replay.

Baby steps:
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Pay officials for the season. Do not pay them extra for playoff games.

Assign officials randomly and transparently (on TV). Do not base it on seniority.

Televise disciplinary decisions. Explain the rational and back it up with video evidence.

Sideline official reviews all technical/flagrant fouls on video.

Add a fourth official.

Don't let players talk to referees. Maybe just the captain and the coach

Radical Idea:
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Have only one official on the court and have players call violations on their own. For example, say Pierce is guarding Lebron and sees him travel. He stops playing turns to the ref and calls travel. Once he does that, two sideline officials have 24(?) seconds to review video of the play and the three officials vote if the call was correct or not.

If the call is correct, then everything proceeds as it does now, i.e. Celtics ball. If the call is incorrect, then the penalty is imposed on the team that made the incorrect call. In the Pierce example, the Cavs would get the ball back for the stopped possession and then get another possession for the "violation". In the case of a FT violation, it works the same way. If you're right you get FTs. If you are wrong, the other team gets them.

By the way, officiating isn't the only thing wrong with the NBA but now's a good time to bring it up after last night.

[nickagneta]

Read Baby steps and thought the solution was to let Glen Davis travel all the time.

Glad I kept reading on.

[reggie35]

Read Baby steps and thought the solution was to let Glen Davis travel all the time.

Glad I kept reading on.

After last night's elbow, he may need that kind of special dispensation.

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't like the radical idea much at all.

I like some of the "baby step" ideas.  I think the big thing is that officials need to start being suspended for bad calls.  Maybe something like if you have three of your technicals / flagrants changed (at any point), you're suspended a game without pay.  For every two after that, it's a two game suspension.

Also, of course, the NBA needs to fire some of the "problem refs", or at least not assign them to playoff games.  If college refs can call games fairly, then the NBA refs should be able to, as well.

[reggie35]

I don't like the radical idea much at all.

What about it? Are you worried it would slow the game down too much to use video replay?

[vinnie]

I love the "don't let players talk to the officials." This bothers me more than any other thing I see in the game. After every foul the players talk to the refs. Should not be allowed.

[twinbree]

I don't like the radical idea much at all.

What about it? Are you worried it would slow the game down too much to use video replay?

It can be like tennis so they give a fixed number of wrong challenges per set so players don't over-do it. Or maybe only allow the video replays in crunch-time. Although that hurts if a bad call that was not reviewed is what makes a close game in the first place.

TP for coming up with these ideas anyway. Sadly I don't think they care. Given the two wrongs make a right mentality, I'm sure their idea of improving the officiating is to give us some homecooking tomorrow night.

[Roy Hobbs]

I don't like the radical idea much at all.

What about it? Are you worried it would slow the game down too much to use video replay?

Yep. 

Also, it would fundamentally change the way basketball is played.  I think the current product needs some tweaking, but a system where you go to the replay booth 40 or 50 times per game just wouldn't be all that much fun for anybody.

[reggie35]

I don't like the radical idea much at all.

What about it? Are you worried it would slow the game down too much to use video replay?

Yep. 

Also, it would fundamentally change the way basketball is played.  I think the current product needs some tweaking, but a system where you go to the replay booth 40 or 50 times per game just wouldn't be all that much fun for anybody.

I'm not so sure. Essentially, this is how pickup basketball is played now except there's no recourse if a guy starts abusing things. Even still, pickup is fun and can even be fun to watch when good players are playing.

[crownsy]

Unfortunately the first step will be the NBA admitting it has an officiating problem, which commandant Stern is firmly against.

[Finkelskyhook]

The officiating is exactly what Stern wants it to be.  There is consistency in that stars will bend the rules and get away with it.  The messiah has no rules and will be a completely protected species.  Ratings and attendance are staying the same with consistent biased, star-oriented Donaghyesque officiating.

Officiating won't change until attendance and ratings do.

[nickagneta]

Officiating won't change until attendance and ratings do.

Spoken for truth.

Preach o wise one and we shall heareth the truth.

[jdpapa3]

My main problem is the refs that they consider to be elite material: Salvatore, Rush, Crawford, Bavetta, etc. They aren't very good officials, yet are rewarded with the games on the biggest stage. There are other guys like Greg Willard where I have no idea what his face looks like. He's probably doing a decent job.

[Finkelskyhook]

I'm going to sound sarcastic here and I'm absolutely not being sarcastic or facetious at all.

I think the current officials are the best ever in NBA history.

Never, prior to Michael Jordan, had NBA officials been asked to apply a different rulebook to one player....Now they're expected to apply no rules to one, loose rules to a group of others, and all of the rules to the rest.

In today's NBA, the officials are expected to not only know 3 different rulebooks.  They are expected to apply 3 different rulebooks to  (messiah), (second tier stars), and the rest of the league with precision consistency.  That one player gets away with everything, a group of players get away with their individual pet violations, and the genuine rulebook applies to the rest of the league.... With the consistency that the officials are able to pull it off is frankly, astounding.

[anotherbanner]

The only thing you can do to improve crap is to wipe it away.