The NBA refs

[BooCocky]

The NBA's current contract with its 60-odd referees runs out next week and the sides appear to be far apart on a new deal, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations.

Sept. 1 is the expiration date of the current five-year pact. One source told ESPN.com on Tuesday that -- with the league proposing an across-the-board reduction to the referee budget of an estimated 10 percent -- the impasse might not be resolved before the start the 2009-10 season.

As of "right now," according to the source, existing NBA referees "will not be working preseason [or the] regular season."

Another source with knowledge of the talks, however, countered by questioning the referees' willingness to hold out in a depressed economy if it reaches the point that the league threatens to impose a lockout.

The source added that one motivation for the NBA digging in could be demonstrating the hard-line approach that some owners favor in collective-bargaining talks with NBA players that began earlier this month. The NBA's labor pact with its players expires after the 2010-11 season, but the sides have opened negotiations much earlier than normal in a bow to an economic climate that has prompted numerous teams to curtail spending.

"Negotiations are ongoing," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said Tuesday of the league's talks with its referees. "We do not plan to comment during the negotiations."

Lamell McMorris, spokesman for the referees' union, declined comment Tuesday.

It was not immediately clear what sort of contingency plans would be triggered if the league and the officials can't strike a deal in time for the start of the exhibition season in October.

Aspiring NBA officials were observed and trained as normal by veteran refs during summer league play in July in Orlando and Las Vegas, but the league's annual training camp for its veterans -- typically held during the third week in September -- appears to be in jeopardy with no agreement in place.

The proposed cuts to the referee budget are believed to include reductions in travel costs, pension payouts and health benefits in addition to salary cuts.

Sources say that the referees have argued against the sort of budget cuts widely imposed on team and league office staff members by insisting the late hours they work and difficult travel conditions they endure in addition to the injury risks they're subjected to make them unlike any other group of NBA employees.

Marc Stein is a senior NBA writer for ESPN.com.

What could this mean for the upcoming NBA season? The refs want money and apparently aren't getting it. They are trained people who work hard to get where they are. So basically it takes years to become an NBA ref and this could put a damper on the NBA season. Or is it not that big of a deal? Could they easily use the refs trainees?

Honestly, I believe they should reach a deal because they make some money, even if their benefits are reduced. They can either take less money or be out of a job. I'd just take less money. I believe they could easily be replaced because I can almost guarantee you there are a lot of trainees out there just waiting for the opportunity to ref in the big times.

 

[FromTheSouth]

Have you watched an NBA game lately? I don't think there's two of them who agree on the interpretation of a single rule. There were five or six flagrant fouls overturned or rulings changed. Dwight Howard is allowed to do whatever he wants to cover up his lack of basketball skill. Yao Ming gets the most ridiculous fouls called on him because NBA refs don't know how to ref size.

This is the best thing that could ever happen for the NBA. Hire new officials that haven't been through fifteen different rules interpretations. Start a new. Bring in college refs. I don't really care. I am tired of Joey Crawford's need to be the story on every nationally televised game he officiates.

The NBA has the worst officiating of any professional sports league. I honestly think that WWE officials are better than NBA refs. They don't work well as a unit. They don't work well alone. I am fully convinced that everyone of them is on the take in one way or another.

David Stern, if you are listening, lower the offer, let them go on strike and hire me, Becker, and X. We'd do a better job than Crawford, Salvatore, and Palmer.

 

[48.7 is Approximately 49 Times Better Than You]

Yao Ming gets the most ridiculous fouls called on him because NBA refs don't know how to ref size.

Excuse me for a moment...



Yao Ming gets ridiculous fouls called on him? Have you ever watched Yao Ming play? (Yes, I know you're a Rockets fan.) Yao Ming could bring a gun onto the court and shoot Greg Oden in the head and Oden would get no call. I'm still bitter about the playoffs.

--

The NBA referees are absolute garbage. If you've ever watched a game, you'll know that the referee's calls more often than not determine the outcome of a contest and overshadow the play. It's a horrible thing and truly robs the fans, the players, and the game.

The way they referee high-status players differently from a rookie or roleplayer is not only unfair, but incredibly annoying. LeBron James can take seven steps and charge over a defender, and there will be no call. If any lesser player did the same, the whistle blows. The double standard is unfair, and annoying. I, for one, get sick of seeing my bench players called for breathing and the star of the other team getting away with anally raping my players.

I spend more time yelling at my TV over calls in basketball than in football, baseball, and hockey combined. The NBA has had this cancer for years, and I figure it's time to kill it. Bring in some younger referees, ones who are all on the same page. We'll see much cleaner games and better contests. I'll lose my voice less often too.

 

[gd]

Gotta agree, the NBA refs absolutely suck. The superstars get all of the calls and there are so many blatantly missed calls in every game that it is ridiculous. If the refs think that they are the stars of the show and want more money, then the NBA should just bring in the trainees. It would send a message to the current refs and it wouldn't make the officiating quality any worse.

 

[Pimpin]

I agree the NBA refs suck. They need actual refs that will call the game down the middle instead of givin' someone like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant preferential treatment just cause they're superstars. I can't remember one single NBA game that the officials have called right down the middle & if there is one that they've called down the middle then I most likely have missed it.

The point is is that the current NBA refs are absolutely horrible & the holdout could possibly be the best thing that's happened cause there's the huge possibility of havin' new refs comin' in & actually callin' the game right down the middle & not have any of the stars receive preferential treatment.

 

[Ty Burna]

I gotta join the choir here as well and say this could be good for the NBA. What they need to be doing is training some younger referees the right way to call a game instead of having refs that are in their 50's and 60's trying to keep up with the pace of today's game. The older refs also have the inclination to give star players leeway and call fouls on the opposing defenses damn near ingrained into their skull. So it's in my opinion to hire back the younger refs and then train a new wave of referees to come into the game and hopefully restore some balanced officiating rather than the horse shit they've been pulling the last few years, wait, last couple decades.

Take a look at the Mavericks/Heat Finals from a few years ago, all Wade had to do was drive the lane and he'd get the call and go to the line. Damn near every single time down the court this happened, and that was the Heat's offensive gameplan. Ticky tack fouls are called constantly, I mean come on let the guys play the game of basketball, there's going to be some physicality otherwise why not just make everyone shoot three pointers and forget the big men down on the blocks. Taking a look back you could say this problem started because of MJ. Not MJ personally, but the way he played the game. It got to the point in the 90's that teams just completely crushed MJ anyway they could while fouling him, and refs rarely called fouls because it was the only way to even things out against him. I think that's part of the reason why MJ decided to retire from basketball for a year or so and go to baseball, he was probably sick and tired of getting wrecked every time he drove to the lane. When he came back, all of a sudden the star players were getting calls left and right, almost in a way to protect them from ever getting hammered like MJ did. This of course is just opinion, not factual, but to me this problem started after all that transpired early in the 90's.

Not only this but they don't allow the players to police themselves. Back in the day if you wrecked the opposing teams star player in the lane, you could expect to be on the receiving end of some sort of revenge when you were on offense. That doesn't happen anymore because of Stern wanting players to be media friendly. Let's face it, if you're knocking into other people all game long, eventually tensions are going to mount and more physicality will take place. A flagrant or technical foul in today's game would be nothing more than your average personal foul back in the early 90's and 80's. But that's more of a complaint towards David Stern then the referees. The point still stands that the NBA needs a new generation of refs and to stop giving leeway to the star players, and the game will probably benefit from it greatly.

 

[Baller]

I am kind of split on this one. Yes I would like refs that are straight down the middle and not give star treatment, but for me the refs deserve some credit and have faced a lot of adversity, but have gotten through it all.

These refs work hard at what they do, and yes they do deserve that money but they need to be a little lenient in how much they are going to get. The NBA needs to get this deal whether its just 3 or 4 years or long term these refs deserve more credit then what they are receiving.