http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/458278.html
NBA Beat: Referee scandal forces Stern to rethink policy
By Scott Howard-Cooper - showard-cooper@sacbee.com
Last Updated 1:37 am PDT Sunday, October 28, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C14
Commissioner David Stern decided that some rules pertaining to referees were too stringent and outdated. So instead of enforcing the straight black-and-white lettering of the law, he opted not to discipline refs who admitted to gambling when the misdeeds were along the pedestrian lines of a weekly poker game or playing the lottery.
And you could just hear the screams coming from Phoenix, wondering where this forgiving interpretation was in the Western Conference finals as two Suns were suspended for leaving the bench during a scuffle, even though neither had a negative impact on the situation.
The inconsistency is between Stern and his conscience. For tangible debate as the season begins amid continuing fallout from the Tim Donaghy investigation, the NBA appears to be considering a dramatic policy shift that would result in disciplines against referees being announced.
League officials had been steadfast in the belief that referees already face enough public scrutiny and that releasing fines and suspensions, as they do with team personnel, would be excessive. But in a basketball world forever shaken by Donaghygate, that might change as Stern seeks to reassure fans by promising full disclosure of what previously had been a system run partly in secret.
"The league will be much more forthcoming with respect to telling the world when our referees make a mistake," the commissioner said Thursday.
A day later, an NBA spokesman said he would not clarify or expand on Stern's comment because nothing had been finalized.
There had been notable exceptions to the previous policy – Rodney Mott was suspended for three games in January for inappropriate language and an obscene gesture toward a fan, and Joe Crawford missed the playoffs after being suspended April 17 in a highly publicized incident. The suspensions were announced, the league said at the time, because the infractions received so much attention and crossed the line beyond a normal game situation.
Lamell McMorris, the lead negotiator for the National Basketball Referees Association, said at the time the union was surprised by the public disclosure and that "ideally, it should have been and could have been something handled behind the scenes. That would have been our preference."
Now, though, the NBRA said it would not object to the potential policy change.
"We recognize life is different post-Donaghy," McMorris said. "I don't think anything is set in stone. But I appreciate the collaboration Commissioner Stern and I have had."
Referee suspensions are believed to be rare, although the league does not release exact numbers, or at least has not in the past. Fines are more common. But some monetary hits are also very minor, perhaps barely breaking triple figures and meant to be attention getters for an offense along the lines of failing to take a weekly rules test on time on the referees' Web site.
Planning committee
Schedule weirdness will strike California unlike any other place, with the Lakers packing bulging suitcases, the Kings going the slumber-party route and the Warriors resting. Really, really resting.
League officials organizing 82 games from the last days of October through mid-April most always produces some quirk, but try beating Golden State opening Tuesday at home against the Jazz, playing five games ... and then getting five days off. It would be an unusually long break at any point in a season. The Warriors get it before two weeks have passed.
The Kings get the rarity of three home back-to-back sets, something that didn't happen all last season. They play the Cavaliers at Arco Arena on Nov. 9 and the Timberwolves on Nov. 10; the Hornets on Feb. 1 and the Bulls on Feb. 2; and the Trail Blazers on April 11 and the Hornets on April 12. They doubled up seven times in 2005-06.
Tour de Lakers, meanwhile, begins Jan. 31. It ends, if they can see that far, nine games later, after stops in Detroit, Toronto, Washington, New Jersey, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Charlotte and Minnesota. L.A. must have made someone mad. Besides Kobe Bryant.
The 'Big Descending Star'
Shaquille O'Neal, chosen as the best center in the league a year ago in an annual poll of general managers for NBA.com, tied for third with Orlando's Dwight Howard this season. Tim Duncan of the Spurs was No. 1 – and held the same spot as the top power forward – and Yao Ming of the Rockets was No. 2.
Other position results were predictable: Steve Nash at point guard, Bryant at shooting guard and LeBron James at small forward.
NBA Beat: Referee scandal forces Stern to rethink policy
By Scott Howard-Cooper - showard-cooper@sacbee.com
Last Updated 1:37 am PDT Sunday, October 28, 2007
Story appeared in SPORTS section, Page C14
Commissioner David Stern decided that some rules pertaining to referees were too stringent and outdated. So instead of enforcing the straight black-and-white lettering of the law, he opted not to discipline refs who admitted to gambling when the misdeeds were along the pedestrian lines of a weekly poker game or playing the lottery.
And you could just hear the screams coming from Phoenix, wondering where this forgiving interpretation was in the Western Conference finals as two Suns were suspended for leaving the bench during a scuffle, even though neither had a negative impact on the situation.
The inconsistency is between Stern and his conscience. For tangible debate as the season begins amid continuing fallout from the Tim Donaghy investigation, the NBA appears to be considering a dramatic policy shift that would result in disciplines against referees being announced.
League officials had been steadfast in the belief that referees already face enough public scrutiny and that releasing fines and suspensions, as they do with team personnel, would be excessive. But in a basketball world forever shaken by Donaghygate, that might change as Stern seeks to reassure fans by promising full disclosure of what previously had been a system run partly in secret.
"The league will be much more forthcoming with respect to telling the world when our referees make a mistake," the commissioner said Thursday.
A day later, an NBA spokesman said he would not clarify or expand on Stern's comment because nothing had been finalized.
There had been notable exceptions to the previous policy – Rodney Mott was suspended for three games in January for inappropriate language and an obscene gesture toward a fan, and Joe Crawford missed the playoffs after being suspended April 17 in a highly publicized incident. The suspensions were announced, the league said at the time, because the infractions received so much attention and crossed the line beyond a normal game situation.
Lamell McMorris, the lead negotiator for the National Basketball Referees Association, said at the time the union was surprised by the public disclosure and that "ideally, it should have been and could have been something handled behind the scenes. That would have been our preference."
Now, though, the NBRA said it would not object to the potential policy change.
"We recognize life is different post-Donaghy," McMorris said. "I don't think anything is set in stone. But I appreciate the collaboration Commissioner Stern and I have had."
Referee suspensions are believed to be rare, although the league does not release exact numbers, or at least has not in the past. Fines are more common. But some monetary hits are also very minor, perhaps barely breaking triple figures and meant to be attention getters for an offense along the lines of failing to take a weekly rules test on time on the referees' Web site.
Planning committee
Schedule weirdness will strike California unlike any other place, with the Lakers packing bulging suitcases, the Kings going the slumber-party route and the Warriors resting. Really, really resting.
League officials organizing 82 games from the last days of October through mid-April most always produces some quirk, but try beating Golden State opening Tuesday at home against the Jazz, playing five games ... and then getting five days off. It would be an unusually long break at any point in a season. The Warriors get it before two weeks have passed.
The Kings get the rarity of three home back-to-back sets, something that didn't happen all last season. They play the Cavaliers at Arco Arena on Nov. 9 and the Timberwolves on Nov. 10; the Hornets on Feb. 1 and the Bulls on Feb. 2; and the Trail Blazers on April 11 and the Hornets on April 12. They doubled up seven times in 2005-06.
Tour de Lakers, meanwhile, begins Jan. 31. It ends, if they can see that far, nine games later, after stops in Detroit, Toronto, Washington, New Jersey, Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Charlotte and Minnesota. L.A. must have made someone mad. Besides Kobe Bryant.
The 'Big Descending Star'
Shaquille O'Neal, chosen as the best center in the league a year ago in an annual poll of general managers for NBA.com, tied for third with Orlando's Dwight Howard this season. Tim Duncan of the Spurs was No. 1 – and held the same spot as the top power forward – and Yao Ming of the Rockets was No. 2.
Other position results were predictable: Steve Nash at point guard, Bryant at shooting guard and LeBron James at small forward.
