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NBA insider: Blow the whistle on the refs for really fouling up things
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, April 9, 2006
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C4
When you get a chance to watch a lot of games on the tube, you have to wonder when the NBA, with all of its attempts to establish and maintain a high level of integrity, is going to admit its officiating has serious problems. Some will say it downright stinks. The league worries about how its players are dressed coming to and leaving games. It concerns itself with how long players' shorts are, what kind of socks they wear and whether they can sport tights underneath their uniforms.
Everyone has opinions on those concepts as well as whether players should be suspended after accumulating 16 technical fouls.
Yet players routinely are allowed to travel, run and/or sprint to the basket while consistently and flagrantly breaking the rules right in front of three (do we need four?) officials. It's straight ridiculous and insulting to everyone who watches, much less those who pay big-time bucks to attend these games.
It's so basic and apparent that officials call traveling when they feel like calling it. It's so apparent that officials give stars and even borderline stars more leeway when it comes to seeing or overlooking these violations.
And until the league clamps down on these violations, its integrity and/or attempt to be credible is nothing more than a joke.
There are times when players have taken four steps, including that so-called jump stop, on the way to a basket. Once a player has both feet off the floor, during a jump stop, those feet are supposed to land at the same time and then another step should not be taken. However, far too many times, players' feet will land at different times and then another step or two will be taken.
Not only is that making a mockery of the offensive side of the game, what the heck is a defender supposed to do when the man with the rock can dance his way to the hoop?
And we haven't even gotten to the palming violations that players routinely get away with but occasionally get whistled for committing. Again, the bigger the star, the less the violation will be called. The younger or more inexperienced the player, the more it will be called.
It's no wonder star players such as the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Miami's Shaquille O'Neal often have a look of amazement as they turn around and glare at the referee as if to ask, "Why are you calling that?"
Now I'm not sure about Commissioner David Stern's hoops career, but vice president of operations Stu Jackson has been a coach and general manager in this league. The man knows what a walk is, and we're not talking about strolling down Fifth Avenue to shop and eat a falafel.
This season is pretty much done, but there always is next season. And inevitably, at the start of the 2006-07 season, officials will visit each team to discuss rule changes and what they hope to crack down upon during the upcoming campaign.
Usually, that crackdown lasts about a couple of months. But excessive and flagrant walking has to go. Once players recognize they no longer can get away with it, they'll adjust.
OK, let me see how many steps I can get away with getting off my high horse.
So, you want to be a coach?
Your team laid one of the biggest eggs of the season while getting walloped by the Mavericks in Dallas on Tuesday night, knowing a date with the defending champion San Antonio Spurs awaited the next night. Your team then soundly defeats the Spurs and completes the three-game trip Friday night by beating the Los Angeles Clippers for the 13th consecutive time. Yes, the odds were against you, a nervous, anxious sort like most of your brethren.
You've moved into seventh place in the Western Conference playoff standings, and now all you have to do tonight is figure out how to deal with one of the league's hottest players, Houston's Yao Ming, who also happens to be 7-foot-6. No biggie.
Then again, you can forget being Kings coach Rick Adelman and step into the shoes (wonder if they are little ones?) of Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy. You know your star, Tracy McGrady, still is sidelined by back trouble. Your team isn't going to make the playoffs when many in October thought it could reach the conference finals.
Just wondering ...
* How good is the Spurs' Tim Duncan when he's playing with pain in his right foot caused by plantar fasciitis and still averaging about 19 points and 11 rebounds? And how bad is that injury that he wasn't shut down to see if rest would have helped?
* What would have happened if New Jersey's Jason Kidd had been injured while playing meaningless minutes late in a blowout over Charlotte in search of a triple double? No doubt he'll get another one, unless the retirement announcement hasn't reached the West Coast.
* What did Luke Walton's overly excitable Hall of Fame pops, Bill, say to him after the Lakers forward inexplicably passed the ball into the backcourt for a violation with no defensive pressure the other night? Did it start with T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E or H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E?
[Link]
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, April 9, 2006
Story appeared in Sports section, Page C4
When you get a chance to watch a lot of games on the tube, you have to wonder when the NBA, with all of its attempts to establish and maintain a high level of integrity, is going to admit its officiating has serious problems. Some will say it downright stinks. The league worries about how its players are dressed coming to and leaving games. It concerns itself with how long players' shorts are, what kind of socks they wear and whether they can sport tights underneath their uniforms.
Everyone has opinions on those concepts as well as whether players should be suspended after accumulating 16 technical fouls.
Yet players routinely are allowed to travel, run and/or sprint to the basket while consistently and flagrantly breaking the rules right in front of three (do we need four?) officials. It's straight ridiculous and insulting to everyone who watches, much less those who pay big-time bucks to attend these games.
It's so basic and apparent that officials call traveling when they feel like calling it. It's so apparent that officials give stars and even borderline stars more leeway when it comes to seeing or overlooking these violations.
And until the league clamps down on these violations, its integrity and/or attempt to be credible is nothing more than a joke.
There are times when players have taken four steps, including that so-called jump stop, on the way to a basket. Once a player has both feet off the floor, during a jump stop, those feet are supposed to land at the same time and then another step should not be taken. However, far too many times, players' feet will land at different times and then another step or two will be taken.
Not only is that making a mockery of the offensive side of the game, what the heck is a defender supposed to do when the man with the rock can dance his way to the hoop?
And we haven't even gotten to the palming violations that players routinely get away with but occasionally get whistled for committing. Again, the bigger the star, the less the violation will be called. The younger or more inexperienced the player, the more it will be called.
It's no wonder star players such as the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Miami's Shaquille O'Neal often have a look of amazement as they turn around and glare at the referee as if to ask, "Why are you calling that?"
Now I'm not sure about Commissioner David Stern's hoops career, but vice president of operations Stu Jackson has been a coach and general manager in this league. The man knows what a walk is, and we're not talking about strolling down Fifth Avenue to shop and eat a falafel.
This season is pretty much done, but there always is next season. And inevitably, at the start of the 2006-07 season, officials will visit each team to discuss rule changes and what they hope to crack down upon during the upcoming campaign.
Usually, that crackdown lasts about a couple of months. But excessive and flagrant walking has to go. Once players recognize they no longer can get away with it, they'll adjust.
OK, let me see how many steps I can get away with getting off my high horse.
So, you want to be a coach?
Your team laid one of the biggest eggs of the season while getting walloped by the Mavericks in Dallas on Tuesday night, knowing a date with the defending champion San Antonio Spurs awaited the next night. Your team then soundly defeats the Spurs and completes the three-game trip Friday night by beating the Los Angeles Clippers for the 13th consecutive time. Yes, the odds were against you, a nervous, anxious sort like most of your brethren.
You've moved into seventh place in the Western Conference playoff standings, and now all you have to do tonight is figure out how to deal with one of the league's hottest players, Houston's Yao Ming, who also happens to be 7-foot-6. No biggie.
Then again, you can forget being Kings coach Rick Adelman and step into the shoes (wonder if they are little ones?) of Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy. You know your star, Tracy McGrady, still is sidelined by back trouble. Your team isn't going to make the playoffs when many in October thought it could reach the conference finals.
Just wondering ...
* How good is the Spurs' Tim Duncan when he's playing with pain in his right foot caused by plantar fasciitis and still averaging about 19 points and 11 rebounds? And how bad is that injury that he wasn't shut down to see if rest would have helped?
* What would have happened if New Jersey's Jason Kidd had been injured while playing meaningless minutes late in a blowout over Charlotte in search of a triple double? No doubt he'll get another one, unless the retirement announcement hasn't reached the West Coast.
* What did Luke Walton's overly excitable Hall of Fame pops, Bill, say to him after the Lakers forward inexplicably passed the ball into the backcourt for a violation with no defensive pressure the other night? Did it start with T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E or H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E?
[Link]
