Revamping the referee system

[Mon]

How to fix the officiating

Everybody gripes out the refs…me included…so I thought I would play the part of David Stern and try to fix it.

I would like 8 stationary officials around the perimeter of the court per game.  Similar to volleyball.

1 each where the baseline meets the long side of the court = 4 refs
1 on each side of half-court = 2 refs
1 underneath each basket = 2 refs
Total of 8.

I think stationary makes sense because when you are running AND trying to focus on something it is very difficult (especially if you’re Bavetta and 98 years old or if you’re Javey and the hair mousse is running into your eyes).

I also think there would be fewer missed calls because theoretically you should see most if not all angles.  Something that I don’t think the current situation can attest to.

What do you think?

Do you have something better?

[Roy Hobbs]

I think that would be a tough change to implement; you'd literally be increasing the size of the NBA's officiating crew by 300%.  There are already so few good refs, that any dilution of talent could be a death knell.

I suppose you could implement this just for the later rounds of the playoffs, but in that instance, you're asking refs to do something they haven't done all year long.  I would expect them to struggle.

Also, more refs isn't necessarily a good thing.  It's not that the games aren't being called tightly enough, it's that they're being called inconsistently.  I doubt the pro-Lebron bias would change much if you're giving even more referees the chance to blow the whistle.

I love the creative thinking, but I don't think this idea is practical.

[nickagneta]

While I agree that the officating should be looked at by the commissioner and something done about it, I just don't see the OP's suggested revamp working. As Roy astutely pointed out more doesn't necessarily equal better. More can sometimes mean worse.

But I like the suggested revamp in a way.

My suggestion would be for four refs with 2 stationary at each baseline and one ref on each sideline moving up and down the court. First, it's not going to increase the reffereeing ranks nearly as much. Second if each refferee is consistently in one area they can concentrate on the calls of that area.

Also, I don't think it would hurt to have a video ref who could instantly review questionable calls and make a ruling. Perhaps give the coaches 3 opportunities a game to call on such a review. Sure it's stealing from the NFL but it wouldn't slow down the game much and make the reviewing process a coaching strategy.

Also, a much more stringent review process of referee's work and possible game suspensions for referees for blantantly horrible calls wouldn't hurt.

I'd go for any of these suggestions or all.

None will happen.

[wdleehi]

Want better called games, stop allowing officials to give advantages to star players and home teams.


Get rid of the little rule that make the officials have to take in to much information (was the defender's shoe lace still in the circle?).


Stop the bail out call. 


And allow players to play defense.  Call charges with out guys falling down. 

[nickagneta]

Want better called games, stop allowing officials to give advantages to star players and home teams.


Get rid of the little rule that make the officials have to take in to much information (was the defender's shoe lace still in the circle?).


Stop the bail out call. 


And allow players to play defense.  Call charges with out guys falling down. 

Great points wd, but how do we get to that point? The idiots in the front offices in the NBA, IMHO, want the superstar calls. They want their individual stars to win, have big games, and advance in the playoffs. This league markets individuals not teams or teamwork.

Also, the charging call is way to subjective. There should be a more stringent interpretation of the rule placed upon the refs or just completely reword it to make only clear charge violations of two set feet, shoulders squared able to be called. With the current rule and its interpretation, flopping is actually encouraged and rewarded. That's shameful.

[wdleehi]

Want better called games, stop allowing officials to give advantages to star players and home teams.


Get rid of the little rule that make the officials have to take in to much information (was the defender's shoe lace still in the circle?).


Stop the bail out call. 


And allow players to play defense.  Call charges with out guys falling down. 

Great points wd, but how do we get to that point? The idiots in the front offices in the NBA, IMHO, want the superstar calls. They want their individual stars to win, have big games, and advance in the playoffs. This league markets individuals not teams or teamwork.

Also, the charging call is way to subjective. There should be a more stringent interpretation of the rule placed upon the refs or just completely reword it to make only clear charge violations of two set feet, shoulders squared able to be called. With the current rule and its interpretation, flopping is actually encouraged and rewarded. That's shameful.

David Stern improved the NBA's bottom line by promoting the stars (Bird vs. Magic; Air Jordon) not the teams. 


Everything about the NBA is about the Stars.  How contracts work.  How teams with losing records play.  How officials call games. 

[nickagneta]

Want better called games, stop allowing officials to give advantages to star players and home teams.


Get rid of the little rule that make the officials have to take in to much information (was the defender's shoe lace still in the circle?).


Stop the bail out call. 


And allow players to play defense.  Call charges with out guys falling down. 

Great points wd, but how do we get to that point? The idiots in the front offices in the NBA, IMHO, want the superstar calls. They want their individual stars to win, have big games, and advance in the playoffs. This league markets individuals not teams or teamwork.

Also, the charging call is way to subjective. There should be a more stringent interpretation of the rule placed upon the refs or just completely reword it to make only clear charge violations of two set feet, shoulders squared able to be called. With the current rule and its interpretation, flopping is actually encouraged and rewarded. That's shameful.

David Stern improved the NBA's bottom line by promoting the stars (Bird vs. Magic; Air Jordon) not the teams. 


Everything about the NBA is about the Stars.  How contracts work.  How teams with losing records play.  How officials call games. 

Yup, no argument here. Market the stars but get rid of the superstar calls. They are the only league that is blatantly doing whatever they can to favor their superstars by officiating them differently. It's embarassing!

[Vermont Green]

I think the league can define a way to play defense that is not a foul.  If you jump straight up, keep your arms straight up, it is not a foul even if the shooter "creates" contact.  It has gotten to the point where it is easier for a player to draw a foul than to make a shot so now we see LeBron and Kobe taking 15-20 FT per game.

Think about that.  If you jump straight up and put your arms straight up, it is not a foul.  If the shooter leans in, offensive foul, period.

What this will do is force shooters back to trying to make shots over defender instead of drawing a foul on every possession.  This could be done and called consistently.

Does the league really think it is entertaining to have so many fouls?

[X Man]

TP for everyone in this thread.  You guys have taken all the things I've said (or wanted to say) to all my basketball buddies for years and put it in writing.  I like the video ref idea, that should bring down blatantly bad calls by at least 20%.  I can live with that, plus the amount of superstar calls would come down as well just because the ref wouldn't want to be outed if the coach calls out the "video ref" on it. 

[OmarSekou]

All we need is consistency within games. Watching Game 3 last night I can't  help but think there has to be some truth to Donaghy's words. I remember Powe just getting hammered by Turiaf and the announcers went "great block"! Then there was a replay of Kobe from 2 possessions earlier, and the same thing happened  for every questionable call (thankfully I have a DVR so I confirmed the fouls). And it was more than the non-calls and phantom calls, PP was getting mugged on double teams and called for every possible foul, and it took him out of the first half.

I'm not saying this just to complain about the loss. I'm sure if I watched Game 2 more closely, and without a Boston bias, I would see similar tendencies going against LA. The disparity of calls in that game too big a red flag to ignore.

I've always thought the crowd and atmosphere motivated the refs to make calls for the home team, but ever since the scandal I've been more observant. And it's obvious the refs have a significant impact on the final outcome of the game, and either often have a bias or are incapable of doing their jobs well.

What really bothers me is that right after the game every member of the media, local and national, made sure to start off by mentioning that LA deserved all the calls because they were more aggressive. Van Gundy was even forced to backtrack on a 2002 outburst that he knew Yao Ming was being targeted by refs, just because he didn't want to validate Donaghy. Its like there was a league mandate that the refs cannot be criticized and no one can comment on the fact that the Celts got the majority of calls against them just as everyone had predicted it. Before the game the media was saying, let's see if the refs impact the game and when they blatantly did it was swept under the rug. I smell a 7 game series.

[connerhenry43]

i think you need to get refs off the court, and in front of 60 inch High def TV's. get about a dozen refs to sit in a room and watch the game on these tv's, and officiate the game from a chair. #1, you take the emotion out of officiating because players and coaches cannot talk to officials. #2, and most importantly i watch all the games on my high def tv and i have not gotten call wrong all year, so it must be easier.

[MBz]

Want better called games, stop allowing officials to give advantages to star players and home teams.


Get rid of the little rule that make the officials have to take in to much information (was the defender's shoe lace still in the circle?).


Stop the bail out call. 


And allow players to play defense.  Call charges with out guys falling down. 

Exactly.  I just don't understand why they can't call the game even.  It's not that hard, clearly they have the ability to do so.  Also, I love how in Boston, the announcers considered them an aggressive team, but in LA now, they were a jump shooting team not going to the basket. 

[jay_jay54]

I ve felt like the NBA and officials should be under separate hats,the NBA (commissioner)would have very little input to officiating.I think they should(officials)be ran by a Refs Organization that is owned by private business,with a lot of the old NBA rules incorporated,alone with some of the new,but the main thing is,David Stern has less to do with it.

[kgiessler]

Nothing magical needs to happen.

The NBA just needs to decide that they need to stop poor officiating.  When that happens, they will come up with plenty of ways to do so.

[payjo]

All officials who qualify during the regular season get a "finals share" as a bonus, but the 3 "best" officials are assigned to the finals by a panel of nba officials, coaches, and players. These 3 do the whole series so one set of officials aren't "making up" for another set and there is some consistency from game to game.