Adam Silver on Mike and Mike in the Morning.

[Donoghus]

Silver says NBA refs are the best in sports, and fans fawn over Silver. LOL. Now you guys love Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta, and love NBA officiating. I guess you love those superstar calls and those rookie calls as well.

Dirty little secret: Study says NBA refs have Napoleon Complex  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/study-referees-have-napoleon-complex-short-officials-call-more-fouls-could-impact-gambling-060914

I wouldn't exactly call that a dirty little secret. 

[footey]

Problem with NBA officiating is the different treatment given to superstars vs. ordinary players.  It is as if there are two sets of rules.   If any ref show signs of this, take him off games and replace him with someone who won't curry favor with the superstars. I actually was encouraged last night when they called some fouls and a turnover vs. Lebron in the 4th quarter, and he got in foul trouble.  The refs normally do not allow that to happen.

I also think that the players need to shut up and play. I favor a quicker whistle for mouthing off. This was attempted a few years ago, but they backed off.

Replay is necessary, because things happen so fast.  If on a replay a player is clearly faking contact, they should be subject to a technical foul.  Flopping and faking would stop almost immediately.

[D.o.s.]

Silver says NBA refs are the best in sports, and fans fawn over Silver. LOL. Now you guys love Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta, and love NBA officiating. I guess you love those superstar calls and those rookie calls as well.

Dirty little secret: Study says NBA refs have Napoleon Complex  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/study-referees-have-napoleon-complex-short-officials-call-more-fouls-could-impact-gambling-060914

I wouldn't exactly call that a dirty little secret.

Also, if you read the study, the difference between the shortest group measured  (under 6 foot)  and the tallest group (over 6'3) measured is that the short group calls exactly .1, as in one-tenth, more fouls per 48 minutes.

So, you know, the dirty little secret is really in the sensationalist headline.

[NorthernLightning]

Silver says NBA refs are the best in sports, and fans fawn over Silver. LOL. Now you guys love Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta, and love NBA officiating. I guess you love those superstar calls and those rookie calls as well.

Dirty little secret: Study says NBA refs have Napoleon Complex  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/study-referees-have-napoleon-complex-short-officials-call-more-fouls-could-impact-gambling-060914

I wouldn't exactly call that a dirty little secret.

Also, if you read the study, the difference between the shortest group measured  (under 6 foot)  and the tallest group (over 6'3) measured is that the short group calls exactly .1, as in one-tenth, more fouls per 48 minutes.

So, you know, the dirty little secret is really in the sensationalist headline.

And what about the star treatment and rookie treatment by the refs? Do you agree with Silver that NBA refs are the best in sports? Maybe if you're Lebron or DWade.

[D.o.s.]

Silver says NBA refs are the best in sports, and fans fawn over Silver. LOL. Now you guys love Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta, and love NBA officiating. I guess you love those superstar calls and those rookie calls as well.

Dirty little secret: Study says NBA refs have Napoleon Complex  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/study-referees-have-napoleon-complex-short-officials-call-more-fouls-could-impact-gambling-060914

I wouldn't exactly call that a dirty little secret.

Also, if you read the study, the difference between the shortest group measured  (under 6 foot)  and the tallest group (over 6'3) measured is that the short group calls exactly .1, as in one-tenth, more fouls per 48 minutes.

So, you know, the dirty little secret is really in the sensationalist headline.

And what about the star treatment and rookie treatment by the refs? Do you agree with Silver that NBA refs are the best in sports? Maybe if you're Lebron or DWade.

Which sports leagues have better referees than the NBA?

[Donoghus]

Silver says NBA refs are the best in sports, and fans fawn over Silver. LOL. Now you guys love Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta, and love NBA officiating. I guess you love those superstar calls and those rookie calls as well.

Dirty little secret: Study says NBA refs have Napoleon Complex  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/study-referees-have-napoleon-complex-short-officials-call-more-fouls-could-impact-gambling-060914

I wouldn't exactly call that a dirty little secret.

Also, if you read the study, the difference between the shortest group measured  (under 6 foot)  and the tallest group (over 6'3) measured is that the short group calls exactly .1, as in one-tenth, more fouls per 48 minutes.

So, you know, the dirty little secret is really in the sensationalist headline.

And what about the star treatment and rookie treatment by the refs? Do you agree with Silver that NBA refs are the best in sports? Maybe if you're Lebron or DWade.

I certainly don't.  Out of the big four, I'd say either the NFL or NHL has the best officials. 

Baseball has continued to prove to be horrific even with the replay stuff instituted this year and the strike zone is such a spectrum with guys. 

[fairweatherfan]

Silver says NBA refs are the best in sports, and fans fawn over Silver. LOL. Now you guys love Joey Crawford and Dick Bavetta, and love NBA officiating. I guess you love those superstar calls and those rookie calls as well.

Dirty little secret: Study says NBA refs have Napoleon Complex  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/study-referees-have-napoleon-complex-short-officials-call-more-fouls-could-impact-gambling-060914

I wouldn't exactly call that a dirty little secret.

Also, if you read the study, the difference between the shortest group measured  (under 6 foot)  and the tallest group (over 6'3) measured is that the short group calls exactly .1, as in one-tenth, more fouls per 48 minutes.  I can't get access to the full manuscript so I don't know if it was accounted for, but I'm guessing not.

So, you know, the dirty little secret is really in the sensationalist headline.

There's also a potential confound - taller refs are presumably more likely to be ex-players, whose experiences in high-level play may make them more forgiving of contact.  The full manuscript's behind a paywall so I don't know if they accounted for it, but I'm guessing not.

I also think that the players need to shut up and play. I favor a quicker whistle for mouthing off. This was attempted a few years ago, but they backed off.

I actually think it's gotten a lot better after the quicker technicals.  Players used to get really, really demonstrative - remember Perk's go-to move of punching the air in front of him while yelling at the ref?  They still complain too much now but I think we forget just how bad it was getting at that point in time.

[Celtics4ever]

Which sports leagues have better referees than the NBA?

All of them.   Even pro wrestling.

Football and Baseball do certainly.

[MBunge]

The fact is, NBA refs are very good, overall.

It's not about individual refs being good or bad at their job.  It's the overall culture of NBA officiating where they decide to call a foul in situation A but not in situation B or call a foul on player C but not player D.  I think JVG even referenced it during a game these playoffs where he talked about refs making "judgment calls" on whether a foul affected the flow of play before calling it or not.

Mike

[D.o.s.]

Which sports leagues have better referees than the NBA?

All of them.   Even pro wrestling.

Football and Baseball do certainly.

Then why watch?

I am beyond confident that if the television coverage of each player on each play was as explicit in the NFL as it was in the NBA,you would find dozens of missed calls, no-calls, and incorrect calls on each live ball or flag-thrown situation.

I am reminded of the phrase 'familiarity breeds contempt.' Especially considering the constant officiating complaints throughout the entire NHL playoffs.

[Donoghus]

Which sports leagues have better referees than the NBA?

All of them.   Even pro wrestling.

Football and Baseball do certainly.

Then why watch?

I am beyond confident that if the television coverage of each player on each play was as explicit in the NFL as it was in the NBA,you would find dozens of missed calls, no-calls, and incorrect calls on each live ball or flag-thrown situation.

I am reminded of the phrase 'familiarity breeds contempt.' Especially considering the constant officiating complaints throughout the entire NHL playoffs.

Football has more moving pieces and I still think they get more things right.  Sure, its not perfect.  You could call holding on legitimately every play of the game if you wanted to but I think they tend to do a pretty solid job of calling a sport that has a ton going on at any given time.  They still need to figure out the whole pass interference thing, though. 

In regards to the NHL playoffs, I think outside of games involving Montreal, it's pretty solid.  They also tend to call big time games a helluva lot better than the other sports.  A lot more of 'let them play" which might not be everyone's cup of team but is certainly more aesthetically pleasing, IMO.

[D.o.s.]

Perhaps because you haven't been watching much of this year's playoffs, where fans have been loudly complaining about the dodgy officiating throughout the King's run?

[Donoghus]

Perhaps because you haven't been watching much of this year's playoffs, where fans have been loudly complaining about the dodgy officiating throughout the King's run?

I've actually watched quite a bit.  I live in Chicago.  Watched a ton of that Blackhawks/Kings series and obviously watched the Bruins when they were playing.   

[fairweatherfan]

I don't watch the NHL but I know a lot of Sabres fans and I can say confidently that no NBA ref I can remember has ever blown a call as big as Brett Hull's Cup-winning goal from inside the crease.

EDIT: Looked it up and apparently there was some kind of weird Tuck Rule-esque situation where the league claims it was the right call at the time.  Huh.  Guessing the guys I know just aren't buying it.

[nickagneta]

I think the whole "You haven't been watching..." or the "You obvious didn't see this player..."  forms of debate should be outlawed on Celticsblog.